Britain's First Supersonic Plane | De Havilland D.H 108 Swallow [Aircraft Overview #58] 

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 :)

Ah yes the European Swallow, not to be confused with the African Swallow.

If Eric "Winkle" Brown says "It's a killer!" they should've literally gone back to the drawing board and started all over again! That guy had so much experience in so many aircraft. Including the Me 163 Komet, so he'd flown fast, tailless, swept wing aircraft before & was probably the only person, at that time, who had the experience to opine about the Swallow. I wouldn't've touched it with a bargepole if I'd heard what Captain "Winkle" Brown had said about the Swallow!

If the swallow had been successful they were going to make a bigger version, call the gulp

One thing you didn't mention about Geoffrey De Havilland Jr.'s crash of the DH 108 was that, after the crash, he was found to have a broken neck/spine. It is thought that the violent oscillations that the swallow was experiencing caused the quite-tall De Havilland Jr to hit his head hard on the canopy and break his neck/spine. I read about this in "Wings on my sleeve" by Eric Brown, and I would highly recommend that book to those who haven't read it and like aviation.

On a slightly related note, if you have an interest in De Havilland, I would really recommend visiting the De Havilland museum at London Colney, Hertfordshire, containing the first prototype of the Mosquito. It doesn't get the recognition of Duxford or Hendon but it's been maintained with care by volunteers and really deserves more attention.

I can only imagine someone saw the Komet and thought "yes, but not explosive".

Brilliant as always. And my god, the nerves of steel on those (and I guess any) test pilots.

Too bad it was such a lousy plane, it looked so cool.

There are some channels that you hit the like button at the start of the video because you know it’s always great content. This is one of those channels. 👍🏼

I think the big problem was that the DH. 108 was essentially a flying wing with single vertical tail. It's too bad de Havilland couldn't get access to the Horten brothers, who probably would have told de Havilland to design the wing with more control surfaces to better control the pitch, yaw and roll of the plane. (After all, the Horten brothers did manage to build and fly an all-flying wing jet fighter prototype with two Junkers Jumo 004 turbojets that actually flew quite well.)

I would love to see a video on an important American aircraft I have not seen a video on. That being the Beechcraft 18. This aircraft was in production from 1937 to 1970. Which is something of a record in itself. I was responsible for training the cast majority of the navigators and the bombardiers for the USACC. Some of these aircraft still fly today.

Do modern aircraft design engineers ever train their graduate staff by presenting them with historic aircraft designs and giving them the task of using computer simulation to evaluate how each aircraft would behave and see how accurate their analysis is? And then give them the task of suggesting improvements? It would be fascinating to know what the latest Boeing or Airbus simulator technology would make of these early designs.

Well, if Eric Brown says it’s terrible it must be true. After all, he IS the expert in this field. 😁

On the third crash, it was thought the pilot lost conciousness due to lack of oxygen. But radio reception of him screaming all the way down eliminated that posibility!

I'm currently reading "Jet Jockeys" (Caygill, 2002), which covers the introduction of several jet types to the RAF to the end of the 1950s. There were a few death traps.

If the late Captain Eric "winkle" Brown was critical of an aircrafts handling and saftey then you BETTER sit up and take notice....that man KNEW EXACTLY what he was talking about.

The particularly remarkable kind of courage possessed by that generation of test flyers through the supersonic R&D era cannot be overstated. These were extraordinary men who understood the demands, rewards and consequences like few other human beings in history have ever realized. They all well knew they were risking there lives proving radically new designs while pushing the envelope of knowledge for the advancement of aviation. These were incredible individuals to be remembered - not for how they died, but how they bravely lived life so close to the edge!

Sorry babe, gonna have to cancel our plans, Rex's Hangar posted

As someone who used to fly RC combat wings, NEVER stall a flying wing.

It's a great looking plane and clips early in the vid make it look like it had great handling, pity it was a tad lethal. If Eric Brown says its a pig, you know it's fact

[ 3:55 ] Interesting seeing the DH Mossies in the background to the Swallow Jet.

your videos are great my guy

Excellent video. Always learn a lot. Thanks!

