London's Top 5 Aircraft with Rob Bell 

My only comment is that the P-51 was not "right first time". Both the Merlin powerplant and the bubble canopy were vital additions to the original design.

I would of liked to have seen the De Havilland Mosquito for its excellent and innovative use of materials science.

good to see some Sunderland love! the flying boats tend to get over looked for their importance

So good to see the Short Sunderland included never mind making number one. C oastal Command are often the forgotten branch of the RAF who carried out long arduous and dangerous missions in our defence and suffered many casualties, among whom was my late mother's cousin Henry Morton who posted missing in action with all of the crew and never found, their aircraft T for Tommy is shown in the footage. RIP Henry, I haven't forgotten about you.

Top aircraft for me is the DC3/C47 Totally revolutionary and still flying 86years after it first flew What a plane.

Paragliding in Canada in 2008 I enjoyed a most rare opportunity while at Agassi in British Columbia. I had spiraled up in a big thermal to about 8000’ when I heard a very intriguing sound. It took me about one second to realize I was hearing the sound of Merlin engines coming towards me from way up the Chilliwak valley. They were definitely coming my way. About the time I became concerned about separation, a bloody MkIX Spitfire came around the bend followed by several P-51’s. I couldn’t believe it! I was getting an air show all for me about 2000’ over the flight. They passed below me and yet, there was still the sound of several approaching aircraft! It wasn’t several approaching aircraft, it was a Lancaster bomber, and I had front row seats to all her beauty and sound. I’m an aircraft mechanic by trade and considered this experience to having lunch with Jesus. The sound of four perfectly sync’ed Merlin’s was, well, just perfect. Someone waved at me from the top turret and they were gone, the sound of those beauties lingering in the air for several minutes. Needless to say, it was a perfect day of flying! Little did I know they were headed to the big Abbotsford Air Show. I went the next day and saw the Lancaster on static display at the show and had a chance to speak with some of the crew. Asked them where they came from, asked how the plane was doing, asked how their flight was. They said fantastic and exciting. I asked what was exciting and they said that coming into Abbbotsford they had flown under a paraglider up the Chilliwak valley. I asked him if they noticed the blue and yellow markings on the paraglider, and to my surprise, one of the people standing next to us said “I did, I waved to you and you waved back!” I told all of them that I appreciated the personal air show and that they could do that anytime they wanted.

OMG, fast show is back,BRILLIANT!

Harrier - unique solution for a perceived problem (soviets destroying bases), which also changed naval warfare. Tornado - introducing a lot of new technology (ground following radar, swept wings) and not failing. Mosquito - realizing that there is an unused resource (wood manufacturers) and designing an amazing product. Air refueling - really changed the face of air war. Drones/cheap manufacturing - cheap drones that can take out expensive tanks, support arty,... without injuring their operators is also a game changer

I live in Belfast. One of my earliest memories is seeing Belfast Harbour full of Sunderlands being de militarised after the war. I had a relation worked in the shipyard so had access during my off school days but had to walk the short distance past the airplane factory. I have a soft spot for these aircraft because of that.

I had the privilege of working on the BBMF as a Rigger, having worked on both Hurricane and the Spitfire, the difference between the design and construction is staggering, considering they were designed close together. As a design engineer I guess the Spitfire would win every time, it was the first of its time. But the Hurricane is a design delight in its own right, it was the last of its time. The Hurricane design made it simple to work on, it was and is an engineering success. by the time on the flight came to an end my early delight at being able to work on Spitfires had transferred to an absolute love of working on Hurricanes

Great five choices . This was a good watch.

It was a privilege to visit RAF Hendon London museum in 2018, while visiting from Australia.

00:17 Nice to see that Mk3 glider there. I got my gliding wings in one of those at 645 Gliding School, RAF Catterick, in 1973 during my time in the Air Training Corps (Air Cadets). 🙂

There is a great wartime video of a typical day in the life of a Sunderland and it’s crew.

