Supermarine's Zeppelin-Killing Aerial Battleship Was A Steampunk Marvel

[@exharkhun5605]

Pemberton was slightly out of step with normal British engineering practice, the idea is to design things IN a shed, not AS a shed. At least the thing has enough shelf-space.

[@wbertie2604]

I like sheds. I like flying. I'd love a flying shed, although given the size of my garden it would need to be catapult launched and landing might be challenging.

[@CaptainLumpyDog]

@@wbertie2604'Landing might be a challenge' Where there's a will, there's a way!

[@wbertie2604]

@@CaptainLumpyDog a big net, perhaps?

[@CaptainLumpyDog]

@@wbertie2604 That's the ticket!

[@wbertie2604]

Actually, a flying shed attached to a big gas-filled balloon thing would be the best option. Was Count Zeppelin just trying to make a shed he couldn't be disturbed in as it was 1000 ft in the air?

[@brianvernon7754]

'actively cross' ...love it

[@presidentmerkinmuffley6769]

A more proper description of angry and agitated brits, may exist, but I have not yet heard it.... but they did bomb a tea shop, so I can understand why they were so vexed.... I means we threw tea into a harbor, then they demanded our arms and then a war broke out...

[@kyleolson8977]

"It was ultimately destroyed in an accident in 2016. The Exact date was unrecorded because the PB19E never actually received a Royal Naval Air Service serial number." Yeah, back in 2016 we didn't have many ways to track these things.

[@ptonpc]

Got to admit, I sniggered.

[@CaptainLumpyDog]

Pre-2017 was a dark time indeed.

[@adamrichardson6821]

Vell, vell, you know vaht he meant....

[@RCAvhstape]

@@CaptainLumpyDog Pre C-19 all history is lost to the ages.

[@CaptainLumpyDog]

@ I will admit I cried.

[@marktuffield6519]

A small observation is that the German Army also operated airships of the Schütte-Lanz type, before handing them over to the German Navy. The Royal Flying Corps was also involved in Zeppelin hunting and later would take up the baton of the defence of London during the Gotha raids. The Royal Navy, whose traditional role was to defend the British Isles, seemed to think that its aircraft were just to be used to defend its bases and instillations when it came to the threat of the bomber. A viewpoint that didn't go down too well with the politicians and contributed in no small way to the creation of the Royal Air Force and its control of naval aviation via the Fleet Air Arm until the "Inskip Award" of 1939 returned its control to the Royal Navy.

[@jamesmaclennan4525]

The ping-pong that was played with British naval Aviation is worthy of a video off its own

[@camdenharper7244]

One of the more interesting things to me is how what was considered "high altitude" over the eras. People often point out speed and how it massively improved from WWI to WWII to the cold war. But ceiling did just as much and had as much to do with real performance of aircraft. Maybe a good video topic?

[@nathangoshawk]

Agreed, but must include Lucy, Lady Houston's financing of the flight over Everest in the early Thirties. A very British, aristocratic venture!

[@Lensman864]

Nab him Jab him Tab him Grab him Stop that pigeon now! 😃

[@greghardy9476]

Good Ol Dick Dastardly!

[@scotttudor6647]

You are the wind beneath my wings

[@adrianrutterford762]

As a very proud resident of Norfolk. Loads of interesting stuff happened in our fine county between the vikings and WW1.

[@GrigoriZhukov]

Oh, name one then.

[@Veritas.0]

Like that time Mrs. Billingsley's cat corned Mr. Leeder's parakeet. Quite the row ensued trying to save little Miss Tweetums.

[@steve-qc8hd]

@@GrigoriZhukov Nah I want them to name two.

[@RemittanceMan007]

“Farmers, farmer’s mums”

[@steve-qc8hd]

@@RemittanceMan007 Farmer,farmer's mums aren't stuff that happened in Norfolk… That would be like me being a twat and reminding everyone that Norwich brought us the Trisha Programme, and Anglia TV in general.

[@johnhudghton3535]

Thank you for exploring this obscure oddity. It would be interesting to hear something of WW2 airborne ECM.

[@fps079]

Interesting oddity of aviation. thanks for these.