I've always admired test pilots for their tremendous bravery, often sacrificing themselves in the name of progress and endeavour.

Experimental aircraft designer would be a great cover for a serial killer.

Excellent video as always!

The Brabazon Committee was disastrous! As every time politicians interfered in developing aircrafts.

During his career as a test pilot Geoffrey de Havilland wore the standard leather flying helmet. After his death some US test pilots, having heard about his death and its cause, sent some of the newer 'done dome' type helmets which US pilots had started to use in order to avoid any more such loses. Alexander Lippisch, the man behind the Me 163 had been in Britain but by the time they came to design the Swallow he was in America.

Commander: here's your new plane Pilot: (swallow)

From the Bell X-3 school of "make it look cool and I'm sure it'll work fine"

Nevil Shute's "No Highway" is an interesting novel about the British aircraft industry. Almost the first airplane disaster story, one might say.

I would have gone with Eric's judgement. Eric was one bad ass individual. ✌️

Thanks for another interesting video

Love this channel!💓👏👏👍👍

Another great video Rex! Beautiful looking aircraft but I always thought it had too much wing area, considering it no longer carried the weight of the Vampire tail booms and empennage. If a foot or more had been lopped off each wingtip it may have been under less wing stress that lead to the crashes. But that's just my armchair conjecture.

Two minutes in sees design that will become the Comet. Sees square windows. Shakes head sadly.

Very interesting... Thanks

I read that the design was based on the Messerschmitt 163 Komet. They had a similar tendency to tuck under at high speeds

The Sound barrier can't be that hard! *The Sound Barrier was very hard*

Love the channel. Really glad to see it grow this year. Good wishes fro the future. Cover another Frost design from AVRO Canada?

YAY! Finally Thé Swallow(deep) :-O Thanks Rex' ♥

Just found your channel. Love it!

"If it looks good, it will fly good". Sadly the beautiful Swallow must be the exception to the rule.

If it was made with a Vampire nose (which was made of wood), it may have been the only (?) aircraft with major wood construction to go supersonic (or transonic)

Although inofficial, the first AC to break the sound barrier was the Me-163A.

Always interesting, Rex. :>)

Looks like someone at De Haviland looked at the Me-163 and thought "Hey, I can do that".

Great video as always, I just wish you had included whether or not it could hold cargo so we would know whether it was a laden or unladen swallow.

thank you

12:30 The car in the bg shows how futuristic this design was at the time.

It's interesting that they called it "Swallow" when the ME-262 was called "Schwalbe" which also means Swallow... Great video 👍👍

Thank you

I give the English credit for having the first supersonic flight with a usable power plant that still works to this day

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

Rex KEEP THE PROPELLOR intro! It is your own meme!

Don't forget Swallow's 1a, & 2a, ha ha. I love the way you put things into a concise manner. To heck with repeat formalities, excellent video's by the way. I see on the same page here, a thumbnail of Jet Flying Boats by another reliable source of aviation history. Take care adios

Cool thanks

That thing looks like a jet engined version of the Me 163.

To quote Deadpool: "I've never said this before, but don't _Swallow."_

Nice plan-form, almost Horton-like.

Obviously based on the Me163 Komet. The Komet flew well, but had a deadly motor and fuel. The Swallow had a good engine, but had deadly flight characteristics...

Hindsight being 20/20 we can see why: as it pokes tgrough the sound barrier the leading edge of the wings will lose lift, the trailing edges then attempting to flip the plane a la MiG 19.

I saw one of these, or something close, sitting in the weeds behind a hangar in Arizona. It was in a sad state and I was startled to see plywood in it's construction.

The De Haviland Vampire and the English Electric Lightning are my favourite British jet fighters.

The original design of the comet looks like a futuristic private jet. Otherwise, the swallow being basically the bastard child of an Me 163 and a Vampire was always going to be a nightmare.

