Sunday, May 31, 2009

It probably had Lucas electrics, too...

The English aircraft industry, like Australian fauna, has always been weird and insular and quite frequently turns out creatures that may not be evolutionary successes, but are spectacular in their oddness nonetheless.
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8 comments:

John Peddie (Toronto) said...

Google "Bristol 170 Freighter" for another spectacularly odd-looking example of their aircraft. A few Freighters are still flying.

11:17 AM, May 31, 2009
JonB said...

Handley Page Victor

Sure, it made it into RAF service, carried nuclear tipped missiles and was by most accounts a perfectly good bomber (if overshadowed in the public eye by the Avro Vulcan), but I still think it looks like one of those visions of a future that never quite happened.

3:26 PM, May 31, 2009
Anonymous said...

English aircraft........ wow. The best word I can come up with is charismatic. However, I cannot deny that the Mosquito is a thing of grace and beauty nearly equal to the Spitfire.

Jim

6:33 PM, May 31, 2009
Blackwing1 said...

My first bike was a '71 Bonneville...ah. Lucas. "The Prince of Darkness".

We ripped every inch of wire out of that twin, and replaced the voltage regulator with something from a Honda (if I recall). At least the bloody lights worked.

Never DID stop dripping oil, though.

If their plane hadn't worked better than their electrical systems, the Battle of Britain would have been over very quickly.

9:43 PM, May 31, 2009
Anonymous said...

The Spitfire (the plane) had SU carbs. Seemed to work ok. And that's the engine that made the P-51 Mustang actually work.

You need to remember that British cars need you, unlike many others. You need to spend a little love on them, and they'll run just fine. Kind of like a Colt 1911...

In the 1950's the Brits were on the cutting edge...first front wheel disc brakes and 4-wheel disc brakes, independent rear suspension (ok, early 60's), twin OH cam engines) in regular production.

It just dropped off when everything got nationalized. You know, when the British government owned British Leyland and created the Triumph TR7 and really bad other cars. Never happen here, though..the government would never own Chrylser or GM :)

Get ready to Delphi Electronics jokes.....

11:37 PM, May 31, 2009
Dr. StrangeGun said...

Weren't those spot discs Lockheeds though?

8:39 AM, June 01, 2009
roy in nipomo said...

Do you know why the British drink warm beer?

Lucas makes refrigeration, too.

(I owned three Triumph sports cars during my mis-spent youth.)

9:53 AM, June 01, 2009
NotClauswitz said...

That was one majestic - and slow - takeoff!
It was the British Government Unions that killed MG and Triumph in the 70's - in the secondary-market they sent back non-functional parts that were fully out-of-spec to Dealers and insisted they be used, from electrics to brakes - parts with the mounting holes in the wrong places (among other things). It killed the business a friend's dad's owned - drove him bankrupt even in a very forgiving (style over substance) market.

1:30 PM, June 01, 2009

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