These Two Planes Did 9,100 Flights In ONE YEAR | Airspeed AS.4 Ferry [Aircraft Overview #64]

Today we’re taking a look at the Airspeed A.S.4 Ferry, an adorably unique plane that was developed in the early 1930s. It was the second aircraft produced by the Airspeed company, and their first powered model. It featured heavily at Sir Alan Cobham's National Aviation Day air shows, and it performed many, many flights for members of the public.
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Producing these videos is a hobby of mine - and apparently its now a full-time job too! I have a passion for history, and personally own a large collection of books, journals and other texts, and endeavor to do as much research as possible. However if there are any mistakes, please don't hesitate to reach out and correct anything :)
Sources:
Taylor.H.A (1970), Airspeed Aircraft Since 1931.
Jackson.A.J. (1974), British Civil Aircraft since 1919: Volume I

[@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. Feel free to leave you questions below - I may not be able to answer all of them, but I will keep my eyes open :)

[@merafirewing6591]

How about taking a look at the XB-15 and XB-19 Heavy Bombers.

[@LostShipMate]

Have you ever considered early pre-powered flight craft? Gliders, balloons, failed attempts at powered flight.

[@pwmiles56]

Miles Magister? I have a picture of one which I took at the Shuttleworth Collection. It positively gleams, sort of 30s-futuristic. (No relation sadly).

[@jeffbybee5207]

One layout I've never seen is a plane with 4 engines in 2 nellices but in a push pull system. I know the he 188 haw two wngine twined with tractor prop. And that it caught fire often. Like your channel. Did not the do X benefit from having 12 engines in push pull nellices. Btw loved the two pistons per cylinder design

[@RexsHangar]

@@merafirewing6591 they are already on my list of 'experimentals' :)

[@davidphelps5857]

6:00 - If they had collided imagine the insurance claim. “I was driving my ferry, which by the way is an airplane and not a boat, down the highway when it hit the rudder of an ocean liner that was travelling in the opposite direction.”

[@greenseaships]

Adjuster be like "Am I on Candid Camera?"

[@guidor.4161]

Very implausible The insurance company would try to wiggle out of a payment

[@trooperdgb9722]

Because my mind is a jumble sale that reminds me of the meme "So there I was driving along minding my own business when a mosquito hit my windscreen...Insurance guy looks up disbelievingly" (Great photo of a DH 98 that did in fact hit a car...lol)

[@FlywithMagnar]

The story about the number of passenger seats and the requirement for a radio reminds me of the time when Wideøes Flyveselskap in Norway introduced the De Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter on the regional network. The Twin Otter had 20 passengers seats. The Norwegian CAA told the company that, since the aircraft had more than 19 passenger seats, they would need a cabin crew member. But if you included the cabin crew member, there would be only seats for 19 passengers... After some consideration, the CAA gave Widerøes the permission to use all of seats for passenger transport.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

That sounds like the kind of logic loop Captain Kirk would use to deal with a villainous AI.

[@donjones4719]

Cobham new exactly what he wanted from the plane and he got it - no changes mid-design, no muck-ups with the engines. Definitely not a government venture! Kudos for getting it 98% right on the 1st try, almost unheard of in that and any other era. Wonder how long the typical airshow hop was.

[@connormclernon26]

Probably 20 minutes based on the figures given. That’s roughly 12 flights a day

[@JohnSmith-yv6eq]

@@connormclernon26 With a minute turn around possible (30 second the record)...?

[@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665]

I cannot remember what aircraft he used but Cobham apart from his speed records also scouted out the pioneering routs for what became Imperial airways ..mail and passenger routes across the Empire. Its easy to forget it was govt airmail requirements that pushed air passenger travel into being... and the flyingboats. Rex at this point i would raise one prototype .. the largest Biplane flyingboat..The Short Sarrafand.😎😉👍🏼✅

[@sparky6086]

