Almost 3 Hours of Aviation History | Rex's Hangar - Season 1

Season One of Rex's Hanger covers aircraft overview videos of the following:

00:00 Intro
01:12 Blohm und Voss BV 141
10:25 Armstrong Whitworth A.W 52
20:28 Avia S.199
34:08 Boulton Paul Defiant
42:31 Ryan X-13 Vertijet
54:18 Fairey Battle
01:04:00 Brewster Buffalo
01:17:26 Fairey Fulmar
01:27:14 Focke Wulf Fw 200 Condor
01:38:18 Vought SB2U Vindicator
01:49:57 Kalinin K-7
02:01:45 Polikarpov I-16
02:14:44 Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano
02:26:33 Nakajima Ki-27
02:38:30 Avro Anson

[RexsHangar]

Wow - I had not realised how much my narration has improved over the last two years!
Let me know if you like this format!

[meusana]

My algorithm loves to watch this when I go to sleep.

[JamesPPatterson-ygni]

Under the Fairey Battle segment at time 01:01:10, it mentions a raid that resulted in the first 2 RAF Victoria Cross. My dad was rear gunner wireless operator and was first Canadian to get the DFM after shooting down 3 109's, but as his Battle was so badly shot up, the pilot told him and the observer to bail out. He was knocked out when he hit the tail and landed in a hospital court. Within 15 minutes, he became a POW, staying at 16 different camps and was not released until 2 days before VE day. His name was Gordon Nelson Patterson

[I-Stole-Your-Toast]

I fell asleep at 6:30 AM watching cat memes and woke up at 4:30 PM with Rex's Hangar talking about hte Focke Wulf Fw 200 Condor

[AurianArchive]

I know this kind of content flies in the face of Youtube's obsession with short videos, flashy graphics, and easy to sell advertising space... but I absolutely LOVE IT!!!

[HowlingWof]

I listen to this and World War II videos, while falling asleep, his voice is really relaxing. And I’m sure I’m not the only one.

[timopalmer]

My father john Pat, RAF 1938-45, RCAF 47-52, spoke fondly of the Defiant in particular its ability to rotate all 4guns to fire forward u dear pilot control. He was evacuated from Dunkirk day 6, he spent the BoB with 238 Sqdn I loved flying with him.

[TheCrapOnYourStrapOn]

I’ve got 2 1/2 hours of boring work to do so this was pretty great timing

[kimmoj]

01:04:00 We Finns had Brewster from summer 1940 till autumn 1944 as front line fighter, and the initial 44 airframes was enough for 1 fighter squadron for years of war. Till spring 1943 they were our top of the line fighters. We got first batch ac. Bit less powerfull engine, but much lighter than what USN tried to fight in 1941/1942. Against I-16s, I-15bis and I-153 of early war Brewsters used zoom and climb. During wild fighter combats against LaGG-3s, first La-5s, Airacobras, Yak-1 and Yak-7 and Hurricane IIs in late summer of 1942 over Gulf of Finland our 1st rate pilots were experiencing high strain, but they still held the line. Fighter squadron 24 accomplished highest in aviation history kill ratio with Brewsters (so much being worst fighter of WW2). You forgot one, maybe the most popular nickname of Brewster here: "Pylly-Valtteri". Its something like "wide bum George", 😂 and like ALL nicknames it was highly positive. BTW "Pearl of the sky" is better translation than what you offered. Finns never called Buffalo as Buffalo, Brewster was official designation and BW-nnn was designation of invidual ac. BTW Brewsters wide bottom allowed mechanic or two, or two mechs with squadron dog plus basic tool set to be crammed into it in addition to pilot on transit flights to another base. In late 43 and 44 Finns tried to have 2 swarms of Buffaloes low, and swarm of Bf-109Gs flying top cover. Soviets had to face zoom and climb Messers, and if trying to turn with Brewster lower, even the most modern La-5FN (5 years newer ac than Brewster at the time) was killed within half circumvence of first turn. Finns mechanics loved simple maintenance of Brewster. Cyclone was really good engine and didn't need stupid things like ricin oil. Landing gear was plenty sturdy for land based operations, but even we noticed that it would had been failure point on carrier ops (especially heavier later mods). There wasnt any issues with built quality, on contrary. They were sturdy birds. Maybe Brewster at that time properly tried to succeed with USN. Your section of Finnish Brewsters was overall very well researched. Kudos.

