A Forgotten Aviation Masterpiece | Armstrong Whitworth Siskin

Want to join the community? Visit our Discord - / discord
Looking for aviation-themed art? → ikarusart.net/
Want to support the channel? I have a Patreon here - / rexshangar
The Armstrong-Whitworth Siskin was the company’s most successful aircraft from the interwar period…interestingly it was also their first design of the interwar period.
Sources:
Tapper.O (1988) Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Since 1913.
Mason.F.K (1993), The British Fighter Since 1912.
Meekcoms.K.J and Morgan.E.B, (1994) The British Aircraft Specification File.
0:00 Topic Introduction
01:43 Develoment Origins
04:50 The First Siskins
06:24 Siskin Mk.III
09:55 Siskin Mk.IIIA
11:59 Peacetime Service
14:38 Successs & Legacy

[@RexsHangar]

F.A.Q Section Q: Do you take aircraft requests? A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:) Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others? A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both. Q: Will you include video footage in your videos, or just photos? A: Video footage is very expensive to licence, if I can find footage in the public domain I will try to use it, but a lot of it is hoarded by licencing studies (British Pathe, Periscope films etc). In the future I may be able to afford clips :) Q: Why do you sometimes feature images/screenshots from flight simulators? A: Sometimes there are not a lot of photos available for certain aircraft, so I substitute this with digital images that are as accurate as possible.

[@makschorney2514]

Zeppelin Stakken E4/20

[@John.0z]

According to a book on engines I have, you were generous to the ABC Dragonfly, especially it's crankshaft vibration! Bill Gunston "World Encyclopaedia of Aero Engines 3rd ed" 1995: "the unhappy result was that this component usually broke after an hour or two". With the torsional vibration *charring the wooden hub* of the prop! S D Heron described it as having "the worst example of air cooling" he had ever seen. I cannot adequately imagine the bravery of the test pilots! Take care of your voice; I love the aircraft histories.

[@Zorglub1966]

@@makschorney2514 All of them!!! With one video per type EDIT and naked women!

[@VELIkiq8]

Hey Rex I realy like the format of your videos as well as how you present them! And I was wondering if you could add the DAR-10 to your list of aircraft? Its a Bulgarian design from WW2 and I think its quite neat. Thank you!

[@henrikaper]

The Farman Goliath airliner. It's like a 'railway carraige with wings'. I love it.

[@highgeneralkage2748]

Nothing like a Rex's Hangar upload to brighten my day.

[@AgarwaenMort]

Agreed! A truly bad day just got brighter. And I've always loved this plane!

[@FieryCheeze]

Pair it with an Ed Nash upload. It becomes exquisite.

[@jokesonyou1373]

L'hoo... z'her 🤡

[@uingaeoc3905]

Now all pay attention - don't confuse Armstrong, Siddeley Deesley, which is Armstrong Whitworth with Armstrong Siddeley which is not Vickers, Vickers Armstrong with Bristol Siddeley. Remember there is no Vickers Siddeley or Bristol Armstrong. There was eventually a Vickers with Bristol but they called themselves 'British Aircraft Corporation.'

[@karlbrundage7472]

Okay, but who's on first?

[@josephking6515]

@@karlbrundage7472 I don't know.................................. (third base!)

[@josephking6515]

Now say that quickly 10 times.

[@garryferrington811]

Eek

[@CaymanIslandsCatWalks]

Bristol is crappest city in UK

[@timgosling6189]

FYI, Number 'One-Eleven' Squadron is generally referred to in the RAF as 'Treble-One' Sqn or, informally, as 'Tremblers'.

[@randalscott7224]

I only became aware of the Siskin when I came across the little Matchbox 1/72 kit years ago. Thanks for this reminder!

[@karlbrundage7472]

I still kick myself over not purchasing an unbuilt kit at a yard sale more than 30 years ago....

[@kellybreen5526]

I believe that the Waterloo Siskins hockey club established in 1934 was named after the aerobatic team and not the bird. Windsor named their team years later after the Spitfire.

[@Ash007YT]

One of my interwar favourite aircraft.

[@bigblue6917]

Canadian Siskins performed acrobatic displays between 1930 and 1921. I know the Siskin was good but I would have thought its ability to time travel would have been mentioned more prominently. I thought you would have mentioned the infamous Siskin Face. Apparently despite its many virtues as an aircraft it could be problematic when it came to landing and if you did not get it right it could result in the pilots face hitting the instrument, hence the Siskin Face.

[@John.0z]

I heard it was called the "Siskin Nose". But the difference was most likely a measure of how badly you failed to get it just right?

