Several nations flirted with Float Fighters during the Second World War. Let's look at some examples from Italy, Japan, Britain and the USA! Were any of them successful? Let's find out! / worldofwarbirds amzn.to/3VTR3vf
Пікірлер: 126
@MonostripeZebra5 ай бұрын
I just love the oddity of floatplane fighters.. from WW1 to the Saunders Roe SR.A/1
@Cuccos195 ай бұрын
The last remaining one you can see at Solent Sky museum, in Southampton. I was there, not a big yet a very lovely place with many very interesting aircrafts and artifacts. Including this SR.A/1
@clivestainlesssteelwomble766525 күн бұрын
The SARO is actually a Flyingboat ....😉 The hull is integral to the fuselage .. floatplanes are just added on struts .. The French used a unifying covering term Hydroavions, literally water planes. You've missed out several significant German American and Japanese floatplanes. There's a particularly elegant US one that was used in the extreme North. There was also a couple of moves to even up the floatplanes speed drag and combat performance.... by using a retracting center line belly float ... a design idea also developed on the Blackburn B20 patrol bomber. No exposed struts or bracings once airborne but no need for the deep hull and high wind of the true Flyingboat to keep props and engines clear of the water and spray from take off and landing. 🧙🏻♂️🇬🇧
@scottwhitmire65775 ай бұрын
PHOTOS I've never SEEN ! Wow. Just Wow.
@paulsteaven5 ай бұрын
A6M2-N Rufe: "Finally, a worthy opponent, our battle will be legendary!"
@JTA19615 ай бұрын
Fairly competent & enjoyable... gonna have to watch more before jumping on board
@paulkelk51425 ай бұрын
Im surprised that the Seiran wasn't mentioned unless it wasn't mentioned with it being a Submarine based float plane , love the vids keep up the goodwork 🙂
@worldofwarbirds5 ай бұрын
That one is getting an episode all to itself!
@paulkelk51425 ай бұрын
@@worldofwarbirds thankyou for the prompt response and thankyou for the news about the Seiran getting it's own video many thanks
@jfu52225 ай бұрын
6:26 Cool logo, I'd wear an EDO t-shirt.
@PhantomP635 ай бұрын
Lots of new info for me in this video, and always appreciate the humor. For what it’s worth, the float fuel tank in the Rufe factors into an episode of the “Final Countdown”-esque anime series Zipang.
@edl6175 ай бұрын
There were CAM ships were World War II-era British merchant ships used in convoys as an emergency stop-gap until sufficient escort carriers became available. CAM ship is an acronym for catapult aircraft merchant ship.[1] They were equipped with a rocket-propelled catapult launching a single Hawker Hurricane, dubbed a "Hurricat" or "Catafighter" to destroy or drive away an attacking bomber. Normally the Hurricane fighter would be lost when the pilot then bailed out or ditched in the ocean near the convoy. CAM ships continued to carry their normal cargoes after conversion.
@jacobmccandles17675 ай бұрын
Seems like a Hurrifloat or Spitfloater could have saved lives and raised moral...but I don't know if they could fly or climb fast enough to catch the marauding Condors.
@Slaktrax5 ай бұрын
@@jacobmccandles1767 You've heard of radar, to give advanced warning surely? 🙂
@jacobmccandles17675 ай бұрын
@@Slaktrax of course I have. You've heard of Parasitic Drag, which happens when you have to drag a pontoon all over the sky, surely? I'll tell you what, I'll go look up the Condor's speed and then we can decide.
@jacobmccandles17675 ай бұрын
@@Slaktrax okay, turns out the Condor has a top speed of 240 mph. A Spitfire or Hurricane with floats might have been quite capable of running them down...and much safer for the pilot.
@patm86224 ай бұрын
The Hurricats were a useful, though limited tool against the Luftwaffe. As far as I recall they shot down 8 enemy aircraft with the sad loss of one pilot. Interestingly the concept was first tested by the RN using Sea Hurricanes and Fulmars on a few support ships.
