Innovative For Five Minutes, Obsolete Forever | Curtiss A-12 Shrike [Aircraft Overview #87] 

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.

I really like this era of interwar aviation. The bright colors, the knowledge that these would be deathtraps just a few years later in WW2, but they're still art-deco steampunk cool. Tupolev TB3, Polikarpov I115 and I16, TBD Devastator, biplane Curtiss Helldiver, USS Akron/Macon and the Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawks, Ju-52... Makes me think of the flapper era.

The wing signing was not only a testament to their boredom but of the stability of the craft.

"Wingtip signing" is the most interwar aviation thing I have ever heared.

The pace of aviation in the first half of the 20th century is truly amazing. This aircraft is only separated from the f4 phantom by only 25 ish years. To put that in perspective about as far from the spice girls to today…

"Innovative For Five Minutes, Obsolete Forever" sounds like a philosophical quote from Socrates or something

Never heard the wingtip signature thing before. That is simply outstanding. It sounds like something my grandfather would have thought up, but he wasn't in the service until a few years later.

Always liked the look of the Shrikes, something an odd but pleasing about it. Innovative For Five Minutes, that's a LOT of aircraft between 1929 to 1938. The RAF Alone went from the Bristol Bulldog (178 mph, 29,000 feet), to the Hawker Hurricane (320-ish mph and 35,000 feet). and in between were Demons, Furies, Gauntlets and Gladiators each at least 10% faster and flew 1000 feet higher.

I love this era of the Army Air Corp. The designs and paint schemes were fabulous.

Can't believe they built the plane we all drew in 1st grade.

The engine housing and fixed landing gear make it look at a glance almost like a JU-87.

The A-12 looks like a big brother to the P-26 -I love the P-26!

I love how aircraft were painted in this era....shame they don't do that today. Id love to see Squadrons of Hornets or Lightnings in bright blues and yellows.

Rex, you have got to be a miner. You keep digging up some of the coolest airplanes.

Interesting plane

Pilots signing other pilots wingtips while in flight. That's the most incredible hilarious thing I've ever heard about World war aviation. 😂😂😂🤣🤣👍🏻 Gives a whole new meaning to the old song, THOSE DARING YOUNG MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES! 😂😂😂 It is also a testament to the sturdiness of that aircraft and how much the people flying in them actually trusted it. 👍🏻🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲

It's a cross between the Stukas granny and the Vickers Welleslay ..Nice one Rex.

Now you have to do a video on the Northrop A-17.

Never heard of these- a unique snapshot in the technical whirlwinds of the 1930s. The aircraft at 4:50 is- well, not beautiful, but... wow.

Wonderful video as usual thank you so much. The Fokker xa-7 mentioned in passing piqued my interest… I hope you plan to cover it one day at your convenience. It’s lines look very pleasing and the old adage of “if it looks right it is right” comes to mind.

At the same time the Shrikes were entering service, the corporate successor to Fokker in the U.S.--North American--had the first flight of the NA-16, which led to the Yale, the Harvard, the Wirraway, the Texan, and the BC-1A and A-27 attack variants. So a "clean sheet" alternative to the Shrike was always there for the Army if they wanted one badly enough.

This era of planes have some of the best design styles of the era like this.

Looks vaguely like the Stuka's American cousin.

Spats give a plane or a man that Fred Astaire charm. Or Burgess Meredith as Penguin, your pick. 🤣🐧

one of the best channels in youtube

I like the way you named "interesting results" the trials and horrors of that period ! 😁

Looks like a P-26 bomber

I think the best thing about this aircraft for the time period and the innovation was putting the offensive armament in the landing gear. At least they didnt have to worry about shooting the propeller off.

About the "AAir Mail Crisis". Germany had the Condor Legion, England and Italy had their colonial wars, Japan had China, and America's future war leaders had the Mail crisis. The core leaders of WW II gained their training in these things.

Thank you for sharing this information. My father use to see these fly down the beach area of Galveston, TX in the 30s. He was born in 1925 and I guess he'd have been about 8-12 years old. He told stories of seeing several in formation "roar" down the beach with their big radial engines.

These, along with the P-26, were my father's favorite aircraft from when he was growing up. He lived in Springfield, Ohio, just northeast of Wright Field and would see them passing over regularly when he was in his early teens. Some 50 years later he could still draw pictures of these aircraft with remarkable precision from memory.