@@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665 In the United States, air mail also had such an effect. My home airport, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, often the busiest airport in the World, began as Candler Field, a main Southeastern US airmail hub. Interestingly, the location was a defunct automobile race track made of bricks similar to the original Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Asa Candler of Coca-cola, had it built around 1910, but it was only popular for a few years, shutting down as a racetrack by the time of the US entrance into World War I, if not before. Anyhow, future mayor of Atlanta, William B Hartsfield, had the progressive idea, that getting an airmail hub would help the city & actively lobbied for, & that's why it's partly named for him. Asa Candler leased the property for a dollar a year or some ridiculously low sum, because he wanted to help the community. This was around 1925, I think. Mayor Maynard Jackson enlarged the airport around 1980 which led to it becoming the World's busiest, so the airport is partially named for him as well. Both mayors were very popular, even outside of their airport dealings. They were both big picture, long sighted sorts of fellows. As a result, Atlanta, GA is one of only a few major cities in the World, without an ocean port or a navigable river or canal access to the ocean. Uh oh, I'm babbling on & on. Anyhow, airmail got civil aviation going in the States as well.

[@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665]

@@sparky6086 Lol 👍🏼 😂 me its the flyingboats... The famous Brooklands banked track which the 1920-30s Bentley boys🇬🇧 raced their huge cars round was also an airfield in its center .. it was also the inspiration for the Magnificent men in the flying machines... film... but im sure someone will correct me if it wasnt... Mail trains would take the post and passenger to the coast places like Hythe and Southampton to be loaded onto C class flyingboat s for carriage to South Africa the middle east, far east and Australia. Theres a couple of books Corsairville by Graham Costner... And the other is a travel log retracing those routes called Beyond the Blue Horizon By Alexander Frater .. that might give you a flavour of this amazing period ... just three decades after kittyhawk.

[@mikearmstrong8483]

"Safe cruising could also be done at altitudes of 8,000 feet on 2 engines, but the passenger load would have to be reduced down to 5." Plane takes off with 6 passengers. Climbs to 8,000 feet. 1 engine goes out. 5 people turn and look at the heavyset guy sitting by the door.

[@miss_pelt]

The heavyset guy turns out to be a good fighter. Plane lands with one heavyset passenger.

[@Cooper_42]

@@miss_pelt these two comments make the best short story ever.😀

[@hunterbear2421]

@@miss_pelt who would be flying then?

[@miss_pelt]

@@hunterbear2421 After it landed, probably no one. (c: Before that, the pilot, one would assume.

[@hunterbear2421]

@@miss_pelt always gotta ask the question (:

[@mrdanforth3744]

For more details see "Slide Rule" by Nevil Shute. He was one of the founders of Airspeed and goes into some detail about their early beginnings.

[@MrCenturion13]

I have a book by him - Pastoral. He even appears in it!

[@rbsiciliano]

the novelist Nevil Shute (actual name Nevil Shute Norway) was an engineer for Airspeed. Aviation figures in many of his books. in 'Round the Bend' he uses the Cobham air displays as a backdrop. his autobiography is called Slide Rule.

[@brettcoster4781]

And it's a very good read. Nevil Shute Norway began working with Barnes Wallis on the R100 airship, which was the SUCCESSFUL British airship. He also wrote a few other good books, I believe. ;-)

[@stephengloor8451]

Nevil Shute was one of the founders and was ousted later. The book On the Beach, I think is his best.

[@paulqueripel3493]

Airspeed, co founded by the author Neville Shute after he worked on the R100 for Barnes Wallis.

[@ross.venner]

A great account of Airspeed's history appears in Neville Shute (Norway's) autobiography Slide Rule. As a school boy, I visited Airspeed's former works at Portsmouth Airport during the 1960s. The most aerodynamic things they were making at the time were bomb casings.

[@benwilson6145]

@@ross.venner It had been bought by De Haviland in WW2

[@ross.venner]

@@benwilson6145- Indeed, I used the word "former," in recognition of the fact.

[@PDZ1122]

I used to know an Airspeed engineer who traveled around with this aircraft during his early days with the company. He was the inspiration for the main character in Nevil Shute's novel "Trustee from the tool room."

[@ross.venner]

@@PDZ1122 - Thank you for that. Trustee from the Toolroom is a great book, but it was The Far Country that inspired me to settle in Australia. A decisionI have never regretted.

[@douglasfur3808]

The look of a DIY garden shed made of old windows. And the panache of the Dragon. (Which even has a cooler name.) The lower winglet for ground effect is an interesting concept. Is there any contemporary comment on this?