@OwenPhillipsMBA4 ай бұрын
Many thanks for your feedback - on my comment. Love the channel!
@gyrene_asea41335 ай бұрын
That was pretty well done. Thanks for the upload.
@richardlincoln84385 ай бұрын
Waterbirds... Excellent ! Thanks again for Your time and efforts Brian ( sp?). Best Wishes to You and Your Family.
@worldofwarbirds4 ай бұрын
Thanks so much!
@marvwatkins70294 ай бұрын
I like this guy's frank, funny, honest style.
@worldofwarbirds4 ай бұрын
Thanks so much! I appreciate it!
@patm86224 ай бұрын
A well made and interesting presentation, well researched and presented.
@worldofwarbirds4 ай бұрын
Thanks for the positive feedback!
@christerry30695 ай бұрын
You should cover more float planes
@worldofwarbirds5 ай бұрын
I've got a few in my existing library: Sunderland, Kingfisher, He115...but for sure I'll do more!
@geegaw145 ай бұрын
“Maybe they should get them some of that”. Love it
@angelmarcano67475 ай бұрын
Convair had a working jet seaplane in the early to mid 50s this video of it, I think they were testing it down in San Diego it was a delta wing configuration and it has retracting skis.
@johnearle15 ай бұрын
The Sea Dart is the craziest idea of a seaplane.
@laudennis86335 ай бұрын
10:30 when the "shi"-den becomes the "shite"-den
@fazole5 ай бұрын
Amazingly, the USSR kept making jet powered float planes into the 60s. They had Ekranoplanes operating into the 70s or 80s.
@jonathanludgater56215 ай бұрын
I have video taken with a gun camera cine machine salvaged from a crashed aircraft of the float Spits on the great bitter lake in Egypt, taken by a very good friend who was a spitfire pilot there, Ian Shand, do not have the ability to digitise it sadly it is surprisingly good quality, no sound of course.
@worldofwarbirds5 ай бұрын
Wow. That is facinating! There's got to be somewhere that would digitize that. Thanks for sharing!
@scotfield39505 ай бұрын
Great job thank you!
@Quasarnova15 ай бұрын
4:06 Correction: The N1K Kyoufuu was powered by the 14-cylinder Mitsubishi Kasei, the Nakajima Homare was only installed in the N1K-J Shidens (pronounced more like she-den).
@coltonbell15135 ай бұрын
Hey Bryan, I have been listening to you on the main via Spotify for a few years now, when did you start posting pateron exclusives on the KZbin? Anyways take care and keep up the great work ❤❤❤ also love your work on Italian aircraft
@worldofwarbirds5 ай бұрын
Hi - it's been about 5 months now on Patreon. Any requests for a particular Italian aircraft?
@coltonbell15134 ай бұрын
@@worldofwarbirdsI would love to see you cover Fiat’s G.55 Centauro. Take care 👋 (sorry for the late response it’s hard to keep up with KZbin notifications)
@ecarots94695 ай бұрын
There was a proposal to put floats under a B25, to allow it to fly directly to forward bases than pull ashore, remove the floats so it could operate as a land fighter, they also considered converting a P38 to floats.
@worldofwarbirds4 ай бұрын
I’ve seen the plans!
@unvaxxeddoomerlife67885 ай бұрын
Good content. Subbed.
@OwenPhillipsMBA5 ай бұрын
Great video. More on the SARO Please!
@worldofwarbirds4 ай бұрын
Uh oh, it’s a little out of my era! Maybe!
@raymondyee20085 ай бұрын
Mad capped ideas that *might* have worked in the island hopping campaigns of the Pacific War.
@kennethwers5 ай бұрын
One would have thought the sea spit would have made a good antisub spotting plane. The float half full of fuel would have given it long legs.
