Page 1 of 2
What is this plane?
Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 12:08 pm
by obvert
Okay. Another chance to stump the experts. Posting while you're awake this time Barb!

RE: What is this plane?
Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 12:14 pm
by ericv
RE: What is this plane?
Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 12:18 pm
by Lecivius
6 minutes post to answer [X(]
RE: What is this plane?
Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 12:28 pm
by obvert
So good!!
Only one made in 1938 and it's a pretty plane.
RE: What is this plane?
Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 12:43 pm
by ericv
Thanks. I saw this somewhere before once. Stearman stuck, that makes looking for the rest not that hard [:)]
RE: What is this plane?
Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 5:58 pm
by dr.hal
What is the emblem on the back fin?
RE: What is this plane?
Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 11:05 pm
by wdolson
ORIGINAL: dr.hal
What is the emblem on the back fin?
Boeing's corporate logo at the time.
Bill
RE: What is this plane?
Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 11:12 pm
by jcjordan
Looks like an engine out test - left looks like it's not turning can't fully tell on right
RE: What is this plane?
Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 11:12 pm
by Anachro
Not saying anyone would cheat, but it's very easy to do a
reverse image search. Might be why it's hard to stump all of us for too long.
RE: What is this plane?
Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 3:18 am
by obvert
ORIGINAL: Anachro
Not saying anyone would cheat, but it's very easy to do a reverse image search. Might be why it's hard to stump all of us for too long.
Yeah. I tried to change the scale and darkness of the image slightly to see if that made it harder to find, but apparently not!
We've caught a few students this year and last using a reverse search after they turned in artwork and photography that was just a little bit beyond their usual level of ability.
RE: What is this plane?
Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 3:39 am
by Buckrock
ORIGINAL: obvert
Yeah. I tried to change the scale and darkness of the image slightly to see if that made it harder to find, but apparently not!
I was going to suggest that even just flipping the image in the horizontal is often enough to throw the standard image searches off.
But then I noticed another website had already done just that with the same image for their quiz, so now neither image is safe from searches. I assume that was why you didn't try it?
There are other image options but they normally require the OP to put additional time in before posting his image.
RE: What is this plane?
Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 4:44 am
by wdolson
ORIGINAL: Anachro
Not saying anyone would cheat, but it's very easy to do a reverse image search. Might be why it's hard to stump all of us for too long.
ORIGINAL: obvert
Yeah. I tried to change the scale and darkness of the image slightly to see if that made it harder to find, but apparently not!
We've caught a few students this year and last using a reverse search after they turned in artwork and photography that was just a little bit beyond their usual level of ability.
About the only way a school can get original work out of a student these days and know it came from them is to force them to produce work in a monitored environment without access to the internet.
Bill
RE: What is this plane?
Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 5:25 am
by adarbrauner
At first it reminded me of a sort of an altered, extended Blenheim some how. Shape, dimension and disposition are pretty similar, as well as the engine coulings.
I never saw this airplane before
RE: What is this plane?
Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 5:37 am
by wdolson
The prototype was later rebuilt with a more conventional nose configuration.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stearman_XA-21
It was an entry in the competition that led to the A-20. The Maryland was another design in the competition that was not used by the USAAF, but it was bought on the export market by the RAF.
Bill
RE: What is this plane?
Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 6:56 am
by ericv
I agree that a lot of unqualified people nowadays can fool anyone. It is the overqualified, like me, that no longer stand out sadly.
Personally I spent over 35 years of my life obsessively studying world war 2. With obsessively I mean 40 hours a week, besides work, for 35 years. [:D]
especially the german army against the soviet union. But also the war in the pacific. the air war, the war at sea. pretty much everything. In some areas, not all, I am alone in the world with the knowledge I gathered in my memory. I once did a test wit friends. also photo related with regard to German officers. I knew them all obviously. Even recognized a Erich Topp from a photo made in the 1980's I had never seen before. My brain is just weirdly wired in that way.
3 years ago I had enough and donated my books to the Royal Dutch Military Academy. Apparently they had never seen such a collection of rare books, materials and original mostly German Documents. Go call them and ask about Eric Vosselmans's collection.
Sometimes I try to display my knowledge. Before the internet I sometimes got into a discussion with people, and people were honestly flabbergasted by the things I knew from memory. Sadly these days are gone with the internet.. The last time I got into a discussion with some polish guys on axis history, that wanted to rewrite history.. I was citing from memory after a lot of nonsense I just gave up. Too old to be bothered. [:D]
RE: What is this plane?
Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 7:58 am
by obvert
ORIGINAL: ericv
I agree that a lot of unqualified people nowadays can fool anyone. It is the overqualified, like me, that no longer stand out sadly.