[@wintersbattleofbands1144]

Um, do you have those years correct?

[@bigblue6917]

@@wintersbattleofbands1144 I listened to it several times just make sure. I have a feeling he may have meant 1930 to 1931. Just rechecked it and he does say 1930 to 1921. Try listening from 14:08 and see what you think.

[@bigblue6917]

@@John.0z Sounds like someone got a lightly.

[@daiichidoku]

@@John.0z same, i came to comments just to see if anyone knew the siskin nose reference

[@Jerre27]

This was my first scale model: Matchbox Siskin in 1/72 scale. That was 39 years ago, got it for my 6th birthday.

[@garryferrington811]

When these were built, "sixth" was pronounced as "sixth" rather than "sikth."

[@Jerre27]

@@garryferrington811 ?

[@olgagaming5544]

What

[@travisgamble8765]

Siskins are still remembered fondly by Canadian aircraft historians as they were reliable, maneuverable and robust. That RCAF😂 aerobatic team you mentioned in Canad ALSO attached theirs together for some shows - but with chains! I am not sure how many shows they did that with. A "one up" to the RAF maybe 😉 "Siskin" is still kept alive as a potential name for future aircraft acquisitions - like Canso, Harvard, Husky etc. They took on Canada's ruggedness and did a lot of good work in service here mapping, SAR, and evac of sick persons in remote communities (the two seater). It was also nice to "one up" the USAAC at any opportunity back then. Thank you Rex for the great video history of this amazing and historic aircraft!

[@marclaplante5679]

It was the only Canadian fighter aircraft in the interwar era, until the first hurricanes were obtained just before the outbreak of WW2. Canada’s military unpreparedness is a constant, not a fluke.

[@RemusKingOfRome]

Don't push it too hard, you're health is paramount, lose your voice for awhile and you're in an even worse place.

[@geoffkeeys6946]

Back when I was younger (back in the 80s), one of the first Airfix models I ever built was a Siskin. It has held a special place in my heart because of that.

[@javiergilvidal1558]

If Siskin, must have been Matchbox. If Airfix, must have been a Bulldog. Airfix never made the Siskin

[@johndell3642]

👍You're probably remembering the Matchbox model kit of the Siskin. Most people who were kids at the time remember every model kit as an "Airfix" to the extent that in Britain any plastic model kit was known as an "Airfix" kit. In terms of inter-war RAF biplanes Airfix did a Bristol Bulldog and a Hawker Hart and Demon, but not a Siskin.

[@geoffkeeys6946]

@@johndell3642 Yeah, you could be right. It was over 40 years ago and it was at the start of my plastic aircraft kit collecting period. My memory from then is not as clear as it should be, but I do remember that it was definitely a Siskin.

[@mbryson2899]

​@@javiergilvidal1558I remember being very happy when Matchbox kits became commonly available starting in the late 70s. Until then we had Revell, Monogram, and MPC, with a smattering of Airfix kits. I am still disappointed that I was never able to get a Handley Page 0/400 despite having one on order at three different Chicago-area hobby shops. The first Matchbox kit I built was _HMS Manxman_ in 1/700 IIRC. Not the best in details, but back then you built what you could find.

[@guaporeturns9472]

@@johndell3642nerd alert

[@Peter_Morris]

I love all your videos, man. Sometimes I miss when they come out, for some reason. But I’m always happy when a new one drops and then I get to go back and see if I missed anything!

[@thevoxofreason8468]

Love the weird, wonderful and lesser known machines of the 20's and 30's. Keep doing what you do. Love it.

[@javiergilvidal1558]

Why "weird"? It was a pretty standard biplane. Unless you consider biplanes "weird", but they were the opposite of "weird": technology then precluded building aero engines light yet powerful enough to be kept aloft on monoplane lift

[@thevoxofreason8468]

@@javiergilvidal1558 I'm referring to the many planes he's covered on his channel...not this one. Yes, this is straightforward.

[@radiosnail]

I remember reading about them being used by a meteorology flight based at Duxford, where efforts were made to fly every day irrespective of the weather itself. It might have been in biography about the RAF ace Stanford Tuck. I seem to recall reference to particular pilot injury called "Siskin Nose" in the book as well.

[@davidjones332]

"Siskin Nose" was probably the aircraft's most enduring legacy, since in a forced landing the pilot was usually flung forward to smash the bridge of his nose on the cockpit coaming. You're probably thinking of Jeffrey Quill, who suffered that injury, and also served with the Met. Flight, winning his Air Force Cross for setting a record of thirteen months without missing a flight. He states in his autobiography that the Met. Flight were the last operators of the Siskin in the RAF so nobody was much fussed if they wrote the odd one off by flying in impossible weather.