Took a look at the Pasped Skylark, lovely looking plane too

Australians: "HA WE HAVE THE EMU WAR" Americans: M a i l W a r

Very very cool topic. The interwar period is my favorite and this aircraft always gets overlooked. Thank you!

Awesome thanks 👍

"Mom , can we have a Stuka?" "We have a Stuka at home." "No , wait , i know that the thing at home is a bad copy , so can we get a IL-2?" "We have that IL-2 Stuka thing at home too." "Noooo." IL-2 Stuka thing at home: Curtiss A-12 Shrike Edit: Made it sound better

This is a very informative channel. Thank you from the USA.

Looks exactly like PZL 23 Karaś that had similiar role. It actually fought against germany and it performed about as you would expect against bf 109

Great video. Love research into the interwar period.

I love the Shrike

Thank you, an interesting inter-war plane.

The model 59/xa-8 @ 0:58 screams stuka to me. It's three-blade prop, v-12 motor (albeit not inverted), underslung radiator & spatted fixed main gear *&* the dihedral (minus the anhedral inner section) wing is the giveaway. Coincidence?

Aircraft of this era were hard to replicate in balsa. I remember trying to carve the wheel spats and all the struts and protrusions. And the the struts wood promptly rip the wing off on the first landing. P26 ..I gave up. W2 a/c so much easier.

Very interesting, thank you!

This was very interesting. And educational. Thanks man.

Thank for the video they are really entertaining and informative

Can’t wait for more content @RexsHanger 😱 Really enjoying your videos mate😁👍🏻

I read in a book about the New York-Rio-Buenos Ares Airline that mentioned how some of the corrupt practices of the time. PanAm being a competitor had members of the presidential cabinet. The president of New York-Rio was friends of many people in the industry including the military. Admiral Moffet suggested to him that the Navy’s newest flying boat would make a good airliner seaplane as well. He went to Consolidated to get the changes done. Upon receiving the first of these aircraft he thought it would be a coup to have the First Lady to christen it. On the day of the event. He awaited for Mrs. Hoover to arrive. As he went to greet her, he was swept aside by Secret Service and the man accompanying her gave a short speech. That man was Juan Tripp, the very rich Chairman of PanAm. Of course that type of shenanigan wouldn’t happen again. Tripp and his influence of the Post Master General delayed mail contracts to starve competing companies into bankruptcy. Remember he tried that with Howard Hughes when that equally rich man started TWA. PanAm was bailed out by our government 3 times in their history. Their final request for a fourth bailout to Ronald Reagan failed as Reagan would have had to do something that he pledged not to do, bailout failing industry. PanAm then fell into the history books.

Interesting video of a ....unique looking aircraft. Love the content.

This is such a soothing channel. Love it

Wow interesting stuff. I knew nothing about this aircraft until I watched the video. Thank you.

You should do a series on the whole class of OA class of aircraft .

A notable aircraft, i 'd say! Apart from those absurd bracing wires, it looks pretty modern, for an aircraft of the late twenties/early thirties. And - it's a monoplane!

The Shrike is one my favorites!! Many thanks. Wish there was more info written on these in- between beauties.

Thanks for the video, great! This plane was deadly for its time, for its crews.

I am fascinated by obscure transitional types

those videos about planes are for me more interesting then ever bc i LOVE planes even more war planes and this channel is offering me so much pleasure continue like that! also ey 5 minutes is better then obelete from the start lol, and also maybe try to check the Dewoitine D.520 a french plane project it may not be the most interesting plane but i still think it interesting ofc its just a suggestion im not forcing you. its your channel, your choice not mine

Great vid. Something you don't hear about often.

I really want an interwar weird planes combat sim..

That wing tip story is the most aircorp story I've ever heard

Army Air Corp: Can we have Ju-87? Curtiss: We have Ju-87 at home. Ju-87 at home:

A rather nice aircraft for its era. For wingtip signing to even be a thing, they had to have had exceptionally good flying characteristics.

Thanks for enlightening me on a most unusual but nice looking aircraft.

Signing each other's wing tips? That is one stable aircraft.😌

This is one of my all time favorites airplanes.

Thanks!