[@charliemanson4808]

10:19 I was based at RAF Halton for 2 tours as a Drill Instructor on Basic Training in 1998 and again in 2003. RAF Halton (built with the assistance of German WW1 prisoners of war btw) was The Technical Training School for the RAF and held many older aircraft for the technicians to work on. They would fly them too from the grass runway. It must have been on the Technical Schools books and flown intermittently hence the occasional records of flights around RAF Halton. The grass runway is still operational and my mate has an ex RAF Bulldog there which he flies regularly. The original training workshops are still standing and in use as classrooms and stores the roof is listed (protected by law) as it's a rare survivor of the WW1 lattice wood supports used in RAF Hangers. Sadly it is all to close soon 🙁 Peace Charlie 🇬🇧

[@GARDENER42]

I did my trade training (propulsion fitter) at Halton in 1976. Basic training at the time was at Swinderby (where we were voluntold to help build bunkers on the 9 hole golf course - which didn't officially exist - for the ossifers...)

[@charliemanson4808]

@@GARDENER42 I did my basics at Swinderby too, sadly one of the last through in December 91. Never thought I'd end up being a DI though, I was posted in on promotion to Cpl as it had just opened up for all trades and the Discip trade was closed down.

[@peterblood50]

A very interesting aircraft. This was the first time i had heard of it and the Dragon as well. The Dragon was a pretty cool looking aircraft as well. I loved the look of it.

[@teaandmedals]

There's a few Dragons still flying today and at least one being restored.

[@peterblood50]

@@teaandmedals Glad to hear that. It has a very distinctive and pleasant look about it.

[@alanbinks6106]

Flown in a Dragon and it is a very nice airplane with a short take-off.

[@elgato9445]

I can't imagine this aircraft making it through heavy weather. Yet it must have. Thanks Rex for another joy ride through aviation history!

[@RexsHangar]

Considering its power and weight, I'd be very worried if they actually took this thing up in heavy weather lol

[@ralphgarrett9034]

Great work again . Loved how you put the passenger/fuel load ratio into such a clear perspective. Thanks Professor

[@charliemanson4808]

9:18 There is still a company at RAF Duxford who carries out passenger sight seeing flights in the Dragon Rapide. I occasionally see it over my house along with many other old Aircraft. I'm lucky to have RAF Duxford and The Old Warden collection within about equal distance from my house. Peace Charlie 🇬🇧

[@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665]

I know a guy who used to fly that and the Tigermoth. Ex RAF pilot and training instructor.

[@alexandermonro6768]

The first aeroplane that I ever flew in was a De Havilland Dragon, returning from the Scilly Isles in 1964. At the tender age of 6, I spent the flight sitting on my dad's knee, just behind the pilot.

[@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665]

@@alexandermonro6768 Theres something very art Deco about the Dragon and Rapide .. If youve ever visited the Byrd island hotel in the Southhams Dorset area you can imagine Agatha Christy and Co all flying in for a stay ... Crossing on the Sea Tractor over to the island hotel ..😎

[@omgdwayne1565]

I REALLY like your videos. I wish you would analyze the early jets; the Meteor, the Vampire, the F-86, the MIG-15, the B-47, etc.

[@praetor678]

Would like to see your take on the DH. 89 Dragon Rapide.

[@dougstubbs9637]

The DH Gypsy…under powering British aircraft for decades. Making multi engine pilots search for possible landing areas everywhere they fly, in case of failure of one engine.

[@alfazagato1455]

The Albatross comes to mind.

[@rustlebruxz0013]

This video reminds me of "Round the Bend" by Nevil Shute, the beginning of the book takes place in Sir Alan Cobham's National Aviation Day air shows. This is probably my favorite book.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

Airspeed's logo looks like a great 1970's rock band album cover. "This is K-Rock, and next up is the debut track by the new rock band Airspeed, 'The Ferry'."

[@bigblue6917]

Another excellent and as always interesting video. I must admit that as soon as I saw the name Airspeed I did think of the Horsa, both the I and II. So I loook firward to that video I hope you are also going to include the AS.6 Envoy, the AS.8 Viceroy and AS.10 Oxford AS.6 Envoy, the AS.8 Viceroy.