[@radiosnail]

@@davidjones332 Thankyou. I've read Quill's book. Forgive my slightly fault memory.

[@towgod7985]

Any day with a Rex Hanger video is a good day. Take care of your health, we can re-watch your previous excellent videos!

[@johndell3642]

In case it's confusing anyone, at the time the term "all-metal" only meant the main structure was made of metal. The wings, tailplane, rudder and most of the fuselage were still covered in fabric. One other point to note about the Siskin, was that most of them were not actually built by Armstrong Whitworth. The Air Ministry had a "drip-feed" policy throughout the 1920s and early 30s to keep as many aircraft companies going as possible while ensuring value for money for the taxpayer. Once an aircraft had been accepted for service and an initial order filled by the company that designed it, orders for more could be put out to tender to the aircraft industry as a whole with the order usually going to the lowest bidder. Thus Blackburn, Bristol, Gloster and Vickers all built Siskins and got valuable experience in building "all-metal" aircraft in the process. Of course, this cut down on the profits that aircraft companies could make. Matters came to a head when additional orders for the Hawker Hart were put out to tender, leading to a loss of profits for Hawkers. This led to Hawker buying out Armstrong Whitworth and Gloster to cut down on the competition and increase profits. The various "Putnam" books on aviation companies fudge this issue. For example, the one on Armstrong Whitworth says that AW was too busy building Atlas army co-op aircraft to produce more Siskins. This is simply not true.

[@davidwelch6796]

Good point and well made. The Putnam book on Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft was written with the blessing and help of AWA and they may well have influenced the text, and certainly the information given to the author.

[@therealuncleowen2588]

I'm grinning imaging flying the original at night, being the first aircraft to provide running lights in the form of its glowing red hot cylinder heads.

[@piotrstrzelczyk5248]

By way of supplement: Canadian Siskin's survived until 1939. While Swedish and Estonian were used for training until 1940.

[@user-pi4wj7bm4z]

Great to hear from you.Take care.

[@greggwilliamson]

You put up some great videos!! I appreciate your diligence in acquiring all the relevant information on the aircraft you showcase. You dive much deeper than most. Thank you.

[@billestew7535]

Get well soon, Rex, seeing a Siskin on skis during an extremely hot August has got me looking forward to winter

[@Rincypoopoo]

Great video. I am looking forward to the Bulldog episode. I always wanted to know more about them.

[@thefez-cat]

Slightly related: siskins are really cute birds, not exactly what you'd expect name a warplane after.

[@marco77ar]

I know I'm a month late on this video, But a crazy day at work, the heat outside..... These few minutes, it's therapeutic, rejuvenating, calming..... A few minutes, to chill put the feet up , regroup, focus.....get ready for the nephew's football game....🤟👍🤙...

[@MonkeyJedi99]

"(The Dragonfly engine) was overweight and underperforming." It's okay, engine. Come have a cup of tea with me and join the club.

[@dbracer]

Nice summary on one of the many lesser known aircraft. One note - at 8:30 you mention that entry into service was 1934. I suspect you meant 1924, but that should be obvious to most anyway.

[@vipertwenty249]

Thanks for covering this little known aircraft - I look forward to the Bristol Bulldog video.

[@owen368]

The plane that D Badder lost his legs in.

[@vipertwenty249]

@@owen368 He didn't lose his legs. He knew where they were, it's just that unfortunately that wasn't where they were supposed to be. I knew an ex RAF groundcrew chap from my village who was an armourer in 19 squadron from 1938 and through the Battle of Britain and so of course knew Douglas Bader. He, like the entire ground crew and almost everyone else on the squadron hated Bader with a passion. Arrogant is not enough of a word. Not in any way shape or form a nice person at all. They had a private celebration when he got shot down.

[@BerlietGBC]

How interesting, my friend Tim’s father flew these and crashed one, giving what Tim said is called a Siskin nose because everyone that crashed one broke there nose in the same place Tim had a lovely picture of his dad I think just pre war you could see his nose had taken a bump. His dad had left the RAF in the early 30’s and become the flying instructor for the Midland back I seam the remember re jointing in 1938 and carrying on as a basic flying instructor at Hatfield, I seam to remember he went on to delivering Wellingtons to North Africa

[@patjohnson3100]

Copper cooling of engines in aviation hasn't served the auto industry well either. In the 1920s Chevrolet introduced copper cooled (air cooled ) engines for its cars. It was a huge failure, with the cars recalled and the engines destroyed. Consequently only a very few engines still exist in museums. Thank you for another well -researched and informative video.