I really enjoyed the way you presented this list. I quite agree with all of these choices being amazing and important aircraft

I love these types of vids I hope you guys can get all the guys from RU-vid on like the tank museum top stuff

The combination of an amazing American airframe with the British Rolls-Royce Merlin engine made a war winner.

Yup. I will have to go again. My father (d 1962) was on convoys in WW2 and always said a Sunderland was a most glorious site. I had a fully painted and camouflaged Airfix kit hanging from the ceiling of my bedroom in my youth!

No arguments from me. Although my top 5 might be different your reasons for those picks were well-presented so fair play. The sound of the Lanc in flight is sheer bliss. And I'm a sucker for flying boats so your number 1 was a nice surprise.

Hey Rob, thank you for a very thought provoking video. I had never considered the Sunderland in terms of it's engineering, so I'm glad you brought it to my atttention. I would suggest you consider the Mosquito and the Harrier for some place in the order. The Harrier in particular brought "out of the box" concepts to operational service. The Mosquito less so, because DeHaviland had been building wooden aircraft for a long time, but the excellence of their design was the reason for it's brilliant performance, and of course the design team knew that the wooden structure was going to be vital during the wartime demand for aluminum. Both of them are brilliant examples of British engineering. It's instructive as well to compare the performance of the P-51 B,C & D to the Spitfire IX. Since the V-1650-7 was the functional equivalent of the Merlin 66, the aircraft had equal power. Yet the much larger and heavier Mustang was as fast. This would have been an aerodynamic impossibility without the information coming from CalTech & NACA (and feedback from the skies over Southern England). Anyway, thanks again for an interesting video. Please keep up the good work.

The 'Top 5' format, while accessible, can also be overly simplistic so Mr. Bell does a great job in reaching beyond the subjective by explaining the selection criteria in relation to other aircraft.

I was in this museum and saw these planes. But my favorites are Concorde and Blackbird.

Hi Bob, the Fokker D.7 was flown by former WW1 Ace Hermann Goering.

Excellent presentation, I would like to suggest for consideration the English Electric Canberra developed first in 1944 as the DH Mosquito replacement (yes very big shoes to fill) entering service in the RAF in 1951 and serving in a variety of roles to 2007 (56 years in continuous RAF service) widely exported and even our friends in the USA saw its potential and operated them as the modified B57 - I believe NASA still fly them (WB57). Operational in a range of challenging theatres in several variants from Suez, Rhodesia, Vietnam, the South Atlantic and many places beyond carrying everything and anything you can imagine with good serviceability and safety, it was loved by its aircrews. If people knew how important and effective this aircraft really was and more importantly what it could do perhaps it would get more credit however restrictions prevent me from elaborating further. A fantastic platform that could fly like a fighter and set many records and was a test bed for many aeronautical advancements. If you are still not convinced just watch Roland Beaumont's demonstration of the prototype at Farnborough to see some of its potential for development. Am I biased - perhaps as my late Father flew them extensively but I cannot comment further.

its short yet very informative, and a good job in filming and presenting. Recommended.

Great video. But, 3 miles down the street from me is an SR 71 Blackbird. And a DC3. My choices. I see them every day.

Thanks for posting & the explanations ! Always good to learn new things !

Was so sure you were leading up to introducing the Sea Harrier as number 1.

Finally made my way there, just this past October. Seeing the planes on display was fantastic for me. Thank you for preserving such beautiful pieces of history, for people like me to enjoy.

Nice to see the Sunderland getting some love.

G,day to you! Very enjoyable ,nice to see a none biased choice, the closed thing I got to the Sunderland was walking on a jetty near a Empress Flying Boat in Sydney harbour!

Feels very strange hearing these legendary aircraft being referred to as 'products'. I suppose that is what they were at the time of creation though. Interesting to hear an engineering perspective.

I was here less than a month ago ,really good as an aviation geek 😆 I wish I could go inside the b17 like you can with the Sunderland 😅

When Rob say 'Brilliant' it just reminds me of the Fast Show and Paul Whitehouse..

'The first heavy bomber designed by Avro' was the Manchester, not the Lancaster.