[@GARDENER42]

The Envoy/Oxford were huge successes for Airspeed. IMO the forced merger with de Havilland did the UK aircraft industry a great disservice.

[@brettcoster4781]

The Airspeed Oxford was of course used extensively in pilot-training, including in Australia. But, I think, only one flying example remains in New Zealand.

[@bigblue6917]

@@brettcoster4781 8,571built with New Zealand being on of the first nations to order it, as I am sure you know.

[@GARDENER42]

@@brettcoster4781 I flew in a Consul a couple of times as a youngster. One of my uncles had it at Carlisle airport back in the early 60s. No idea what happened to it.

[@167curly]

When I was a plane-spotting lad at Heathrow in the mid-1950s there was a fenced off area for us with good views of the runways. Also for 30/- (£1-50) there was a DH Dragon Rapide which gave ten minute joy-rides, but far too rich my half-crown weekly allowance. I still have my rather dog-eared Ian Allan "British Aircraft Recognition" book with my "cops" underlined, and a listing of foreign visitors including such long-gone carriers as PAA, TWA, Sabena, Swiss Air etc. In those BOAC days we lads said that meant "Bring Over American Cash"!

[@WarblesOnALot]

G'day, Something tells moi that ye ha'e bin-readin' "Slide Rule..." by N.S. Norway.... Hmmmnnn (?) ! A fascinating tome, which I encountered at age 16 (1977) after becoming a "Shute-ist" following my discovery of "Requiem For A Wren" in a classroom Cupboard at Boarding School. By the time my kids were about 12, they had heard Shute's collected Works read aloud on rainy days (I raised them without a Television - very olde fashioned...), and by 21 my son had his own set of the collected works (!). Perhaps you could make and post a video covering "Slide Rule"....; to reveal the tale of Neville (Shute) Norway, and the influence his Aeronautical doings exerted.....? (Worked under Barnes Wallis designing the R-100, flew the Atlantic twice in a Hydrogen Airship..., produced the Airspeed Courier and Envoy - first British Civil Aircraft featuring retractable Undercarraige, and the Anson - which taught Bomber Command to fly multi-Engines...., he printed 10,000 copies of his book "Whatever Hapened To The Corbetts ?" in 1938 and gave them away FREE to the Air Raid Precautions Organisation - to prepare the British mindset for getting bombed in 1940 {!!!}..., he wrote and published at least 3 patriotic morale-booster Novels during WW-2 {"Pied Piper", "Pastoral" and one the title of which escapes me, involving Small Boats using Flamethrowers}...., after WW-2 he wrote "No Highway" which predated the DH Comet Jet Airliner Crashes and which so accurately described the process of Metal Fatigue, that the grieving Relatives successfully cited Shute's "Fiction" Novel in their Damages and Compensation Lawsuit against DeHaviland {!}..., his novel "In The Wet" forcasting the industrial and Imperial collapse of Britain caused him to become so unpopular there in the 1950s that he had to emigrate to Oz to live..., and his final Novel "On The Beach" was the first popular bestselling Novel to successfully communicate to the World the absolute Futilitarianism involved in preparing for Nukeyoulater Waaauugh(!)..., that book has been made into a Feature Film, twice - once in Black and White in 1960 and again in Colour, in 1989- ish.....; and the Crucifixion scene in "A Town Like Alice" became an iconic Vignette depicting the savagely brutal mongrel Bastardry of the Sons Of Nippon, when they tried to create their "Greater South Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere" which had straight-line Rectilinear Boundaries, and one single Time-Zone running on Tokyo Time from Wake Island, Guadalcanal and the Aleutians to Burma....!) As far as I can figure it out, therefore, thus, and because..., Neville Shute Norway was THE MOST INFLUENTIAL Aeroplane Designer who ever lived...; because NONE of the other successful Designers, who also pumped out thousands of Aeroplanes, ever wrote a single Bestselling Novel - let alone 22 of them, with half a dozen or a dozen having achieved Global Meme status. And, his failures included being pretty far up in the RAF Team which wasted half the War trying to get the Douglas Boston "Turbinlight" Nightfighter Troika Project to be worth doing...., and after that was abandoned (with all the learnings therefrom going into the Coastal Command "Leigh Light" Project enabling Catalinas to blind U-Boats at night with 11 million Candlepower....), he was stuck with the job of attempting to get the infamous Panjandrum to be anything more than a stupid bloody Brainfart....! And he wrote 3 bestsellers, as relaxation after work, all while playing sillybuggars on Churchill's orders, with the uselessly stupid Turbinlight and Panjandrum....(!). How many successfully influential Geo-Socio-Political Commentaries, woven into Bestselling Novels, did Wilbour and Orville ever Wright...? (Pardon that Pun !). So, get onto it, if ye please (?) ! Such is life, Have a good one... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !

[@K1W1fly]

Just a correction to note, Airspeed's most produced aircraft was not the Horsa (between 3800 and 5000 built) but the Oxford twin-engined general purpose trainer (8751 built). In fact both types were extensive subcontracted and Airspeed itself built only about 700 Horsas, and 4500 Oxfords. Pretty good for a small company though!

[@drmoss_ca]

My first flight was in the mid-60's in a DH.84 Dragon (G-ADDI, with Chrisair) at an RAF Brawdy open day. 10 minutes of sheer joy!

[@pwmiles56]

8:55 Red and white are colours associated with the London Midland and Scottish Railway (red more). I wonder what connection there was with Midland and Scottish Air Ferries? Tiltman's partner in establishing Airspeed was Nevil Shute Norway, who as Nevil Shute wrote the novels A Town Like Alice and On The Beach.

[@alfazagato1455]

I know GWR had their own air service for a short while before Railway Air services was established.

[@parrotraiser6541]

Faintly reminiscent of the Britten-Norman Trislander, though that looks more like an aeroplane than a concatenation of tea-chests trying to crawl under a fence. :-)*

[@leifvejby8023]

I certainly wasn't expecting to see this here, thank you!

[@tihspidtherekciltilc5469]

Normally they're seen over yonder?

[@spitfire1358]

You really do have an amazing ability to take any aircraft and I mean any aircraft and make me interested no matter what it is, keep up the great work!

[@stephenremington8448]

Great video overall, and nice to see the DH Dragon get a mention.

[@ProjectFlashlight612]

Our air force museum has an Airspeed Oxford on display. Not a flashy plane, but a reliable one.

[@davidelliott5843]

This looks like a great subject for a club built aircraft running Rotax engines or even Delta Hawks.

[@charlescann531]

Love the interesting aircraft you cover you have a talent for finding unusual looking planes.

[@ianbell5611]

What a great though obscure plane. I initially had buffering issues that occurred at the photo of the guys in the factory, I simply skipped past this section and there were no further issues. I appreciate the amount of time and effort you put into compiling the information and creating and editing such videos. Thank You.

[@adrianrutterford762]

Thanks for another wonderful video

[@stevenborham1584]

Great film as always. I wonder what that bulbous fairing on the port side of the cockpit was about?

[@StarSong936]

A bit off topic here: I used to take flying lessons. The Cessna 150 I was using had a pull rope to engage the starter. There was something wrong with the cables. If you've ever used a bicycle with broken tie down's you probably know what I mean. I had to stand on the floor pulling with everything I had, and my instructor had to do the same to get the thing started. I much preferred the Cessna 172 that just needed a turn of the key to start it. Still, it was a lot of fun to fly. I never did get a license. I ran out of money. Edit: I would like to fly again, but for recreation rather than a license. Like I say, it's fun, and I do miss being in the sky.

[@KapiteinKrentebol]

2:35 I highly doubt this fuselage is monocoque. Probably more like tubular frame wrapped in canvas (I don't know what it's called but not monocoque).

[@johnjephcote7636]

I remembered this a/c from my father's cigarette cards and my wife's father told me that he took a flip in one from Southsea. Interestingly, I was reminded of the three-engined DHA-3 Drover, introduced a month prior to my own arrival in this world. I saw it in the Australian TV series 'Flying Doctor'. Living near DH's engine factory at Leavesden and the factory at Hatfield, I never remember seeing a Drover...only their Doves.

