The Best WW2 Fighter That Never Saw Combat: de Havilland Hornet
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Published 2024-01-23
We then talk about how its use in the war never came to fruition and what the plane ended up doing in the decade after the war, largely seeing use in training, air races, and record attempts. We also look at a carrier-based variant known as the Sea Hornet. We compare the Hornet to other famous and well-known fighters from the era, like the P-51D Mustang, P-80 Shooting Star, Me 262, and Do 335, and how I believe the Hornet stacks up. We end with the testimony of pilot Eric Brown and his feelings on the design.
All Comments (21)
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I emailed the folks restoring that Hornet a few months ago and was told that there are a couple of P-40s ahead of it in the restoration queue, but it's still in the queue!
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If Eric Brown says it’s good, that’s good enough for me!!
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I lived a mile or so from a place called Salisbury Hall where the Mosquito - and probably the Hornet, were designed, about 5 miles or so from the De Havilland works in Hatfield, a wonderful elderly gentleman lived next door to me, he originally hailed from High Wycombe which was the centre of the furniture industry in the UK - he was drafted in to work on the Mosquito because of his word working-skills and had a fund of fascinating stories from the 1940's - primed with a beer in the pub over the road he could keep me entertained, and fascinated for hours.
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I was privileged to take John an ex test pilot for De Havilland for a drink in my local. He flew the Hornet, Mossies and the Vampire. A bloke with a huge personality endless charisma and a bloody good bloke. Sadly passing away a few years ago I still miss him.
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Love the de Havilland designs. My grandfather worked on the mosquito. Helped design the gigs it was made in. Brilliant design Bureau and manufacturer. World beating stuff. ! 👊💛👍
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The Hornet did see limited ground attack combat during the Malayan Emergency, but just as with the Mosquito, humidity affected the glue joints and it had to be withdrawn.
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These wooden aircraft had two layers of 1/16 inch spruce plywood sandwiching a 1/4 inch balsa wood core. All bonded with a resin glue. The only thing missing was a rubber vacuum bag to clamp everything while the glue cured. Nobody thought of that idea.
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Hornets were used in the Malaya campaign in the Ground attack role against Communist insurgents until replaced by Vampires - that were promptly replaced by DH 101 Venoms.
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It is also one of the best looking fighters ever.
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You may not know but last year I was told the Mosquito Museum has every mould for the Hornet and that they are available if anyone wants to build a flying example. He said at the time they were talking with people who may wish to do just that. British Squadrons are just, 64 sqn or six one seven sqn "th" is not used. Lastly No1 is just No1.
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One of the best tricks pilots did was to dive down to low level on one engine and then loop back to the same level then cut both engines and do it again, truly the best piston engine fighter ever.Great Britain for such a small country has been the leader in so many fields,its a tradgedy that our governments in recent years have failed us so badly.
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The Hornet was described as"Overpowered Perfection"by the legendary test pilot and WWII fighter pilot who still holds the record for the most carrier landings including the first landing of a twin engine aircraft, first landing of a turbo-prop aircraft and first landing of a jet aircraft on carriers and the likely never to be matched number of aircraft types flown at 487(with all marks of each type not counted so all the Spitfire types flown counting as one aircraft type)Eric Brown
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I worked in the De Havilland drawing office in 1954 and one of my instructors had worked on the Hornet. He said that the Aerodynamic Dept designed the engine cowlings without allowing for the engine mounting frame. when the drawing office wanted to increase its size for the mountings they were told that doing so would reduce the top speed and the aircraft would not meet specification. In the end they managed to devise a frame that fitted in, but made engine maintenance VERY difficult. Compare Hornet and Mosquito engine cowling shapes.
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GERMAN APPROACH: The Dornier Pfiel, a fighter with a flawed push/pull concept, tricky to fly when there's insufficient fuel to train pilots, can only use concrete runways after they've all been cratered, will take years to develop although it's needed next week, shares scarcely any components with other aircraft. BRITISH APPROACH: Fit a single-seat cockpit to a Mosquito plus a thousand detail improvements. Proven concept. Easy for Mosquito pilots to transfer. Can be built by semiskilled workers on the existing Mosquito production line. Yet there are numpties who claim German design was better than that of the western allies.
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Probably the bulk of the Sea Hornet's weight increase was strengthening it t absorb the shock of the tail hook pulling the plane to a stop AND something you didn't mention, although you had a photo showing it.... The wing folding mechanism! (and bracing the wing to greater strength since you no longer had a one piece spar!!)
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The Hornet was used for close air support during the Firedog campaign in Malaya.
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The De Havilland DH88 Comet racer is an important plane in the lineage - built for the MacRobertson Air Race in 1934 from UK to Australia. A DH88 ‘Grosvenor House’ won the race.
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I watched an interview with "Winkle",talking about the Hornet and you could see the enthusiasm in his whole demeanour. An aircraft which was sold a bit short ,i think.Surely it could have found a niche somewhere.
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Australia was no longer a British colony , and was self governed from Canberra . PNG was a territory of Australia . No British troops were stationed in Australia or fought in PNG .
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Quickly becoming a fav channel, glad I subbed. Great presentation. Respect.