@ukulelemikeleii4 ай бұрын
It's interesting that the allied nickname for the zero floatplane fighter was "Rufe" as I have never heard that name used before -- or since. Oscar, George, Judy. Kate, Frank, Tony, Mavis -- all of those are fairly common. But Rufe???
@worldofwarbirds4 ай бұрын
Supposedly it was short for Rufus
@JohnnySmithWhite-wd4ey4 ай бұрын
The A6M Zero was not a land plane. It was a carrier based fighter.
@keithskelhorne39935 ай бұрын
love these evolutionary dead ends , keep up the good work
@patr68385 ай бұрын
Kinda funny considering the spit started as a floatplane racer.
@fredhercmaricaubang18835 ай бұрын
Dude, you're forgetting the Royal Naval Air Service's Gloster Sea Gladiator Interim. Also, post-war there was the Convair F2Y Sea Dart which was a supersonic skid seaplane fighter. Just saying.
@worldofwarbirds5 ай бұрын
Hi thanks. Did the Sea Gladiator have a float version? Also, I stopped with the end of WW2 as that is my era. The Saunders-Roe SR.A/1 reference was a bit of a tease...
@greggwilliamson5 ай бұрын
SR.A/1 was a BIG aircraft. I wish the "Sea Dart"s ski would've worked. It was a much sexier seaplane fighter.
@paulwoodman51315 ай бұрын
Also fond of it's nuclear bomber brother, SeaMaster. P6M.
@greggwilliamson5 ай бұрын
@@paulwoodman5131 Absolutely!! Bastards cancelled it and now Japan, Russia, and Canada have beautiful large Seaplanes that are being sold as water bombers. How much better water bomber than a darn real bomber can you get? "Winkle" said the SR flew like a dream. He was unused to flying a fighter the size of a medium bomber but he said it handled at least as well as the Northrop P-61.
@paulwoodman51315 ай бұрын
Japan's US-2.... 🥰
@andrewgraham76595 ай бұрын
It's a Dave, it's Rex, it's a...... George, Paul, John and Ringo......
@facubeitches11445 ай бұрын
It's probably a good thing that the float Spitfire didn't really catch on. Anything sure to get nicknamed the Spitwater just sounds a bit less than intimidating.
@lawsonsmith5 ай бұрын
The Spittoon might be a winner though!
@mochabear885 ай бұрын
ty
@tedhammond36314 ай бұрын
Two items meant as constructive criticism: The EDO company is pronounced - EE' DOE Folland is pronounced - FOE' LEND
@worldofwarbirds4 ай бұрын
I’ll take it! Thanks!
@steffen19k4 ай бұрын
What?! No SeaDart?!! Heinous sacrilege
@worldofwarbirds4 ай бұрын
Not a Warbird and not my era!
@jamesmurray85585 ай бұрын
On Lake Chelan in Washington state was Ernie Gibson. He charged you 25.00$ one way. It was a Beaver, I have the photo of it.
@tonyperez47915 ай бұрын
Didn't the Germans join the bandwagon with their BF-109 W? Great video, Thank You for sharing. 👍👍
@worldofwarbirds5 ай бұрын
Did they actually build it? I’m not sure.🤔
@fakshen19735 ай бұрын
They would have made excellent light bombers, especially if they could be used for light torpedo runs against transports and supply ships, anti-submarine warfare.
@queencinn49645 ай бұрын
Bryan’s such a great man thank you for the videos Too vahallah!
@cavecookie14 ай бұрын
I would call that Spitfire a "Spitwater"!
@worldofwarbirds4 ай бұрын
😂
@phil81655 ай бұрын
What about the Vought King Fisher ?
@worldofwarbirds5 ай бұрын
Hi, it's not a fighter, so it didn't make the cut here. But I have video and audio podcast episodes exclusively on the Kingfisher!
@matttrafton27255 ай бұрын
The German Bv138 is still.my favorite armed float plane.
