A pretty good read. Some of these aircraft I was familiar with, many others not so much. Some I thought "what were they thinking" when designing these crates. The Worst Planes And Helicopters Ever Made
Lacks a lot of information that puts these aircraft in context. For example the Devastator was originally ahead of its time - it just didn't get replaced soon enough and was thoroughly obsolete by 1941. BTW all torpedo planes had to fly straight and slow to launch. Likewise the Battle was a huge advance over the biplane bombers it replaced but by the time it went into action fighters had advanced even further. Worth noting though that the much lauded Stuka was equally if not more vulnerable to fighter attack than the Battle. The Brewster Buffalo in the hands of the Finns was very successful against the Soviets. Only one Salamander had problems with the glue in its plywood - the prototype - the problem was then fixed. Despite the dates given it never officially entered service as the RLM admin was so bad they couldn't issue the paperwork for its airworthy cert in time
Agree. Fastest plane the USN had when introduced. More advanced than Swordfish, which is considered one of the greats.
Swordfish was great because of its sheer adaptability and its ability to operate off tiny carriers in almost any weather. BTW the Swordfish test pilot was the only pilot to successful bale out of the same aircraft twice in the same flight and then pilot it on the next. When the prototype was still the TSR1 the engine cut on a test flight and it went into an uncontrollable spin and he baled out only to immediately experience a severe thump and find himself in the rear cockpit. He baled out again this time on the opposite side of the spin. The aircraft then stopped spinning and entered a smooth glide making a three pointer undamaged in a field.