The U.S. Navy complained about the Bell X-1 being air launched only resulting in the Air Force performing a runway takeoff high speed run and landing.

it looks amazing ! very much in the steps of the Me 162 Komet

As an aside, Vampire is a cool name for a plane.

Interesting that they actually lengthened the Vampire fuselage, as the reason for its stubbiness in the first place was to keep the jet pipe as short as possible.

They wanted to put PASSENGERS in a TAILLESS aircraft in the 1940's?! Absolute madlads.

Welcome back from your Holiday. This another aircraft I knew absolutely nothing about. Thank you, it's kinda like in the Matrix...I know karate..... I know the Swallow..

Hm. Interesting. Had forgotten about this one. My father was in the drawing office at de Havilland from the war till about 1952/53 (sabbatical) and then again from 1954 to 1957. He never spoke much about what he did. But as what was left of Britain was mortgaged to the Yanks and they were preventing all they could, he saw no future in the English air industry and did something completely different as from 1957. Even AVRO Canada was "wound up" by the Yanks. Guess my father was right.

Although I know it's been pretty well covered I really hope you do a video on the Avro Arrow

ありがとうございます！

It looks so much like the German Comet although with larger wings.

Other sources say that the crash of swallow 2 was the result of violent pitch oscillations that broke Geoffrey deHavilland's neck. Eric Brown in swallow 3 also experienced these oscillations but survived because he was shorter

The Most Beautiful Death Trap | De Havilland D.H 108 Swallow

My great uncle flew in this aircraft to as a test pilot, but he unfortunately crashed when performing an air show. RIP Sqdn Ldr Stuart Muller-Rowland

No doubt heavily inspired by the ME 163...

I have not seen it for about 30 years but there is a British movie about this that came out in the '50s . The movie is called " The Sound Barrier " . The film covers most of the issues covered in this video , but of course is 1950's melodramatic . It maybe on RU-vid somewhere . If you have time , maybe worth a look .

It’s beautiful…

De Havilland putting their own son up in the test pilot position. Speaks volumes of the incredible times these were in the Aerospace/Defense Industry. Giants of Men.

In other words a huge success for Great Britain.

Incidentally, you need new intro sounds, now we've reached the jet age! Perhaps the sound of one of the earliest jet engines? (Something a bit more interesting than the jets we're all used to these days - if such exists.)

It amazes me how small it was.

I remember Geoffrey de Havilland being killed - I was quite cut-up about it. But for years and years I wrongly believed that he was flying a prototype of DH110.

Me-262's nickname was 'Schwalbe' which means 'Swallow'

You should do a number on the wartime German tailless aircraft by Alexander Lippisch and the Horten Brothers, Rex.

YES! Avrocar! Do the Avrocar - PLEASE.

John Frost was a competent engineer but apparently not a brilliant one. He was probably an example of the Peter principle whereby he was promoted up the corporate ladder until he was no longer able to do very good work. In Canada he never was able to fix the wing spar cracking on the CF-100 so he was shuffled off to build flying saucers with US funding where ho couldn't do any more damage.

Thanks very much....Shoe🇺🇸

interesting plane

Its shape reminds me of a foam glider I had when I was a kid. It was a yellowish color with a hook moulded into the belly, for launching by a rubber band on a stick. That would have been around 1975 or so.

Taking a German design without taking into account of the bad aspects of the actual design in use during the war, you are inevitably going to get a messed up airframe, the Komet, Me 163, was designed for speed without the heavy payload and to fly at high altitude. This airframe was not developed any further as the Me262 came into play and the Jumo 004 started production. Rocket motors were not needed as much as the new jet.

Although, of course, those square cabin windows have since been exonerated. The fuselage failure started in the roof, around a radio aerial panel.

World's first true aeroplane to break the sound barrier... I'm seeing a trend forming.

This episode was a lot to swallow

Reminds me slightly of the Me-163 rocket olane

The Bell X-1 actually did one take off from the ground though it did not go supersonic on that flight. It was a 'jab' at Douglas, not De Havilland.