Personally I spent over 35 years of my life obsessively studying world war 2. With obsessively I mean 40 hours a week, besides work, for 35 years. [:D]
especially the german army against the soviet union. But also the war in the pacific. the air war, the war at sea. pretty much everything. In some areas, not all, I am alone in the world with the knowledge I gathered in my memory. I once did a test wit friends. also photo related with regard to German officers. I knew them all obviously. Even recognized a Erich Topp from a photo made in the 1980's I had never seen before. My brain is just weirdly wired in that way.
3 years ago I had enough and donated my books to the Royal Dutch Military Academy. Apparently they had never seen such a collection of rare books, materials and original mostly German Documents. Go call them and ask about Eric Vosselmans's collection.
Sometimes I try to display my knowledge. Before the internet I sometimes got into a discussion with people, and people were honestly flabbergasted by the things I knew from memory. Sadly these days are gone with the internet.. The last time I got into a discussion with some polish guys on axis history, that wanted to rewrite history.. I was citing from memory after a lot of nonsense I just gave up. Too old to be bothered. [:D]
You're in the right place, mate! We do appreciate that level of knowledge here, and the "code" of etiquette on the forum would make it unlikely for anyone to actually post after doing a reverse search on these images. [:)]
I do research a bit on the internet, but nothing replaces reading a well researched book or article on a more specific subject. I do love the ability to find the odd and interesting, like these one of a kind prototype planes, especially the really hot looking ones.
It'd be a good startup if I ever had a few million to get a company making kits of these planes, maybe even 3-D printing parts so people could do their own. It's nearly to the point that would be possible for the majority of a body and structural parts, with engines obviously needing a more industrial/professional construction.
Personally I'd have an amphib PBY-5A Catalina! The viewing from the gun blisters, the ability to fly far and land on water, the sleek beautiful 30s design and the ability to really stretch out on long flights would make it ideal!

RE: What is this plane?
Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 9:17 am
by dave sindel
ORIGINAL: obvert
ORIGINAL: ericv
I agree that a lot of unqualified people nowadays can fool anyone. It is the overqualified, like me, that no longer stand out sadly.
Personally I spent over 35 years of my life obsessively studying world war 2. With obsessively I mean 40 hours a week, besides work, for 35 years. [:D]
especially the german army against the soviet union. But also the war in the pacific. the air war, the war at sea. pretty much everything. In some areas, not all, I am alone in the world with the knowledge I gathered in my memory. I once did a test wit friends. also photo related with regard to German officers. I knew them all obviously. Even recognized a Erich Topp from a photo made in the 1980's I had never seen before. My brain is just weirdly wired in that way.
3 years ago I had enough and donated my books to the Royal Dutch Military Academy. Apparently they had never seen such a collection of rare books, materials and original mostly German Documents. Go call them and ask about Eric Vosselmans's collection.
Sometimes I try to display my knowledge. Before the internet I sometimes got into a discussion with people, and people were honestly flabbergasted by the things I knew from memory. Sadly these days are gone with the internet.. The last time I got into a discussion with some polish guys on axis history, that wanted to rewrite history.. I was citing from memory after a lot of nonsense I just gave up. Too old to be bothered. [:D]
You're in the right place, mate! We do appreciate that level of knowledge here, and the "code" of etiquette on the forum would make it unlikely for anyone to actually post after doing a reverse search on these images. [:)]
I do research a bit on the internet, but nothing replaces reading a well researched book or article on a more specific subject. I do love the ability to find the odd and interesting, like these one of a kind prototype planes, especially the really hot looking ones.
It'd be a good startup if I ever had a few million to get a company making kits of these planes, maybe even 3-D printing parts so people could do their own. It's nearly to the point that would be possible for the majority of a body and structural parts, with engines obviously needing a more industrial/professional construction.
Personally I'd have an amphib PBY-5A Catalina! The viewing from the gun blisters, the ability to fly far and land on water, the sleek beautiful 30s design and the ability to really stretch out on long flights would make it ideal!
Love this picture. Any information on where and when it was taken ?
RE: What is this plane?
Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 9:28 am
by obvert
Yeah. It's part of a series of photos by a guy who was converting PBYs to luxury air/yachts.
Here:
http://www.messynessychic.com/2014/04/24/all-aboard-the-flying-yacht-circa-1950/
A few of them predictably came to disastrous ends, including one famous incident where another guy who was converting them took his own family on a world tour and got shot up in Saudi Arabia. [X(]
RE: What is this plane?
Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 9:53 am
by dave sindel
interesting article - thanks for sharing !
RE: What is this plane?
Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 10:47 pm
by wdolson
There was a show called Airplane Repo. I only saw one or two episodes, but in one episode they had to repo a flying boat. Not long after take-off they had engine trouble and had to put the plane down in a lake. They soon discovered the hull was not watertight, though the leak wasn't bad. One of the guys got out on the wing to work on the bad engine while the other started a pump to get the water out. They managed to get the engine fixed and got it to an airport where real repairs could be done. I can't remember what type of plane it was though. I think it was a Grummun Goose, though I may be wrong. It was a while ago when I saw it.
Bill