[@sailordude2094]

Wow, what a cool warplane, thanks for the video history!

[@sohrabroozbahani4700]

Who would have thought something made of wood and fabric could be this Metal 😅❤

[@daveacbickford]

Another masterpiece of prose and presentation, you sir are one amazing content creator, one of your best written yet, and what a fascinating and unusual machine for a topic!

[@womble321]

The Germans came close to fitting zeppelins with guided missiles. Basically basic radio controled aircraft with a warhead.

[@drexia8973]

Loving your content dude. Keep it up!

[@gregdrew874]

09:24 Destroyed in 2016, you say ??!??

[@patrick764]

That’s what I was about to say.

[@pdlagasse]

Very rugged design, apparently

[@ptonpc]

"You see that tea shop?" "Ja Kaptain!" "I want it gone" I imagine if technology hadn't as progressed as quickly as it did, the later aircraft might been useful. However by the time it was ready to fly, there were better ones available. As for the picture of the gunners on top of the zepplin? Bloomin heck!

[@wbertie2604]

@@ptonpc normally the trope is that German generals spent several happy years in Oxford/Cambridge/Winchester, thus showing that they were not anglophobic barbarians. Inevitably, this included time in tea shops that would be referenced. But I presume in the case you describe, Herr Kapitain had received a cucumber sandwich with a stale crust in 1906. German officers never seemed to reminisce about their many happy years in Sutton Coldfield...

[@DIREWOLFx75]

The truly interesting thing here, i believe is that the planes basically lived up to their concepts. With such extreme design and targets, you would expect something that couldn't even get off the ground. Instead, the aircraft seem to have worked reasonably well.

[@roo72]

I think you meant "radio equipment" not "radar equipment".

[@nikolaideianov5092]

Nah they just got that early raygun

[@jimroberts3009]

He did correct himself with a "radio" caption.

[@Jarlerus]

He also stated that the first prototype was lost "sometime in 2016" :P I guess there's some dyslexia in reading the script or something. Or just a slip, as said below.

[@michaelmoorrees3585]

@@Jarlerus - Or a Freudian slip. Probably, in his head, he thought radar would have been cool, if it was around, at that time. Of course, even radio technology was pretty primitive, at that time. Morse code, instead of voice, to keep the parts count down. Most of what we consider radio technology wouldn't be developed until after that war.

[@Julius_Hardware]

Oh how we veterans of the Great War of 2016 wish we had had radios in our quadriplanes rather than those new-fangled radar thingies. How many teashops would still be standing today? I for one was so vexed that I almost wrote a strongly worded letter to my MP.

[@iffracem]

An potential politician joining the armed forces during a conflict, then using influence and means to dodge actual combat and further their own interests? Oh no, surely not Sir! Tell me it isn't so! Ok, I'll cut the sarcasm and pour another Whiskey. Thanks, very interesting, and slightly bizarre. How far aviation evolved during that period.

[@marktuffield6519]

NPB is both an interesting and controversial character, however he did not dodge combat as such. In November of 1914 Avro 504s of the Royal Naval Air Service bombed Zeppelin sheds at Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance. NPB was very involved in the reconnaissance work for the mission and subsequent planning of it from a site at Belfort in France. As an aside the officer who appointed him in the RNAS, Murray Sueter, succeeded him as a Member of Parliament, for his constituency, when he resigned as an MP after the war.

[@mudcrab3420]

Pemberton Billing was heavily involved in the 'non pilot' part of the 1914 raid on the Zeppelin sheds on Lake Constance. So not really a combat dodger. Grifter? Yeah. Self interests? Yeah. Also one of those types of people who seem to be more interesting in launching exciting new projects then actually successfully managing them to completion. To be honest I can never work out if he was one history's heroes or villains. Best I can claim is he was definitely 'interesting'.

[@wbertie2604]

@@iffracem some MPs joined up then used influence to get themselves INTO harms way. Some bloke called something Churchill, for example.