[@JohnSmith-yv6eq]

Had the science of ducting airflow been known and applied as it was later e.g. to those huge radial 'corncob" aero engines....air cooling would have worked.... I mean look at the VW Beetle... The Sherman tank engine... and the Franklin?

[@SuperchargedSupercharged]

Thank you very much for a video almost 20 minutes long. Remember no videos longer than 6 hours! Great video thank you for the engine detail!

[@XXfea]

Bloody Good!

[@phsycresconquest6636]

I get the feeling that the Siskin is one of the spiritual ancestors of the Spitfire

[@kevanhubbard9673]

The only Siskin I'd ever heard of was an English newsreader called,I think,Peter Siskin, and I can't even remember if he was BBC or ITN .

[@guitarmangames]

Earliest I've been to an upload. Wonderful coverage on a rather interesting type!

[@deanedeane4318]

Great video Dude ! - I think you could try a pkt of fisherman's friends, the white pkt 😉😎

[@SephirothRyu]

"Daredevil" + "plane" to me now is Ace Combat 7.

[@Echo2-2]

This was fascinating. I only found your channel a week ago and I love it! Awesome job!

[@lexington476]

Good video as always. Hope you feel better.

[@nl1733]

Lovely episode, and interesting too. Good job!

[@johnforsyth7987]

Thank you for another wonderful and informative video. Well done!

[@stewartellinson8846]

Excellent. A very important but now little know aircraft beautifully summarised.

[@makschorney2514]

One of your best!

[@habodea]

Nice video!

[@lewiswestfall2687]

Thanks Rex

[@brettcoster4781]

Take care, you do great videos.

[@soupwizard]

3 cheers for the foresight to have backup videos!

[@TheWanderfound]

At 10:50, you have the range listed as “80 mi (450km)”. At least one of those numbers is very wrong.

[@moosifer3321]

Suspect Miles - you couldn`t even make the Pub on that!

[@kieranh2005]

280mi comes close to 450km

[@Cuccos19]

Very smiliar aircrafts the Boeing P-12 and F4B fighters (and their predecesor the F2B and F3B), would be nice to see some content about them too. :) Or the Curtiss P-6 Hawk and F6C maybe.

[@johnjephcote7636]

Pilots who made a forced landing were often 'rewarded' with an injury known as a 'Siskin nose'. Their high ceiling enabled the a/c to operate MET flights.

[@johnweatherseed8589]

FYI, the Siskins at 15:30+, with numbers such as ‘22’, are RCAF aircraft.

[@oli24yt]

Hope you feel better soon!

[@philhawley1219]

Granville Bradshaw was an absolute charlatan of an engine designer. Apparently a German engineering concern copied his motorcycle engine but had to completely redesign it. They were called the Bavarian Motor Works in English. I wonder what happened to this concern?

[@ParaglidingManiac]

It's beautiful.

[@richardsweeney197]

Not completely forgotten Matchbox did a 1/72 scale mkIIIa and Kora makes mkIIIDC.

[@brynyard]

An aerobatic team that traveled around between 1930 and 1921? I think even nowadays time travel would be considered a quite spectacular watch at an airshow :P

[@rjbartrop2]

From what I've seen, the team operated from 1929 to 1932

[@gubgub3275]

For god sake. Why does this man not have more viewers? This is the aircraft version of forgotten weapons

[@kennedysingh3916]

Watched from Old Harbour Jamaica.

[@loiclaronche5675]

Hello, Thanks for your videos, it's always interesting and never disappointing. As a frenchman, may I suggest you two forgotten aircrafts ? Both built by the SNCASE: the SE.1010 (kind of a Republic XF-12), and the SE.2010 Armagnac (kind of a DC-7). Cheers

[@womble321]

The Dragonfly engine deserves a video all on its own

[@neilfoster814]

I always thought that the A.W Siskin IIIa was quite a good looking aircraft. I have an Airfix 1/72 scale model of it in a box in the loft. I'm not 100% sure, but I seem to remember reading that a couple of them were still serving in a secondary role at the outbreak of WW2.

[@SKILLED_two]

Just caught a Swordfish documentary on DroneScapes, and this gem shows up? I must be living right.

