Welcoem to posts!!
in the future - u will be able to do some more stuff here,,,!! like pat catgirl- i mean um yeah... for now u can only see others's posts :c
Friday's video covers the AIM-4 Falcon family. I find the Falcon fascinating as is generally regarded as being useless, but actual in-depth analysis of it is quite hard to find. As it happens, I've been lucky with the timing of this one. The Falcon featured in my first videos 18 months ago and as the channel has just hit 50,000 subscribers I think it's a good subject to return to now.
After Falcon, I've got Mainstay, Flagon and Hun for you in November, with diversions into a very rare Hustler interceptor project and World War 1 aerial battleships. I hope you enjoy watching them as much as I've enjoyed making them!
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This Friday's video will be a change of scene from the last few. It goes into some depth on Lavochkin's last fighter: the LA-250 Anakonda. The 250 was a fascinating aircraft designed in the early years of guided missile development and its story thus reveals many of the challenges even the greatest designers faced with finicky new technology.
As it happens, finicky new technology will be the order of the day on the channel in the next month or so. I'll also finally be releasing the outstanding episodes promised in the trailer way back in January... which I'm excited about because there's some really interesting ones!
A final update: tomorrow I'm going to release an extra video covering three attempts by the US and Great Britain to produce an effective seaplane fighter during the Second World War. I just can't get enough of those floats right now...
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50 years ago this month the iconic F-14 Tomcat went to sea for the first time in an operational capacity. This Friday's video will therefore be a deep dive into the US Navy's ultimate Cold War fighter. The research process was quite a long one... and so is the video!
On a different note, this month's Tuesday video covers the Arado AR-231: an ingenious submarine-deployable floatplane. I can't promise that this will be the last floatplane on the channel. I have developed a taste for them.
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Since it's summer time where I am, it's a great time to get out on the water and cool off. So this month's Tuesday video will feature the most successful seaplane fighter of the Second World War - the A6M2-N Rufe.
Although it wasn't particularly effective, the Rufe had quite an impact on post-war planners worried about their airfields being obliterated. Friday's video is an in-depth look at the jet-powered seaplane fighters of the Cold War that resulted from their concerns. There were more than you might think!
Hope you enjoy these two and are having good summers/ winters wherever you happen to be!
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As some of you pointed out, I was asking for comments-related trouble with the Cyprus 1974 videos. It's therefore a bit of a relief to return to Vietnam. The next two videos cover one of the war's unlikeliest MiG killers and probably its most dangerous fast jet mission. I've managed to fill in some small gaps not covered in the books or online accounts of both stories, which always makes me happy. Hope you all enjoy them!
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This July it is 50 years since the 1974 Turkish landings on Cyprus, so my next four videos will focus on the role that Greek and Turkish air power played in the conflict. Friday will be a review of the equipment, training and bases of both sides. I'll then publish overviews on two military disasters and one enduring dogfighting controversy.
Making these helped me understand a little more about the real capabilities of NATO countries in the early 1970s, which I've found helpful in thinking about how a conflict between NATO and the Warsaw Pact might have gone.
I hope you enjoy them!
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Tomorrow's video was much harder to make than I expected. It's a deep dive into the AIM-7 Sparrow and it's taken me the best part of a year to put together. The Sparrow is a remarkable weapons system that pushed the boundaries of technology in each of its iterations. Despite this, for some reason there is a dearth of books, articles and videos on it. I'm therefore hoping that you'll enjoy my attempt to put things together into a single story.
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This Tuesday you'll see an extra video from me, covering the Douglas DT series of torpedo bombers. The DT was a pioneering aircraft. It was the first US carrier-borne strike aircraft and the first to catapult from a carrier armed with a torpedo. And, of course, the DT marked the first commercial success for the Davis-Douglas Company, which would go on to supply iconic aircraft for the Navy in World War 2 and the Cold War.
I recognise that there is less interest in the inter-war period than others. Even so, I find that I've learned quite a lot about tactical development, aircraft development and the capabilities of the aircraft industry from studying it. Hopefully you'll enjoy this one. My intention is to release one 'Tuesday episode' a month from now on, so if there are any aircraft or companies that you think deserve more love, please let me know in the comments!
And if the Cold War is more your thing, then this Friday is a big one - the Grumman F9F Panther.
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Friday's video is a change from the usual. It is a fairly long turn through the history of the Hawker Aircraft Company. Growing up in the south east of England, the legacy of the Battle of Britain was always quite close at hand. Hawker was a major regional employer in the day and an important part of my childhood fascination with aircraft. So since its my birthday this week, I thought I'd indulge myself!
I thought this episode would be relatively easy to make as I thought I knew the history well. But as I got into it, I realised that the Cold War history of the company was a lot more interesting than Hunter, Harrier and Hawk would suggest. I've managed to turn up some material on unrealised projects that I found pretty fascinating... and hopefully you all will too.
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I have too many books about aircraft. But there is always just one more to get and, inevitably there are books I want that are long out of print or just weren't ever available in the UK. I share this because I finally succeeded in getting hold of a copy of my Moby Dick: Phoenix Over The Nile, all the way from Canada. Just in time for Easter.
This Friday's video has nothing to do with the Egyptian Air Force. It is the next instalment in the early Navy fighters series and covers the 'short fuselage' F2H-1 and -2 Banshees. Appreciation for this great fighter has picked up a little in recent years, but I still feel like there's a lot more to be said.
Part 2, on the long fuselage aircraft, will follow in the first week of April. Hope you enjoy!
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As a kid I wanted to be a fighter pilot. Poor eyesight, risible spatial awareness and an inability to understand even basic instructions knocked that idea on the head. But even as my career went down a different path, I retained an analyst's interest in aviation. In particular I like to try and understand the military-industrial systems in which aircraft were developed and the doctrines and concepts that governed their employment.
This channel is a way of getting ideas and research from my head into some kind of organised form. I really hope you enjoy watching them as much as I enjoy making them. But please remember that this is my passion and my hobby. I am not a professional documentary maker and I am at best an amateur historian. Please forgive the inevitable mistakes!