- Yes
- No
Hello, I’d like to suggest one of the Canadian-built/operated Lysanders. Why? I think it looks neat and the fact a train company built them, I find funny.
History:
In 1934 the British Air Ministry issued Specification A.39/34, which would be looking for an army co-operation aircraft, aimed at replacing the Hawker Hector. When the program had first started only Hawker, Avro and Bristol were invited, this would change to include Westland after some debate. The design from Westland would be designated P. 8, which would be the work of Arthur Davenport who was under the direction of “Teddy” Petter. The Lysander would be Petter’s second aircraft design, in which he would spend a considerable amount of time asking Royal Air Force pilots what they wanted out of such an aircraft. Well, the army wished for a tactical and artillery reconnaissance aircraft which would provide photographic reconnaissance of enemy artillery. Well, Petter’s pilot enquiries would turn up that field of view, low-speed handling and STOL were important requirements.
Daven Port and Petter would go on to design an aircraft that incorporated those features. The Lysander would have a Bristol Mercury air-cooled radial engine and would have high wings and fixed land gear with faired wheels. Despite its old-fashioned look, the Lysander was aerodynamically advanced for its time as it was equipped with automatic wing slats, slotted flaps and a variable incidence tailplane. These features would give the Lysander a small stalling speed, being only 105 km/h (65 mph). It would also include the largest Elektron alloy made at the time but due to the difficulty of manufacturing the large extrusion the Canadian-built machines used a conventionally fabricated assembly instead.
Canada would receive 104 British-built Lysanders to supplement the 225 Lysanders that National Steel Car would build in Malton, Ontario. Canadian production would start in the month of October of 1938 and would manage to have the first aircraft flying by August of 1939. In Canadian service, the Lysanders would primarily serve in the Army Co-operation and Target tug roles although it wouldn’t be limited to just that. The Lysander was first meant to replace the basically antique Westland Wapiti, whose origin is traced to 1916. The first two squadrons who would train to use the Lysanders would be 2, 110 and 112 squadrons. They would be joined by 414 Squadron which formed overseas to bring them up to war establishment. No. 118 Squadron and 122 Squadron of the RCAF would be the only Canadian units able to use their Lysanders in active operations. They would serve out of Saint John, New Brunswick and Vancouver Island, out of which they would before anti-submarine patrols and search-and-rescue operations. At the same time No. 121 Squadron and a number of Operational Training Units would use Lysanders for target towing, these Lysanders would be painted in a high-visibility yellow-and-black striped livery.
For a time in 1940, all of Canada’s modern fighters were sent into Europe leaving the RCAF without any at home. Despite the fact that two of the Lysander-equipped squadrons were converted into fighter squadrons, they couldn’t get modern fighters to replace their Lysanders. This would lead them to have to use the Lysander in a fighter role despite its inability to perform said role, and luckily neither none of the squadrons saw action with the Lysander equipped. Eventually, the Lysander-equipped squadrons would be re-equipped with Kittyhwaks, and by late 1944 all Lysanders in Canadian service would be withdrawn for flying duties.
Specs:
General characteristics
- Crew: 2 (1 pilot, 1 pass.)
- Length: 30 ft 6 in (9.30 m)
- Wingspan: 50 ft 0 in (15.24 m)
- Height: 14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
- Wing area: 260 sq ft (24 m2)
- Airfoil: RAF 34 modified
- Empty weight: 4,365 lb (1,980 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 6,330 lb (2,871 kg)
- Powerplant: 1 × Bristol Perseus XII, 905 hp (675 Kw)
- Propellers: 3-bladed
Performance
- Maximum speed: 230 mph (370 km/h, 184 kn) at 5,000 ft (1,524 m)
- Stall speed: 65 mph (105 km/h, 56 kn)
- Range: 600 mi (970 km, 520 nmi)
- Service ceiling: 26,000 ft (7,925 m)
- Time to altitude: 10,000 ft (3,048 m) in 8 minutes
- Take-off distance to 50 ft (15 m): 915 ft (279 m)
Armament
- Guns: 2 × forward-firing .303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns in wheel fairings and one or two more for the observer.
- Bombs: 500 lb (227 kg) of bombs) on undercarriage stub wing hardpoints
