A radical plane redesign

Caroline Roper, Ella Hubber and Tom Lum from 'Let's Learn Everything!' discuss a question about alternative aviation.

GUESTS:

HOST: Tom Scott.
QUESTION PRODUCER: David Bodycombe.

EDITED BY: Julie Hassett at The Podcast Studios, Dublin.
GRAPHICS: Chris Hanel at Support Class. Assistant: Dillon Pentz.
FORMAT: Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: David Bodycombe and Tom Scott.

[IceMetalPunk]

"Comrade, how do we make plane go farther?"
"Is simple, Comrade: more plane."

[adityapradeep]

I went in a very dark direction- thought these were suicide bombers, so double the range since they ain't coming back!

[LordTrousers]

SPOILERS AHEAD

The Wikipedia article for the answer to this question has some incredible extra detail in the opening paragraph:

"Depending on the variant, the fighters either launched with the mothership OR DOCKED IN FLIGHT(!?!?)"
Imagine being in a 1930s Biplane and being told "Okay, now land on top of that other plane."

[Mysticpoisen]

This is one of the ones I said the answer immediately, but in a "I have an even dumber idea" manner, did not expect to be right.

[vakorion]

Mustard has a video on this. The most amazing thing is that those actually flew combat missions in 1941.

[cyberfutur]

Haha, after half of it I realized that I knew what the question is about and how desperately Tom is dropping hints in every sentence.

[curtismmichaels]

I was expecting this to be the first in-flight refuel. This was way cooler!

[AnonymousFreakYT]

2:05 - The USA actually did that. One of their early Cold War nuclear bombers carried the bomb *IN* an external fuel tank. The original design would have had the bomber using the fuel in the external tank first, then dropping the fuel tank from around the bomb, then drop the bomb and fly home on internal fuel. For the final design they realized that was needlessly complex, because what happens if the fuel tank doesn't separate properly - then you can't drop your bomb; so they made the nuclear bomb+fuel tank a single unit.

(The B-58 Hustler.)

[Daniel-jmhd]

My first random thought turned out to be almost correct. I had a picture of the space shuttle being piggy-backed on a ?747.

[sachariel]

betting on the wing profile, just because 1938 was still around the time when aerodynamics of a wing were still not as well understood as they are nowa

Edit: oh wtf, it was *that* plane, lmao

[tschetscher]

If you are curious about the plane in question: Tupolev TB-3 was the plane in question and the improvements are part of a plan called Zveno (Zveno-SPB), look it up after you finish watching

[still_guns]

I knew this immediately thanks to video games! The Zveno project was available in IL-2 Sturmovik Forgotten Battles and 1946, though due to limitations of the game engine and some missing fighter types, it couldn't be as wacky as the full project. Still, a Tupolev TB-3 carrying to Polikarpov I-16's is quite the sight!

[lmpeters]

"Mustard" has an excellent video about these planes, along with other weird experimental aircraft that occasionally saw the light of day.

[SoapyWetDish]

It can't just be me who started humming "Stop the Pigeon" half way through this

[WyvernYT]

What a period-appropriate, and Russian, approach to the problem!

<spoiler space>

Anyone interested should look up the McDonnell XF-85 Goblin, which was the American take on this. It looked completely bonkers, but by all reports flew very nicely and on the hardware side was very promising - until the USAF decided we didn't really need it. But check it out if only to marvel at the peculiar design choices.

[ripopol]

0:32 making my guess




"only small modifications were made to THESE FIGHTERS". "these fighters" being the key words in the sentence, another non-fighterplane was introduced or heavily modified to get the effect.
My guess is the range is grown by in-air tanker airships (big plane with a hose, put hose in little plane, Refill in-air, more fuel at no significantty increased weight=More range)

[gcewing]

Other possibilities I was thinking of:
1. Mid-air refuelling
2. Aircraft carrier (the ship kind)

[timothybradford]

I finally saw these guys on video; this is not how I expected them to look. Except Tom of course. I’ve seen him before.

[rileytat]

5:36 There is something called glider towing, where basically a small motorized aircraft (around Cessna 172 sized) takes of with a glider strapped to the tail with ropes and the glider is released mid-flight. (Correct me if I'm wrong)

[ChristofferETJ]

Since I knew the answer, I'm more amused to see the boxes for Caroline's new microphone setup. And, feeling a little tired, drawn to Ella's sofa.