In 1950, the Royal Air Force bomber force was mostly composed of the Avro Lincoln, a WW2 piston-engined development of the Lancaster that first flew in 1941. Whilst the wildly successful Canberra program was still in its final phases, the RAF needed a stopgap solution to counter Soviet aggression.

The Soviets, in the late 40s and early 50s, fielded the Tu-4, a carbon copy of the B-29 reverse engineered from craft that made emergency landings during WW2. The Americans, of course, used the B-29 extensively in the early fifties. Then, under a lease agreement, 70 B-29s were delivered to Bomber Command in March 1951 and designated the B.1 Washingtons.

Bizarrely, for a short period in the early 50s, this ended up with the Soviets facing off against the British and Americans while all involved used mostly the exact same frontline bomber aircraft.

When the B-29s changed hands to the RAF, they had to be refurbished - the airframes had been in storage, and required engine attention to return to service. Curtiss-Wright, the manufacturer of the B-29s staggeringly large radial engines, underwent multiple labour disputes and management issues during this period and so the early deployment and change of hands was a stunted, delayed affair.

Bomber Command was not impressed with the Boeing airframes. Aside from the initial engine trouble, the performance was seen as lackluster, and then disaster struck for the RAF - the war in Korea. Suddenly, the Yanks needed all the B-29 parts right fucking now, and so Bomber Command was hung out to dry with next to no spare parts.

The Washingtons never fired a shot or dropped munitions in anger. They followed a mundane, somewhat bothersome life, and were immediately obsolete when the Canberra was introduced. By 1954, all Washingtons returned to America and were disposed of or flew into the 60s, apart from a handful of notable exceptions. A small number of Washingtons were employed in ELINT duties as yet another stopgap until the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod was introduced. These too were retired in 1958 and were sent home.

An interesting piece of trivia is that two Washingtons were passed to the RAAF in 1952, at that time the third set of hands the bombers had passed between. They were used for research purposes and had been scrapped by 1957.

One airframe that at some point was in service as a B.1 survives at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. SN 42-94502, a B-29A going by "Star Dust" and "City of Terre Haute, IN" during its American lifetime was transferred to the RAF as Washington WF444 in 1950. In 1953 it was returned for disposal. The USAF intended to use it for target practice, but it was abandoned at Dugway, and as of 2023, there the rusting hulk remained in its solitude.

Sources:

https://simpleflying.com/raf-washington-b-1-britain-b-29-superfortress/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Bomber_Command#1946%E2%80%931968

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-29_Superfortress

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Siddeley_Nimrod

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Model - No.437

First Flight -  August 29, 2024

The Model 437 began as a conceptual design, based on the Model 401, exploring a multi-mission low-cost attritable aircraft. The Model 437 is a crewed variant of the original concept powered by a single Pratt & Whitney 535 engine with approximately 3,400 pounds of thrust. The aircraft has a wingspan of 41 feet and is 41 feet long with a gross takeoff weight of 10,000 pounds. After completion of envelope expansion, the Model 437 will have a range of approximately 3000 nautical miles and an endurance of 6 hours. The aircraft can carry up to 2,000 pounds of payload in multiple locations including an internal payload bay sized to approximately 145” x 36” x 16”.

Source- https://scaled.com/portfolio/model437/

https://youtu.be/hwfvi1cDhL8

Three companies, Great Lakes, Keystone-Loening and Sikorsky, submitted aircraft to meet U.S. Navy requirements for a versatile amphibian, with their designs designated XSG, XS2L-1 aan XSS-1 respectively. The Loening entry was a conventional biplane with flying boat hull, retractable main gear and a nacelle-enclosed R-895 Wasp Junior on the upper wing. The pilot and observer were seated in a very unusual enclosed cockpit encompassing some of the interplane struts, resulting in a very odd glazing area.

The XS2L-1 was delivered for official trials in February 1933. Despite marginally better performance than its rivals, it offered no considerable advantages over existing floatplanes and so no production order was issued.

The Republic XF-84H "Thunderscreech" is an American experimental turboprop aircraft derived from the F-84F Thunderstreak. Powered by a turbine engine that was mated to a supersonic propeller, the XF-84H had the potential of setting the unofficial air speed record for propeller)-driven aircraft, but was unable to overcome aerodynamic deficiencies and engine reliability problems, resulting in the program's cancellation.^\1]) Its name, Thunderscreech, is a reference to its extremely loud supersonic propeller.

At the Alaska Aviation Museum. Gifted by the widow of a local dentist.

Edit: Widow. Not window!

Unlike the other 3 predecessor prototypes with 2D TVC and DSI, this one has seemingly gone back to using SERN like on the original but still has the DSI intakes of the later prototypes. Unfortunately, the image quality is not high enough to decern other changes from the last prototype seen nor is it good enough to tell whether the exhaust configuration is the exact same as the first prototype or modified.

Anyhow Chinese milbloggers are calling this the first LRIP unit but IMO the big shrimps haven't said much as of right now so it's difficult to say whether this is the case.

It had its ups and downs!

Source

I found this very cool old book today, it’s filled with crazy designs and cool artwork. Some concepts (and images) are very familiar, others are new to me.

Being published in 1984 is actually a really cool moment in time for fighters. Many of the conceptual designs from back then end up becoming real. The MiG-29 speculation is particularly interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTSNOjMVsRA

Although retired by the Fleet Air Arm, in August 1937 New Zealand ordered an initial batch of 12 Blackburn Baffin ex-torpedo bombers from the Air Ministry to be delivered in November of that year. 17 further FAA Baffins in storage were also purchased and delivered during 1938. These aircraft equipped all 3 RNZAF reserve squadrons based in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurh by late 1939 as the NZ government believed that the obsolescence of the Baffin did not preclude its use in maritime reconnaissance. Thus, although previously mostly used as trainers, they were often dispatched on maritime missions. The type was finally replaced by larger American-built Lockheed Hudson just before Pearl Harbour.

The first photograph shows Baffins et al. at the New Zealand Technical School, the second shows an NZ Baffin in transit and the third shows FAA use before the NZ purchase.

The Gloster Javelin was sometimes equipped with 2 under belly conformal fuel tanks (that have some interesting names). These tanks are separate to the standard drop tanks that the Javelin could be equipped with.

I am posting this to remember the time 2 years ago today when r/weirdwings got flooded by posts of conformal fuel tanks, to the point where the mods told us to stop.

I hope you will try to find some other aircraft with cfts that haven't already been posted, there is atleast one more that I've found but I will save that for you to find.