Nice to see the Sunderland getting some love. It fought in the Battle of the Atlantic and much else besides. Whilst my favourite aircraft is the Hurricane, if I fly in any aeroplane, it would be the Sunderland (preferably to somewhere hot and sunny.)

Number 1 was a surprise, but I completely get why you chose it.

I love the Sunderland but if longevity is a reason for its position, it is well trumped by the Vulcan and the Shackleton. For pure engineering design, surely the Harrier should be on the list.

this would be a great series to start, though it could use some editing improvements

I guess the Manchester, from which the Lancaster came, was not a heavy bomber? The Lancaster was basically a Manchester with a longer wing to hold two extra engines. And the short wings were caused by the RAF requiiring a wingspan of 99 feet, to fit into existing hanagars. The P-51 was a clean sheet design taking advantage of everything learned to that point. The Kittyhawk, and Hurricane, were continuations of earlier designs and restricted by that. A really interesting design element of the P-51 was the radiator ducting and design that significantly reduced the drag of the radaitor. It would be interesting to compare the Sunderland to the Martin PBM.

The P51 Mustang was not "right first time" it needed a better engine, the Rolls Royce Merlin supplied at the behest of the RAF. The Sunderland is an excellent choice for number one though.

Well, we all have our opinions, but perhaps you only had a list of six. Try to do it again with "The Best 100" .

Popped in this year to see just one aircraft.... The Heinkel He-162

This can only be a matter of opinion. For instance, was TSR2 there ? Or an Me262 ? Or a Vulcan ?? Or a harrier or a mosquito ??? COSFORD has all of those.

The P-51 Mustang was not right first time, as it was originally a lacklustre attack aircraft called the A-36 Apache, and even the early Marks were not significantly better than the P-40 Kittyhawk. However, when they put a Merlin in it...

I agree on all. The Sunderland was always one of my favourite planes. The Flying Porcupine the Germans called her. I would have gone into more detail on the P-51 -- her laminar flow wing, an American plane designed to a British Specification powered by a British engine.

Mosquito is the most beautiful and lethal machine!!! I do love the Sunderland!! A palacial machine!!!

For me the number one would have to be the Harrier, it took the rest of the world 46 years to equal its capabilities and the fact that the US built it under licence for many years speaks volumes about British engineering.

You are the expert and using what you have in your collection. I agree with you only on the Lank. The P51 was ok but we all know the F4 Corsair and even the P47 were better. The Chinook helicopter and the CH130 definitely need to be on the list if that’s acceptable

Not sure who wrote your script Rob! Spitfire better than Hurricane? Any B of B pilot would tell you differently. Lanc is #1 IMHO. No other aircraft delivered as much pain to the Nazis.

what, no F4 Phantom?

So, I have a theory but I haven’t done the proper ‘due diligence’ with it yet ie I wouldn’t argue its merits to the bitter end. It goes like this: instead of making loads of four engine ‘heavies’ the Crab Creams would have been much better off making a shed load of Mossies instead. Discuss (50 points).

Yes

Fly West!

1. Spitfire, 2. Hurricane, 3. Lancaster, 4. Lightning, 5. Vulcan. **

You all should def copy the template of The Tank Museum. You should pick a plane and go into its history. You'd probably get huge views.

why is the sound of the Fokker DV11 a rotary where you cut the ignition to reduce power due to not having a throttle, when the DV11 had an inline engine which had a normal throttle.

The Lancaster wasn’t the first bomber designed by Avro. That was the Manchester. Although similar to the Lancaster it only had two engines and was vastly underpowered for the job. The lessons learnt from the Manchester went into the Lancaster which is why that plane was such a good bomber.

You missed the Chance Vought F4U-Corsair, the best fighter of WW2.

The Mustang was no good untill they instaled the MERLIN.