@worldofwarbirds5 ай бұрын
It's on my "to-do" list!
@MrDino19535 ай бұрын
How was the Spitfire with a 1700 hp engine and 2 draggy floats faster than the Japanese Rex with a 2000 hp engine and only 1 float?
@blockheadgreen_5 ай бұрын
A significantly lower drag airframe in essentially every other regard, especially the wing.
@andrewallen99935 ай бұрын
The Spitfire was an enhanced model of a racing floatplane :)
@user-jt2eu1cc6p2 ай бұрын
You didn't mention the Me109W, the twin float German fighter. And the Gotham 243 flying boat. Now in 2023/24 they plan to put a C-130 on floats
@mikearmstrong84835 ай бұрын
Everybody else: "Let's take a high performance fighter and give it floats, it loses performance but it can go on water." Kawanishi: "Let's design a floatplane first and then take the float off and make it a really high performance fighter." "What? What?!"
@rogerkay86035 ай бұрын
Wildcat....fish, wild.....catfish.......nope
@ConradAinger4 ай бұрын
One good floatplane has been overlooked, the Arado 196. (German)
@worldofwarbirds4 ай бұрын
I didn’t include it because it’s not a pure fighter. I left out all the patrol or reconnaissance floats.
@ConradAinger4 ай бұрын
@worldofwarbirds Fair enough. Though the best patrol could probably, and perhaps sometimes did outfight the fighters
@DaveSCameron5 ай бұрын
👍#OurHistory ☘️
@patrickwentz84135 ай бұрын
So Britain had an abusive relationship with float fighters???
@tankertom32434 ай бұрын
You missed the P-38 float plane.
@worldofwarbirds4 ай бұрын
I don’t think they actually built it…
@tankertom32434 ай бұрын
I said that because they did., go do some reserch.@@worldofwarbirds
@keithskelhorne39935 ай бұрын
I see your SRA1,,,, and I raise you the Convair F2Y Sea Dart ,,,, lol
@worldofwarbirds5 ай бұрын
I wondered if someone would bring that one up....it didn't take long! Thanks for watching.
@fantabuloussnuffaluffagus5 ай бұрын
@@worldofwarbirds I was waiting on the F2Y as well, a supersonic (barely) float fighter.
@paulking70195 ай бұрын
Could the Sea Dart, and the Saunders Roe actually be the only "flying boat" fighters since they used their fuselage for flotation rather than pontoons?. The Sea Dart didn't even have wing tip floats, it used its fuselage, or" hull" along with its wings to actually keep it from sinking. The retractable skis were for takeoff and landing and provided no flotation. I don't believe any of these aircraft were amphibians in the sense that they had landing gear that allowed a takeoff on water followed by a runway landing and vice versa in the same flight. Many float planes have retractable landing gear in each float for land operations.
@worldofwarbirds5 ай бұрын
The jets are out of my era...My content is already a little all over the place with bombers, fighters, etc...being realeased willy-nilly so at least I try to keep it to aircraft designed or built during the WW2ish timeframe. When I run out of those, I'll move on!
@robertotamesis17835 ай бұрын
The Curtis Wright Seahawk. S-2C beat them. Eventually, North America and Ryan redesign it Ryan redeveloped the turbo-prop-jet figher . While North American trie tri-wheel design led to the development of T-28.
@phlodel5 ай бұрын
Not exactly a modern jet fighter and not strictly a float plane, but an interesting shot at it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_F2Y_Sea_Dart
@clickbaitcharlie23294 ай бұрын
Porco Rosso...seaplane pilot, extraordinaire?..
@tuzonthume5 ай бұрын
If the respective island nations had towed floatplane fighters behind every other ship in those vital convoys we would not be laughing about this.
@Tek-eo3li5 ай бұрын
Towed? Have you ever been on the ocean? Those planes wouldn’t last 30 minutes under tow.