[@steve-qc8hd]

12:30 the 37 mm shell from a Davis gun, unless it hit a substantial structural element, would have probable been a through and through even the metal skeleton of a Zeppelin would not been enough to cause the fuse to arm. In the end, after various weapons were trialed, such as conventional aircraft like Avro 504 and Sopwith Pups armed with Brock (firework manufacturer) rockets, Anti Zeppelin and Gotha defence concentrated by 1917 on home defence aircraft fitted with modified Vickers Maxim Machine guns in calibre 11 mm Gras (French 1874 to 1885 rifle round) which being large diameter compared to standard .303 in (7.7mm) bullets was modified to carry a lethal incendiary bullet.

[@MM22966]

The thing looks like something Snoopy or Bugs Buggy would dogfight against.

[@FredScuttle456]

Dick Dastardly.

[@MM22966]

@@FredScuttle456 Baron Sam Von Shpamm!

[@automatic6216]

I remember that Bugs Bunny episode! Baron Sam von Shmam had this crazy multiwing insanity with tons of guns on the wings which exploded when Sam pulled the trigger.

[@RB-qq1ky]

Not mentioned in this piece, but referred to in Hanson’s book ‘First Blitz’ was the later use of Handley-Page O/400 bombers configured as gunships by mounting multiple Lewis Guns to maintain standing patrol flights in the event of an impending raid and and engage any Luftstreitkräfte bombers in their zone. The British had by then developed what was, by the standards of the day, a very sophisticated early warning system.

[@heinrichwonders8861]

They easily could have achieved the same lift with by using a thicker wing and for less weight to boot. But for some reason these multi-deckers with paper thin wings were all the rage during that time.

[@gusty9053]

The science of aerodynamics was in it's infancy and more an art than a science by this point in time. I am not sure if there were air wind tunnels in use for testing. The thick (internally braced) more efficient wing only started appearing much later in the war. That and suitable materials (ie strong and light) were wood and canvas. A shaped steel wire brace as opposed to a simple rounded wire was considered "high tech" and drag reducing.

[@MichaelOxlongerThanYours]

This just isnt true. First off aircraft designers' understanding of aerodynamics at the time simply hadn't gotten that far. The wright flyer took its first flight only 10 years prior. Aerodynamics for aircraft was essentially a new field of physics. Most designers of the time were working off of general "hand rules" rather than full knowledge of what they were designing. Secondly having a single thicker wing requires a much stronger wing root structure. Something that is very difficult to achieve with just wood and fabric construction. Even if you were to make a thick wing out of wood it would need a lot of internal reinforcement, so i dont think it would save nearly as much weight as you would think. Some strong evidence that wood was a limiting factor is that thick monoplane designs only started to appear once metal construction became more wide spread. Finally this statement ignores the primary benefit of multi-wing designs being that they provide high lift at low speeds. This is relevant because engines of the time were very weak, so if you were aiming to maximize the range and endurance of an aircraft it was often better to fly at a slower speed where parasite drag had less of an effect. Monoplanes designed with their contemporary understanding of aerodynamics might not have been capable of producing the necessary lift at these low speeds.

[@wbertie2604]

​@@gusty9053wind tunnels did exist, but were rare

[@jwenting]

this was the "1 wing was nice, 2 was better, so 3 must be better still". "Let's try 4 and see what happens". Unless you're an Italian named Caproni in which case you go straight to 9.

[@nerobro]

That for some reason says you don't know how we got here, from there. There's a lot of history there, both in materials technology and aerodynamics lessons. You look silly saying that.

[@casinodelonge]

The actual thought process behind it was pretty sound though I reckon!

[@CaptainSensibleJr]

Very clever camoflague, all those wings would have given it so much drag, that the Germans would have mistaken it for a cabaret dancer.

[@awatt]

🏆

[@alanholck7995]

Good book telling the story of both Zeppelin & Gotha raids on the UK during WW1 is ‘First Blitz’ by Neil Hanson.

[@RB-qq1ky]

Also these two books by Ian Castle (I think there may be three in the series?) *The* First Blitz ( note definitive article in the title unlike Hanson’s similarly titled work). and: Zeppelin Onslaught: The Forgotten Blitz

[@alanholck7995]

@@RB-qq1ky Mine is by Hanson. He also wrote book on the Unknown Soldier

[@andyf4292]

and if you look at the air raid preparations of the time... ladders to get casualties off roofs..