[@sadwingsraging3044]

A modernized version built with that wing design allowing such an unobstructed view and improved with a clear floor made for tour flights would make some dosh! A tour company with two of these puppies having one set up to run as a cattle freighter, take their cash, run them up one ramp into the seats, then stampede them out as you refill the liquid gold tanks for the next cattle drive starting 1 minute 30 seconds later. The second aircraft to be set up and used for dinner party flights and special VIP rental services. $100 -One hour- _fifty eight minute_ flying tour. Or,,,, $500 a head gourmet diner flying tour serving foods from the region flown over. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner flights obviously.

[@brettcoster4781]

And hopefully, the aircraft are never swapped.

[@julianfox6393]

Great video on a very unknown aircraft. I was surprised that Nevil Shute Norway’s involvement wasn’t mentioned. I think it could be very interesting to do something based on Slide Rule about the airships R100 and R101

[@WildBillCox13]

Damn! This weighed less than a Zero!

[@LostShipMate]

Its odd that there is only 84 views after 11 hours . . . KZbin might be shitting the bed again. Good video regardless.

[@stevenedwardyoung]

Shows as posted 7 minutes ago for me, sure it wasn’t 11 seconds?

[@LostShipMate]

@@stevenedwardyoung You're probably right, I'm basing my comment off the pinned comment. I can't see the video release info.

[@AssassinAgent]

@@LostShipMate it's normal to upload videos as unlisted or private hours to few days before publishing

[@jimsvideos7201]

It didn't show up in my subs, even though they usually do.

[@thomaswensing3856]

I'm confused about the monocoque fuselage remark. 2:34 With a monocoque (like the beetle car) the skin transfers the forces and carries the weight. This plane, however, appears of space frame construction with stressed fabric or metal skin as cladding.

[@tomhaskett5161]

Amy Johnson died in an Airspeed Oxford which had to land in the sea.

[@benwilson6145]

She was also a shareholder

[@roberttine5081]

Would like to hear about the Horsa since my dad went into Normandy in a Waco

[@brucebaxter6923]

Now you have me wondering about using aircraft as river ferries, never getting more than a hundred feet or fast enough to raise flaps

[@cartmanrlsusall]

Simple sturdy and reliable a very cool airplane

[@UlookinMe]

Can’t wait for the Short L.17

[@johnalogue9832]

It's weird to me when these multi-engine aircraft have two versions of a given engine in their configuration. Like how some push-pull aircraft featured previously had different versions of an engine facing front and back, and this one has a newer engine design in the middle. Is making them all the newer/better engine not cheaper and easier to service?

[@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665]

If the lowers had been inverted like the top it would have probably called for a redesign of the lower wings and under carriage.

[@johnalogue9832]

@@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665 Was that the only difference between versions 2 and 3 of that engine?

[@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665]

@@johnalogue9832 Im not sure i would have to read up on that but inverting an engine design isnt so simple given the oil flows, fuel and ignition complications, plus access issues when servicing it. It lowers the thrust line and the vertical center of mass though a lot of engineering was done by eye and experimentation with early aircraft... aerodynamics was still largely a question of eye and materials.. Sometimes things didnt go well ..in this case this triumphed over looks.... but has its own charm .. You can see how DH arrived at their own Dragonfly and Rapide twins without the shoulder lower wing contortion required of this sight seeing bus... and aviation ambassador. I know they built a replica of Alcock and Browns Vickers Vimy.. Wouldnt it be fun if someone could do a repro of this or the HP 400 one day.

[@Tom-Lahaye]

A curious plane. Could you do an episode on the Dragon and Dragon rapide, on the last I have done a pleasure flight which is quite an experience compared to a modern jet liner. In these aircraft you really have the sensation of flight as a passenger. Also they had to leave one seat empty on my side as I was pretty big and heavy as a strongman athlete 🤣 to get the balance right.

[@Simon_Nonymous]

Brilliant plane! It might just be how it was said on the video but the Gypsy II engines had the cylinders at the top, the Gypsy III had them at the bottom (ie the engine was inverted), so the top engine is the right way up for the way the engine was built. If I've misunderstood your narrative Rex, my apologies.

[@esmenhamaire6398]

I love it! I hadn't heard of the AS4 Ferry before, but it looks kinda like a smaller version of my favourite 1930's airliner, the HP 42. :-)

[@oxcart4172]

Did u hear about that project to build a new HP-42? I was told that they were just about to begin assembly and then...nothing! I'm still annoyed about its disappearance (and the fact that no magazine explained what happened!) about 10 years later!!