Always subjective

It should be clearer " From this list imagine they have at least 5 aircraft there. As a tool to inspire British engineers this is *not great* At least Rob is unfailingly positive, but all all 5 here are weaponised. So, you asked for it in the comments and as the IMechE is a British institution my top British aircraft then: Concorde - (Albeit partly French) - did that very fast thing, reliably (or until it ingested a spanner) Comet - first Jet engined aircraft the understanding of which means you can go on holiday for beans Blackburn Buccaneer - blown wings & area rule! Harrier - VTOL Lancaster - how you do a bomber in WW2 Mosquito - how you actually do a bomber forever more Hurricane - collet fastenings?! Spitfire - because Supermarine records show how competitive engineering pushes things forward

While this is a great list, I personally would have put the Lancaster first

The Lancaster carried 3 times the bombs of a B17.

I would have put the Spitfire in the top 5, an aircraft that was designed when biplanes were still the primary fighters of most countries yet was still a viable fighter when the first generation of jet aircraft were flying.

I would love to visit the museum. I believe you have the prototype DeHavilland Mosquito there, and my dad helped to build it at Hatfield... Sadly I live down in New Zealand and it is too far away for my finances to allow me to travel back to the UK to see it. I was born in 1942 and grew up in London.... not far from DH's....

Surprised the Mosquito isn’t in this list

Poor old Hurricane. always second to it's more glamorous sister. Rugged, able to absorb damage and be more easily repaired. A good gun platform that was responsible for more Luftwaffe Aircraft destroyed during the Battle of Britain. One doesn't hear of a wartime 'Hurricane Fund' do you? Fokker D7 seems to have the sound of a rotary in the footage! 😁 No Mossie? Shirley some mistake!

I would have put the Spitfire in place instead of the Mustang. Don't get me wrong the Mustang is magnificent... but essentially it was a Spitfire on steroids and would not have come about without the Spitfire preceding it.

Too much B roll, not enough detail. Good choices though.

I thought 'Fokker' was Dutch not German?

Spitfire no 1 every time ❤

The Mustang was a pile of do do until it got Merlin Engines.

The SAAb 37, the Viggen and its marvellous soloutions and ground breaking engineering deserves to be on the list.. :) But still a great vid.

The presenter looks surprised (just look at those eyes!) I couldn't take him seriously! Sorry!

britain invented both radar and the jet engine, howwever germany put the first jet fighter into the air, and the first plane radar systems onto planes for night fighters. germans made the diesel engine though. when they do it simple it's unkillable.

Mosquito????????

1. CF-100 2. CL-13 3. Twin Otter 4. Beaver 5. Canadair CL-415 6. CF-105

So how much public money did you waste rebranding all the museums so people won't know where you are. Hendon and Cosford made sense. Just saying your in London is stupid!

The Hurricane downed more enemy planes in the Battle of Britain than the more glamorous Spitfire. Am I correct in thinking a Spitfire took 10000 man hours to build but a Hurricane only took 5000 ?

Not forgetting the fact that the Lancaster had the same top speed as the fighters of the time.

All these people copying the Cadence of Jeremy Clarkson... Why not talk normaly?

No less then Eisenhower, listed the DC 3, as one of the best weapons the allies had in WW2

IS THIS VIDIO FOR CHILDREN , IT SEEMS SO 😂 !

I like Rob Bell as as a presenter but please mate, don't waste any more time on that awful Abandoned Engineering show that spends more time asking why the buildings it is showing were abandoned than giving the explanation!

Sorry but Mustang was a loser until married to a Rolls Royce engine. The original Alison engine version was barely better than the P-40.

What is a Plane? It certainly is not what you are looking at. They are aeroplanes. That is what the RAF taught me and you should keep lazy Americanisms out of it. You come across as less than ideal for presenting this type of content. GFood Day!

Idiotic. The Mustang was average at first. The Sunderlañd was a lump. The D. VII was so good that it was proscribed at Versailles. Yes for the Lancaster, except it was a death trap for crews who often could not bail out wearing a parachute. The Mosquito??..

five pretty good choices - with the Sunderland as a worthy surprise No.1. My grandfather served in them in WW2 having first taken to the air with the RNAC before WW1.