Hi Rex. Having just recently found the channel, I have just finished binging the whole back catalogue! Very informative and entertaining. Just wondered if you redraw the plans for each plane as they look similar across the vids. Can’t wait to keep watching.

Great subject matter, Sir! 😁

I find it fascinating that the A-8 looks several years more modern than its successor, the A-12. The A-12's open cockpit and radial engine do seem fitting for early 1930's.

Fort Crockett: During the First World War, Fort Crockett served as a US Army artillery training center. Troops bound for France were trained in the use of several types of artillery. During the 1920s and early 1930s, Fort Crockett housed the United States Army Air Corps' (USAAC) 3rd Attack Group (an ancestor to USAF's 3rd Wing). At this time, the 3rd Attack Group was the only USAAC group devoted solely to attack aircraft. In 1932, Fort Crocket received eleven A-8 Shrike attack aircraft, the US military's very first all-metal monowing combat aircraft this delivery constituted the first delivery of this aircraft to a forward operational unit. After 1934, the 3rd Attack group was relocated to Barksdale, Louisiana.

Cheers Rex! This video will be very useful. I have a CMR Curtiss A-12 Shrike in 1:72nd scale to build at some point. It's made of resin as opposed to the usual plastic so is going to be a bit of a challenge. It'll go well with the P-26 and A-17 I also have, all in the blue and yellow paint scheme the USAAF adopted in the latter parts of the 30s.

I agree with some of the other comments on the aesthetics of so many aircraft of this period. Whatever their merits as functional aircraft, the Buck Rogers look is really satisfying. Great color schemes, strangely satisfying lines and profiles, and a sense that in their time they must have looked amazing to anyone seeing them in flight or on the ground. I had never heard of or seen this particular plane before, and I think it looks great (although I'm not sure I would have wanted to fly it).

Just in time for the after lunch coffee!

Great work Rex, I like the look of this aircraft. I was surprised to learn these saw action with the Nationalist Chinese.

I love this plane

Thank you.

11:02 According to "Aces of the Republic of China Air Force" by Raymond Cheung, the dogfight in question resulted in the loss of two D1A2's (with another damaged), at a cost of 3 A-12s.

Great video! Very well researched and presented. I shudder at the thought of the skill needed to keep your aircraft flying steady and straight while an airman in another aircraft literally signs their name to your wing in flight.

It seems that aircraft becoming obsolete was the rule rather than the exception given the pace of the progress of technology in those days.

Then years later the CIA used this designation A-12 for the single seat Lockheed Blackbird. Astute.

Most enjoyable, as always! Crazy about the bored guys in Hawaii writing on each other's planes!!! Thankful they didn't crash. 😊

Except for the inline engine it somehow reminds me of the Wedell Williams racing plane of the '30's....

About 65 years ago I had a balsa wood kit of the Shrike. I spent about a million hours building the fuselage, which was all thin balsa strips butted together, and finally lost interest. Never even started on the wing or anything else. I always liked the look of this plane though.

Maybe this bird looks weird with its huge landing gears, but it has its charm.

A camel is a horse designed by a comity . Cool post . Thanks!

Looks fancy, I like the looks of the A-12.

U have a great reading voice ☺️

Polish PZL P-23 Bomber was clear inspired by those Curtis aircraft.

My hearing is getting so wonky I thought you said "Fort Crumpet,Texas". Took me a minute to remember Fort Crockett and got a laugh.Very interesting blend of design and the guns mounted in the wheel fairings really cool.

Looks like a P-26 and Ju-87 had a child. Although it shares a vague resemblance to the Ki-32.

thanks

Babe wake up! New Rex video!

those struts on the wings were for the wingwalkers at the county fair...😁

These old planes are brilliant

Better than anything Australia ever cooked up

The design reminds me a lot of the Bleriot planes (the engineer who created the plane to cross the English channel), it's intresting to see the roots of early military planes before biplanes took over ressemble so much the very first endurance planes

Perfect timing I am painting up six of these for our blood red skies china campaign. Thank you so much

Excellent video. I've always been curious about this plane. In some ways it's the USA's version of the Stuka.

Love the 1930's aircraft, finally catching up to late WW1 German aircraft!

Sitting next to a P-26 it wouldn't look out of place at all.