[Richab]

The Drachinifel of airplanes! Thank you!

[A_Epic]

Long form Rex’s Hangar to listen to while at work? It’s like Christmas all over again!

[TomFPaton]

Nice compilation, thanks. Small point on the AW flying wing - 20, 000lbs = approx nine thousand kgs, not ninety.

[kentoncompton]

Rex’s Hangar uploaded?

It’s a long form video?!

ITS ALMOST THREE HOURS?!?!

❤❤❤

[johnnybullseye]

My grandfather loved watching old military documentaries. Some of my favorite memories of him are of us sitting there watching them together when I was little.
I've loved watching them ever since.
I feel your pieces on various aircraft are better done and more informative than any made for tv documentary I've ever seen.

[SuperchargedSupercharged]

This length of video is a dream come true, thank you Rex!

[thomastheisman]

Love the compilation. Thank you. If the weather was warmer I'd be listening while mowing the lawn.

[thespiffyduck]

It's a good day when Rex's Hanger uploads. It is an even better day when uploads a video as long as this.

[wiker]

This kind of content is great to put on while cleaning or drawing, thanks for your hard work and dedication to keeping history alive

[mudcrab]

Defiant: Not sure the time between first flight and introduction to service is as bigger issue as you suggest. Hurricane was about the same. Remember first flight is the 'I hope this works' stage of DESIGN and introduction to service is when the aircraft can formally fly missions. Two years isn't actually that bad.

The bigger problem was that by this stage the RAF had hoped to have a lot more than one squadron of the type and getting the second squadron operational took a lot of time. Defiant was a complex aircraft for the period and I understand the FN turret had supply chain issues.

Also with the Defiant there are a few other background points that need to be mentioned for the full picture. First is Zero Deflection Firing and the second was the Air Ministry's belief that 'small' single seat light fighters of the Hurricane and Spitfire were on the way out in favour of big 'heavy' fighters.

Zero Deflection is a concept discovered more or less by accident in WW1. If you fire bullets straight ahead they drop, so you need to aim higher, either by pointing the aircraft in a fixed gun mount, or just moving the gun on a flexible mount. If you fire bullets straight up from a moving aircraft the relative speeds cause them to go behind the target so you need to aim in front.

So with a flexible mounting there is this sweet spot where the apparent bullet drop is cancelled out by the apparent lag due to aircraft speed and the bullets travel where the gun is pointed. Zero Deflection.

RAF became somewhat obsessed with the idea between the wars and it was considered the perfect attack method by many for attacking enemy bombers.

Second was the 'heavy fighter'. With bombers getting bigger the logic was that only big fighters could have enough guns to shoot them down. Heavy fighters were the future and the heavier Defiant was going to be part of that future.

So that was the development logic. It isn't... awful, but more a very specialised solution for a broad range of problems. Defiant worked in shooting down bombers. Problem was it couldn't aggressively defeat enemy fighters. Going into a defensive circle might make you very hard to shoot down, but you are not attacking the bombers while doing this.

Personally I like the Defiant. It was an evolutionary dead end, but the fact the RAF et al were interested in exploring that dead end in the first place does suggest the Air Ministry was very brave and innovative. Defiant was a bold deviation from the accepted norms and a large risk. Hindsight is a harsh judge but Defiant was a bold attempt and should be acknowledged as that.

[zebop]

I’d rather save one of these long-form compilations in my own playlists than rely on a separate playlist of the individual episodes. And this now gives me a perfect excuse to rewatch some of the early videos.