name that plane

[theconrodkid]

spotted buzzing around RAF Northolt at about 16-30 today.
small twin piston engined fighter with a high tail wing,looks like a WW2 era fighter,green cammo paint and RAF roundels on the wings,any ideas?

[mybrainhurts]

Moth...

[Don1]

Mosquito? P38?

[mybrainhurts]

Sounds like a Whirlwind, but I'm not aware of any airworthy ones...

[Eric Mc]

Not many WW2 era twin piston engined fighters had a "high tail" (although it does depend on what you mean by that). Do you mean a "T" tail (tailplane mounted atop or part way up the tailfin) or simply a tall tail fin.

The only one I can think of is the Westland Whirlwind - but a Whirlwind hasn't flown since the end of WW2.



There are no airworthy Mosquitoes at the moment (although the Mossie had a low tail anyway).

Beaten to it - for once.

I wonder was it a King Air 200/300. Not WW2 but propellor driven and does have a T Tail

Edited by Eric Mc on Wednesday 4th March 17:05

[AlexKP]

Are there any flying Beaufighters? (I don't think there are...and were most usually painted black IIRC)

Edited by AlexKP on Wednesday 4th March 17:06

[mybrainhurts]

I BEAT ERIC....YEEEEE HAAAAAAAAA

[Eric Mc]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

No - which is a pity.

Had a low tail too.

High tails were not really common until the advent of the jet - the Gloster Meteor has a mid set tail plane

[Eric Mc]

RAF King Air

[theconrodkid]

yea could have been a whirlwind,afaik there are no mozzie,s left flying now :-(.

[beefcake42]

Douglas Maurader B26 has a high tail section.. or a Grumman Tiger cat

not sure the tiger ever saw RAF use though

[anonymous-user]

I love these threads.

The OP states what the plane looked like and then someone says "Are you sure it wasn't a single" or "Was it actually a helicopter?" and the OP says "Oh I'm not sure, perhaps it was an airship or a bird I didn't really see it"

[FourWheelDrift]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Not yet, but after 15 years it's getting there, just needs some ex-military Bristol Hercules and a bit more work.

[MartG]

Aren't there one or two captured Pucaras flying around the UK ?

Edited by MartG on Wednesday 4th March 17:16

[Eric Mc]

theconrodkid said:

yea could have been a whirlwind,afaik there are no mozzie,s left flying now :-(.

Absolutely no way.

No Whirlwind fighters even exist - let alone fly.

There are no flyable Marauders either, although there is one potentially flyable one in the US. It certainly isn't in the UK at the moment - and the Marauder had a low set tail too (albeit with pronounced dihedral).

[Eric Mc]

MartG said:

Aren't there one or two captured Pucaras flying around the UK ?

http://www.neam.org.uk/images/A522.jpg

None flyable.

[theconrodkid]

as Eric says its a T tail and small fuselage like a single seat fighter,single boom so not P38,the engines didnt sound like merlins,a lot quieter btw

[mybrainhurts]

beefcake42 said:

Douglas Maurader B26 has a high tail section..

Eh, wot...?

[MartG]

And the B-26 Marauder was made by Martin anyway, not Douglas. Though the Douglas A-26 Invader was later re-designated as B-26....

Edited by MartG on Wednesday 4th March 17:21

[Skywalker]

If it was greenish it was probably one of the RAF's very new Shadow R1's





However - there have been some of these US Army RC-12K Huron's spotted and photgraphed around RAF Mildenhall recently.

Edited by Skywalker on Wednesday 4th March 17:24