[@jamescad9978]

could you do a video on ford trimotors? my grandmother was an attendant on them

[@robertdragoff6909]

The name ‘Air Speed’ sounded familiar…. They designed a military glider for use in D day… I think this plane was a demonstrater and that might have been why it wasn’t produced in huge numbers. I’m surprised that Air Speed didn’t find better engines so they could delete that overhead engine and make it a twin engine airplane…. Great video

[@reynard61]

Don't forget the Airspeed Oxford multi-role trainer: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airspeed_Oxford

[@axl0506]

Great videos about weird aircrafts. Do you know the plane which made the first trans-atlantic flight in 1919?

[@exF3-86]

Alcock and Brown's Vickers Vimy?

[@bigblue6917]

That was the Vickers Vimy in June 1919 flown by John Alcock and Arthur Brown.

[@leifvejby8023]

Are you thinking of the Curtiss flying boats?

[@tallthinkev]

Nice one mate!

[@jimsvideos7201]

I'm curious about this collision with an ocean liner; exactly what sort of road was navigable by both vessels?

[@tihspidtherekciltilc5469]

The one less traveled?

[@SpeckleKen]

_"...with the giant_ *rudder* _of the SS Berengaria..."_

[@tihspidtherekciltilc5469]

@@SpeckleKen I was not expecting a picture of something bigger than a freeway in LA.

[@ironwolfF1]

As an aside, the 'Dragon' (0:20) was a smart-looking aircraft. Even for a biplane, it has a very modern feel to it.

[@jameshain1248]

Thanks!

[@neon8875]

I wish I could ride this aircraft... it would have been fun!

[@john_in_phoenix]

The Horsa would be a great video.

[@OtherWorldExplorers]

Engines named Gipsy, Love it!

[@marks6663]

Have you considered doing the Caproni Campini? I saw a phot of one in a book 40 years ago and was astounded that it could get off the ground. It was a motorjet, which used a reciprocating engine to drive a compressor to make jet propulsion. lol. Somebody took a wrong turn on their way to the jet age!

[@robertwilloughby8050]

Oh I love the Caproni Campini! Logic failure made manifest! Jets are noisy, but the Caproni Campini made enough noise to wake Old Nick himself!

[@alifetomake]

The radio issue must have felt like a joke to them. At least, it made me laugh!

[@BrassLock]

There are now so many _"stories for another day"_ that I'm rather fearful for *Rex's **-Hangar-** Calendar* 🙄

[@robertwilloughby8050]

Not too worried, unless it took more than 18 months for Rex to get to the Sea Vixen.....😉

[@6th_Army]

Transporting plane by road. To save time. Runs into ship

[@unclenogbad1509]

"could also maintain safe cruising at 8,000 ft on two engines, but the passenger load would have to be reduced to five." Does that mean somebody would have to get out?

[@jasonz7788]

Great work Sir thank you

[@jp-um2fr]

I have just had a good friend turn in his grave. SS Berengaria should be pronounced Berengar 'e' ia as in stair - soft' 'g' (sorry about the mess). Apart from that an excellent video as always and how many tomato plsnts did they manage to grow in it ? He served o this lovely ship for many years and gave me a photo over a metre long. He is no longer with us of course.

[@mikhielthorsson6033]

So this is a first, I saw the new upload video and then noticed that I was no longer subscribed to your channel, I had the bell icon clicked as well. So I redubbed and clicked the bell again. Big tech wants to control everything we do, read, eat and think.

[@robwilliamsfn9425]

I have to say, the Airspeed logo wouldn't look out of place on a 70s rock album.

[@book3100]

Too bad none survive. It's a neat plane. Looks like it would be fun today

[@stay_at_home_astronaut]

This thing peggs out the British-o-meter.

[@Pete-tq6in]

I once met an old man who had a joyride with Sir Alan Cobham in a Spartan Arrow when he was a boy, I built him a small model of it as a memento.

[@robertneal4244]

The hilarious headline would have read "Aircraft and Ship damage each other on a road".

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

Bring back wing walking!

[@stephengloor8451]

I would have thought the Airspeed Oxford would have been more successful than the Horsa.