@paulsteaven5 ай бұрын
Some Japanese oilers were fitted with catapults for float planes, it didn't stop the USN submarines from sinking them tho.
@williamcrane82365 ай бұрын
You left off the Sea Dart?
@worldofwarbirds5 ай бұрын
Not my era!
@mikearmstrong84835 ай бұрын
Also, not a floatplane. Technically, it was a flying boat as the fuselage was intended to sit in the water.
@victorfinberg85955 ай бұрын
it's inaccurate to say that the wildcat was outclassed by enemy fighters of the time. yes, it was inferior in some properties, but had superior abilities elsewhere. thus, by employing correct tactics for the machine, it did very well. this was even more pronounced when using multi-plane tactics. with a kill-loss ratio of almost 7-1, even suggesting that it was outclassed is suspect.
@worldofwarbirds4 ай бұрын
I was going by what "Jimmy" Thach wrote, but what did he know?? 😆
@victorfinberg85954 ай бұрын
@@worldofwarbirds then you must have missed a lot of what he said. or maybe you missed the part where i said "by employing correct tactics for the machine". or the part about the huge kill-loss ratio. but what are we even doing? your presentation is overall excellent, and i found ONE thing where i said "that's inaccurate". not WRONG, just inaccurate ... and here are some details.
@paladin06545 ай бұрын
Nakajima didn't build the "Zero", Mitsubishi was the OEM.
@paulsteaven5 ай бұрын
Nakajima built the floatplane Zero (Rufe).
@paladin06545 ай бұрын
@@paulsteavenThanks.
@volters95615 ай бұрын
"Hello warbirders" ? I really don't understand why you didn't use the ocassion and don't call us a "Warbiters" lol.
@dennisvandermarkt82635 ай бұрын
F4f float plane, kinda sexy
@spikespa52085 ай бұрын
As a WWII aircraft aficionado, I'll admit my ignorance. Never even saw a photo of of the F4F-3S floatplane before. Learned something new, can go to bed now.
@earlworley-bd6zy17 күн бұрын
Your like i-net search ask for one thing & get something else.,Wildcat float not something else.,Maybe ask what happen to it?,Grummen Co. is still in operation.
@worldofwarbirds17 күн бұрын
Hi! Thanks for reaching out, but I'm not quite sure of what you are trying to say. If you would try again, I'll be better able to answer!
@Not_So_Weird_in_Austin5 ай бұрын
Japan produced superior float and sea planes
@arthurclaymore49955 ай бұрын
303 "inch" machine guns? Have you confused inches with caliber?
@franksizzllemann56285 ай бұрын
Yes, but what is the diameter of the projectile, in inches? search string: _.303 British_ (edit: The real reason I started to reply was to say, in context of the 21st century dating term "catfish," that "Wildcatfish" was funny.) #humor
@mikepette44224 ай бұрын
he also said two millimeter cannons lol a wee bit small perhaps but hey yah never know they might still work :P
@marksummers4635 ай бұрын
Pls delere God awful. Slightestly blasphemous. THANKS!
@user-fv5ck7ll6b5 ай бұрын
🙄🙈was the swordfish not also a biplane 😎🤔 and very adept at torpedo bombing 🤪⁉️🤣🤣
@worldofwarbirds5 ай бұрын
The Swordfish was a biplane, but not a floatplane fighter- which was the subject of the episode.
@mikepette44224 ай бұрын
FIGHTERS....the video is about fighter floatplanes
@velonicatgmaildotcom5 ай бұрын
You didn't mention anything about catapult launched sea planes and the Japanese sea planes hidden in a submarine... and the way you say Borrow is kinda silly... C- Minus... missing even a mention of the content you grossly overlooked. Try again. ❤
@worldofwarbirds4 ай бұрын
This was a very specific video on ONLY float fighters. Not sub based bombers or catapult launched machines. And how do I say “borrow” that makes it silly? 😆