[@kosmokat111]

0:57, on that note, highly suggest anyone curious int he history of airships checks out the Well There's Your Problem podcast episode on the Hindenburg, the first 2 hours of the 3 hour Hindenburg ep are just covering all the ways in which the Hindenburgs predecessors exploded or failed. Zeppelins, truly miserable things.

[@mrfish1991]

Sidney Pickles may be the most British name I've ever heard.

[@scottgiles7546]

Did the Knighthawk have a diner along with its other facilities? (No reason for asking...)

[@jimsvideos7201]

Being the gunner on any of the vehicles in question would be an adventure, surely.

[@RCAvhstape]

I think it was a solid concept. A sort of gunship with long loiter time that is designed as an anti-airship platform instead of surface attack. I feel like this idea seems to come back every few years in a mutated form. I remember a proposal to arm a 707 variant with tons of missiles as a flying arsenal ship, which would answer calls from data-linked fighters that would do all the radar sensing. The F-15EX is a similar concept, when linked with an F-35. Then there was the idea of using a 747 as a flying aircraft carrier with several fighters aboard. And of course, the 747 laser gunship known as the YAL-1 which carried a giant laser to shoot down ballistic missiles at a distance. The YAL-1 might be the closest modern analog to the Nighthawk.

[@1man1guitarletsgo]

The title's incorrect, because unless I'm mistaken no Zepellins were shot down by this aeroplane. The first successful hit on a Zeppelin was by William Leefe Robinson, flying a biplane, in September 1916.

[@JetBirdZ]

From some angles it looks kinda right 👍

[@thestalicho]

3:13 the rod from "under the cowling area" to the Vickers M/C Gun must be the interrupter mechanism to prevent the propellor being shot 'orf!

[@RB-qq1ky]

Yes, you are correct! The aircraft is, I think a Bristol Scout, and the early-pattern interrupter gear is the Vickers-Challenger type

[@carlpretorius1584]

Looking at the propellers at 13:30, it seems they were contra- rotating? If so, very innovative for stability.

[@j.mangum7652]

I've seen other up close photos of similar sized British aircraft of that era but those propellers were of single piece construction and had no contra rotating gear. That's not to say there wasn't such mechanical technology around at that time(1917/1919). One could just look to what was driving naval torpedoes at the time too.

[@outinthesticks1035]

Were not some aircraft fitted with two engines turning in opposite directions. I'm thinking of WW2 , but it could have been done in WW1 as well

[@j.mangum7652]

@@outinthesticks1035 Lockheed P-38 Lightening comes to mind with their engines turning opposite and...away(?)from each other 's torque energies.

[@outinthesticks1035]

@@j.mangum7652 thanks , knew I heard it some where . One application I am familiar with is the uclid scrapers , front and rear engine turn opposite

[@mandoprince1]

"The PB.39 would thus be penned by one R.J. Mitchell". Not entirely correct. Firstly, it was the PB.31E and, secondly, R.J. Mitchell, who had recently joined the company as a draughtsman, was only known to have produced drawings of one of the nacelles and of gun mounts. Mitchell's rise within the company was very rapid and he was promoted to chief designer within three years!

[@adamrichardson6821]

Whatever you do, don't call one of those Zeppelins a "balloon."

[@wa1ufo]

It wasn't just the German navy with Zeppelins. The German Army also had their own Zeppelins.

[@jekanyika]

My university campus was bombed by a Zeppelin

[@CaptainLumpyDog]

@@jekanyika My Zeppelin was bombed by a uni campus 😔

[@produto_pirateado]

a long time ago, right? RIGHT?

[@GreenKnight2001]

This plane looks absolutely insane 😂😂

[@alexander1485]

look up the Caproni Ca.60

[@Ob1sdarkside]

If Homer Simpson took up plane design after his car design stint

[@CaptainLumpyDog]

@@Ob1sdarkside How many horns did the Nighthawk have?

[@samspeed6271]

Is it just me or does Mitchell's design seem a lot further ahead than Pemberton Billing's? It just seems like more thought and care went into Mitchell's design. Fully glazed cockpit (which at alt would be good for crew comfort), a bed, fabric covering on the inside to protect from splinters, gunner isn't in a separate cabin and can get out easy.

