What 4 Propeller place over Coventry

[Kateg28]

I am not a plane buff (although do support the Vulcan) but was in Coventry yesterday afternoon when a huge plane with 4 propellers (2 per wing) flew over, quite low. It was very impressive.

Have spent a lot of time searching for what it could be on the Internet but cannot find. It had a distinctive wing shape that difficult describe but I would know if I saw it again.

Anybody know what it was?

[Eric Mc]

High wing?

Low wing?

Piston engined?

Turboprop?

[Sheets Tabuer]

Probably the air atlantique DC6.

living next to the airport you get buzzed by all sorts of odd things.

[Simpo Two]

Two per wing eh?! That rules out all the ones with 3 on one wing and 1 on the other

[Zaxxon]

Could have been a Handley Page HP42 Simpo......highly unlikely though

[Eric Mc]

Sheets Tabuer said:

Probably the air atlantique DC6.

living next to the airport you get buzzed by all sorts of odd things.

That's been grounded for a while so, even though it did cross my mind, I didn't think it could be it.

I was thinking perhaps a Lockheed Hercules or Electra.

[XG332]

Simpo Two said:

Two per wing eh?! That rules out all the ones with 3 on one wing and 1 on the other

[XG332]

Simpo Two said:

Two per wing eh?! That rules out all the ones with 3 on one wing and 1 on the other

[Eric Mc]

Asymetry can work -

[Kateg28]

XG332 said:

Simpo Two said:

Two per wing eh?! That rules out all the ones with 3 on one wing and 1 on the other

You know what, I thought some wag would pick up on that. I was just trying to be complete, some planes have two engines either side of the tail as well.

[Kateg28]

Eric Mc said:

High wing?

Low wing?

Piston engined?

Turboprop?

Am not a plane buff and it flew over head but the wings were set low on the fuselage (if that is what you mean).

As for the engines, there were four of them and each of them had a mahoosive propeller at the front. That is all my knowledge used up.

[Kateg28]

Eric Mc said:

I was thinking perhaps a Lockheed Hercules or Electra.

Just googled them and the Electra looks like a winner.

Definitely not a Hercules (and actually that is one of the few planes I would recognise) but an Electra looks good.

The Atlantique DC6 looked a winner but the wings are wrong I think. The photo of the electra here:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lockheed_L-...

Shows the wings correctly. In addition the engines evenly spaced on the wings whereas the DC6 they look closer together and closer to the fuselage.

[ShredderXLE]

I was driving to coventry early yesterday morning to visit some family and overtook the Sally B support van on the a14/m6 area. Could it have been that? Not sure what airshows were on this weekend.

[Kateg28]

No, it seemed more like a commercial passenger aircraft, similar dimensions to a Boeing 707 or similar.

Only with 'presence' if you know what I mean.

The electra still seems front runner although difficult to tell when comparing photos to a memory.

[Simpo Two]

Eric Mc said:

Asymetry can work -

Eric Brown says of that 'On take-off you couldn't help thinking something was missing...'

[anonymous-user]

Kateg28 said:

The electra still seems front runner although difficult to tell when comparing photos to a memory.

Kateg28 said:

Have spent a lot of time searching for what it could be on the Internet but cannot find. It had a distinctive wing shape that difficult describe but I would know if I saw it again.

[Kateg28]

Why is that confusing you?

I spent a long time researching on the internet but I am trying to compare photos to a memory. However when I see a photo I can tell from the distinctive wing shape.

Actually am concerned the wing shape was caused by ailerons being down although it didn't look like it was landing or just taken off. However I know nothing about airplanes.

[Simpo Two]

The panels that hinge down for landing are called flaps. Ailerons work in opposite directions and control roll.

By the end of the day you'll be an expert

[anonymous-user]

Kateg28 said:

Why is that confusing you?

I spent a long time researching on the internet but I am trying to compare photos to a memory. However when I see a photo I can tell from the distinctive wing shape.

Actually am concerned the wing shape was caused by ailerons being down although it didn't look like it was landing or just taken off. However I know nothing about airplanes.

If you typed in 4 engine propeller plane you would find that there are probably only a handful of examples still flying you might have seen. Even if you concentrated just on colour google images.

It's unlikely you spent "a long time researching on the internet" and haven't already seen the aircraft you saw yesterday.

[Kateg28]

Simpo Two said:

The panels that hinge down for landing are called flaps. Ailerons work in opposite directions and control roll.

By the end of the day you'll be an expert

So it might have been ailerons down for controlling the roll? All I know is that the back edge of the wings was not a straight line from tip to fuselage. It had a kind of step which could be explained by some of the flaps or ailerons.

It was a large plane, and we watched it cross over us for some distance and, whilst it was quite low, it did not appear to be changing altitude.

It was very impressive. And am looking forward to becoming an expert!