[@finscreenname]

Like someone put cartoon wings on a 1970's Winnebago.

[@alfazagato1455]

I think she's a charming-looking rig. A shame there appears to be no 1/72 scale kit.

[@malcontender6319]

I think it's quite a pretty plane.

[@Otokichi786]

A 1930's "aerial bus"?;)

[@mrdanforth3744]

Exactly. It was designed for use by feeder airlines between smaller cities and for taking passengers for short hops at Aviation Day events. It could take off from short, grass airfields and was made for reliable economical service.

[@MyBlueZed]

My Father and Sister flew in a Dragon Rapide somewhere in Australia. I must have been a baby then. 👶🏻

[@bostonrailfan2427]

rare original idea that both worked and made a positive impact…just a shame that it wasn’t useful for anything except joyriding. Re: RAF usage. I can see it as an introductory plane, one meant to show trainees things like controls and how certain maneuvers impact flight. then when it was too dangerous to fly or too fuel-consuming, it was directly used to train flight controls before newer, better trainers were adopted

[@BV-fr8bf]

Fuel storage OVER the passengers? Frankly, I'd be nervous!

[@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665]

Would you prefer it under them?😉 ... Unless it was in wing tanks theres not much choice...at least this has gravity feed. HP 400s also clocked up huge number of miles and flights without lives being lost.. If it does nose over it dumps the fuel ahead possibly.

[@tihspidtherekciltilc5469]

Saves on funeral costs by getting cremated shortly after crashing.

[@benwilson6145]

@@tihspidtherekciltilc5469 That works well with the fuel under the passengers as well

[@tihspidtherekciltilc5469]

@@benwilson6145 True. I always sit at the front spar for view and it's in front of the tanks. Won't help much stopping from 500mph in an inch but it makes me feel better.

[@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665]

@@tihspidtherekciltilc5469 Modern aircraft thats the strongest point usually but the tanks and engines are out in the wings and have self sealing membranes and anti explosive vaporisation additives.. Quite different from leaded petrol...😬 In a hand made aluminium fuel tank...

[@francisboyle1739]

I prefer the Airspeed Swallow myself. It wasn't very successful because for some reason it could only fly unladen.

[@delliardo583]

6:05 DOH!

[@williamscoggin1509]

So glad I wasn't asked to design aircraft back in today when you didn't have much to go on. I would have probably done a disjustice to Air Cruise with things like not knowing about going too fast and dive and your control stopped working just because the wind was passing too quickly. I bet that kind of thing gave people nightmares who were responsible for men's lives. Normal conditions are playing with fly well, but then depending on what you're doing the plane did not fly well at all and you didn't have a clue why. 👀

[@Easy-Eight]

The theme parks don't run at a turn around time on a roller coaster of 30 seconds.

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

The flying conservatory.

[@rubiconnn]

"Fuel capacity of 65 gallons" Wow, even small fighter jets today carry 10x more as fuel and can only fly for an hour or so if flying efficiently.

[@Ash007YT]

What the actual hell is that beautiful bastard!!?

[@RexsHangar]

A thing of beauty, Ash, a thing of beauty.

[@gregcampwriter]

Passenger airliner designers today could learn something about providing good visibility from this plane.

[@PDZ1122]

"Monocoque fuselage” ? I think not.

[@kommandantgalileo]

what on earth was a massive steam ship doing on a road?!

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

👍👍

[@jimsvideos7201]

Well isn't that quite a thing. I wonder if Youth of Britain is the origin of "yob," as an aside.

[@SpeckleKen]

"Yob" is back slang for "boy", reputedly used by Victorian market traders to identify someone inexperienced to other traders, as someone upon whom to foist shoddy goods.

[@koghs]

damn that's interesting it looks like a boatplane but its actually isn't

[@UnclePutte]

Pity the bird. I suppose the company name was somewhat optimistic.

[@kevinbarry71]

That would have made a great headline; two airplanes crash into each other; on road

[@davidjones332]

Sorry, but the Horsa was far from being Airspeed's most successful design, with 3799 built. That honour goes to the Oxford trainer, of which 8586 were built.

[@richardw64]

It's just typical. You try to drive your plane down the road and you meet a ship going the other way.🤨