Anybody care to identify the aircraft above?

Looks like a bi wing Hawker Hurricane.

It's an illusion from the camera angle. That's actually a giant air cooled ale container for long range flights. English pilots worst fear during WWII was not being shot down and killed but rather being shot down in France or Germany and surviving where the Germans have no ale and the French have no beer of any kind.

Well I'll be damned it is not a photoshop!




HAWKER-HILLSON FH.40 HURRICANE


That and a whole lot more goofball ideas:
http://rareaircraf1.greyfalcon.us/GREAT%20BRITAIN.htm

Well, you learn something new every day!

Macifej, you were closer than you thought!

As Mark says its a HAWKER-HILLSON FH.40 HURRICANE otherwise known as the Hurricane Slipwing. The structure is actually a large external fuel tank in the shape of a wing which apparently could be jetisoned in flight!

quote:

Originally posted by Pete E:
Macifej, you were closer than you thought!

As Mark says its a HAWKER-HILLSON FH.40 HURRICANE otherwise known as the Hurricane Slipwing. The structure is actually a large external fuel tank in the shape of a wing which apparently could be jetisoned in flight!

English Ale is made from Av-Gas isn't it ...??

Must have beem quite a memorable experience, jetisoning that thing.
Grizz

quote:

Originally posted by Grizzly Adams:
Must have beem quite a memorable experience, jetisoning that thing.
Grizz

I'd have hated like hell to be the first guy to try it. "O.K., now I just pull this handle and that top doodad, and probably the vertical stabiliser and rudder...."

Maybe you were just supposed to wait until there was a German on your tail, and you'd clobber him with a whole damn wing full of gas.

Actually it looks like a brilliant idea.

Assuming that when "ejected" it does not take out the tail.

The extra weight of the gasoline is probably offset by the lift of the "wing" tank.

There must be some reason why it was not widely accepted.

quote:

There must be some reason why it was not widely accepted.

Expensive and probably altered the flight characteristics a lot so the pilots probably got little practice or real training.
Suppose it is full and you have a problem and need to land.

Given the basic nature of the plane, perhaps the pilots endurance was the major limiting factor???

There must be some reason why it was not widely accepted.[/QUOTE]

Logic and common sense prevailed, for once.
Grizz