[@4dosmohos]

I would love to see you do deep dives into the History of famous war planes Such as the corsair or the bf 109 series

[@GrigoriZhukov]

You give this modeler the best ideas. Done the junkers J1 yet?

[@johnmckague3094]

Hope you get to feeling better.

[@robbierobinson8819]

A very interesting episode on a very capable aircraft built during very difficult times for the aircraft industry in Britain. Take care of your voice - Rex's Hangar is a welcome relief from some of the AI commentaries!

[@carlmontney7916]

Very informative video about a plane that it seems never received the credit it was due. Until now that is.

[@drstevenrey]

My hair are standing on end again. ABC Dragonfly, number built 1147, actually flown: hold my beer, 9. Nine. As such they clocked in a grand total of, again, my beer, 35 hours. Britain at its very best, again.

[@JacKnife3705]

4:30 that was a proper jab and a half

[@boofini1830]

Looking at the top down part of the schematic it reminds me a lot of an albatross

[@vidgrip8622]

Rest up and get well.

[@mattbaur9784]

thankfully this channel isn't part of the very annoying tank drama going on

[@JustDarrenJ]

At 13:39, is that some sort of a night fighter variant with lights on the upper wings and a wind-driven generator below the fuselage??

[@salvagedb2470]

Never heard of the Siskin but look forward to the Bulldog , an drink Hot Todies mate..not Tea.

[@noseyparker8130]

6:06 What in the world is that ground equipment? And, what is that handle that guy is turning accomplishing? Some sort of fishing rod device used to catch passing biplanes?

[@JohnSmith-yv6eq]

Possibly a fuel cart...the turning handle being the pump?

[@michaelwright2986]

On some of the aircraft shown in this excellent video, there is a long device installed above the centre section of the upper wing. It *might* be a machine gun, but it doesn't look like a Lewis Gun, and there seem to be no references to any armament other than the two synchronised Vickers (and some smol bombs). Could someone identify the object, please?

[@shaunbreadner2971]

I think it is a Lewis gun, but without the magazine in place.

[@lordduvet1141]

Can you find photos of the Yugoslavian Daimler engined hurricane ?

[@stevenborham1584]

The photo of the parked Siskin proves out the engines foibles. Look at the heat damage to the fabric covering 😮🤣

[@womble321]

Not forgotten by me 😊

[@Nebulax123]

IS that an all metal prop?

[@jamesharmer9293]

How did they get out of the cockpit without burning themselves on those long exhaust pipes down the side of the fuselage ?

[@lambastepirate]

The plane has no radiator, they probably intended to say water would not boil if you threw some on the cylinder cooling fins.

[@davidcarr7436]

I don't usually notice too many mistakes, but I'm pretty sure a range of 80 miles does not equal 450 kilometers. Now, if that's just an oversight of editing and it's supposed to be a 280-mile range, that would be roughly equal to 450 kilometers

[@ewathoughts8476]

Wow, just by changing from Imperial to Metric my range can triple. I will have to try that in my automobile.

[@malcolmgibson6288]

I think that you and I read the same or similar books.

[@janlindtner305]

👍👍👍

[@RobFeldkamp]

everytime i watch one of your or Perun's videos i start to think sarcam is actually Australia's official langauge.

[@voiceofraisin3778]

wow im early for once

[@treszenrv9401]

rounedel on J-7002 doesn't look like a RAF one. (8:16)

[@Wolfe_Blue]

Hello.

[@CaymanIslandsCatWalks]

You live west coast though?

[@boomboomf2268]

Yey planes

[@deeemceetooisbaesgaem7211]

YIPPEE

[@chriscarbaugh3936]

Is this what Bader crashed?

[@thhseeking]

Maybe. But I heard that he crashed a few Messeschmitts as well 😉

[@alexwinfield9540]

Nope that was a Bristol Bull dog

[@wbertie2604]

Austerity... 1923, number of UK-based fighter squadrons: 0

[@TheJaymon1962]

I had to Google "sisken".

[@chrismoule7242]

Yes - Granville Bradshaw was almost single-handedly the cause of the collapse of the UK military air service.

[@simongee8928]

Rolls Royce Eagle engine - ? This name re emerged in the early 1970s as the Rolls Royce Eagle Diesel truck engine. No imagination eh - ? 😅

[@benloi9874]

"Engine as stable as the country's finances." Bwahahaha!

[@stephenwhelan2515]

I too remember the matchbox kit from the early 80s. The siskin was rather ugly, looking like it was designed by a guy with a straight ruler who hated curves. Perhaps a companion video on its even uglier royal navy conterpart, the fairey flycatcher?