[@voiceofraisin3778]

R J Mitchell a better designer than a huckster trying to blag his way into parliament? Thats like saying Warren Buffet is a better financial analyst than Jake Paul.

[@richardmayes8797]

Im surprised that elaborate thing was seen as the best way of countering the zeppelins.... as opposed to say, re-powering an existing single seat fighter with a hot-rod engine, to greatly increase the rate of climb and create an effective point defence interceptor...?

[@wbertie2604]

Communications - a couple of bulbs, a battery, and keys, and you have morse from gunner to pilots

[@SkylerinAmarillo]

Maybe I missed it, but did they ever fly in combat?

[@davidwright7193]

To describe this as the Neanderthal ancestor of the Spitfire is an insult to Neanderthals. Perhaps the Australopithacean ancestor of the Spitfire?

[@davidrodgersNJ]

I suppose if you had lived in those days you would have done better.

[@joshamac10]

Is this Macey Dean?

[@alexander1485]

who needs a tri wing plane when you can have a quad wing plane! (or in the Caproni Ca.60 a billion wing plane)

[@guaposneeze]

Even in WW1, somebody must have realized that didn't look right.

[@Legitpenguins99]

Just watched Ed Nash's video on this "THING". Somebody get the bleach. I need to disinfectant my eyes again.

[@amadiraz]

It was destroyed in 2016? That's a long service right there. ( @9:28 )

[@rocksnot952]

13 pounder 9 cwt anti-aircraft gun - 19,000 ft. range. Or was that too easy?

[@CaptainLumpyDog]

I think it's technically Dieselpunk

[@bacarnal]

Radar? Destroyed in 2016?🤔

[@john-em1jr]

Good lord what a design horror...

[@bowencreer3922]

So what would you say was the best U.S. air superiority fighter during the 50’s? The saber was quickly outclassed by MiG 17’s and 19’s, and I feel like the super saber wasn’t that good. The 101 had guns. Was it better than the super saber? The 104 was too short range and we didn’t build very many. What did we have that was good before the likes of the f8 crusader?

[@gotanon9659]

For being an inferior aircraft it manages to have an equal kill ratio when flown against pilots of equal skills

[@bowencreer3922]

@@gotanon9659 if you’re referring to the f86 Saber, you’re showing your ignorance. You’re thinking of the saber against MiG 15’s, not 17’s and 19’s. The MiG 15 and saber were equal, but our pilots were better.

[@thepolishnz]

Foiled by bad weather So britian on a good day

[@SCOTTBULGRIN]

2016?...1916.😉

[@alexander1485]

no, 2016. It was said on the internet, its true.

[@1KosovoJeSrbija1]

imagine my surprise when the ww2 aircraft has a radar lol

[@stanleybest8833]

A plane of excess.

[@markb5710]

09:28 1916

[@andyf4292]

read a book a while a book- ' the first blitz'

[@MADGator]

One wonders if, while helping to plan the RAF portion of the bombing of Dresden, one the English generals was quite pleased with himself for avenging the tea shop in Great Yarmouth (or thereabouts) he had frequented as a young lad. History is full of the strangest motivations.

[@CaptainLumpyDog]

@@MADGator Turnabout is fair play

[@awatt]

The zeppelin raids were intended to burn women and children to death. Total War. Many did die horribly. Germany invented the doctrin to attack civilians so don't feel too sorry for them when it came home.

[@alexmckenna1171]

Pemberton Billings was quite a character. Very right-wing and reactionary politically. Ahead of his time in some ways, although his ideas were never practical. He was behind World Records and Duophone records which both flopped after a year or two of experiments.

[@wintersbattleofbands1144]

9:26. It was destroyed in 2016? Really? Proofread your script and narration, sweetie.

[@honeyforce996]

Idk how you run your channel, but I thought this title was from a low-end clickbait channel & was about to block it

[@Lensman864]

It was a fair description from the public's point of view at the time.

[@guaporeturns9472]

Would be your loss

[@michaelogden5958]

If you like aircraft esoterica, this is one of the best channels out there.

[@PlymouthT20]

Mainstay of the Vulture Squadron. 🫡