I have no clue if anyone is interested, but I thought that I would share do a plane of the day for interwar aircraft.Today's aircraft is the Dobi III.The Dobi III is quite a curious aircraft in many ways, for one, it is the only fighter aircraft to have come out of Lithuania. It features a crescent wing of narrow chord and thickness (especially for the time), unique for the time too. The type was designed by Jurgis Dobkevičius, who was 23 or 24 years old at the time of conceiving it. He had two previous designs, the Dobi I, a sporting aircraft and the Dobi II a military project for a reconnaissance aircraft that was one of the fastest aircraft with a 200 hp engine at the time. The Dobi III, as stated before, was intended to be a fighter and featured a more aerodynamically refined fuselage than its predecessors (the fuselage outline resembling that of a slimmed down Albatros fighter). Despite the novel and streamlined design, the aircraft was more well known for its issues than anything else. It was said that in a German newspaper the Dobi III was a "blind cow" with no ground visibility. This was part of the low pilot seat, high cowling and wing positioning on the type. Nevertheless the Dobi III gained great interest from the Lithuanian public being able to reach speeds of up to 130 knots with a 182 hp BMW engine and the program showed signs of a new beginning for Lithuania as a country with a thriving aviation industry. Of course, this did not materialize. On 8 July 1926, the aircraft was destroyed in flight with Dobkevičius on board. He did not survive. His funeral procession was attended by a great many people from Kaunas and with his passing, the aviation industry of Lithuania died too.Presently, the crash site is marked by a street and a secondary school bearing the name of Dobkevičius.
>>65199159Also, good luck trying to find a picture not for ants of this type. What you get for being obsessed with 100 year old obscure prototype aircraft.
This is a picture of the type under construction. The fuselage was wood sheeted not unlike a lot of German biplanes from the late WWII preiod (such as Albatros, Pfalz and LFG Roland types).
Good thread
This is my last picture, of all Dobi aircraft.
>>65199189Thank you. I also have some crash pictures and funeral proceedings (I was unsure whether to post them or not), but I will post those later depending on interest.
>>65199194Monitoring
>>65199230https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htq2EUgcrKE
Wish I had my folder full of interwar aircraft to contribute. More or less would turn things into a Crimson Skies thread.
>>65199167where do you think you are?
>>65199230Proper history:WWII act I: The Rise of NaziWWII act II: The Red Elimination starring PattonWWII act III: FRANCE PAYS
>>65199201As promised, the wreckage. It seems that there was a second Dobi III under construction, this became a casket as you will see in the next two images.>>651994354chinz kek
Second airframe decorated with flowers as tribute, not this one has Lithuanian Air Force Insignia (the double cross on the vertical stabilizer).
The funeral procession, you can see the aircraft behind the first row of coffin bearers.
Man, the Hall XP2H was too beautiful for this gay world. I feel sorry for Hall. They put out multiple excellent prototypes and kept getting turned down.
I have something drafted up, but Cloudflare is taking an eternity on my laptop. Forgive me, but it is almost time.
>>65199702>you can see the aircraft behind the first row of coffin bearersWell no as a matter of fact I actually can't
I think that I will write about the second aircraft that I wanted to talk about.The VL Viima was a biplane trainer produced in Finland by the State Aircraft factory or Valtion lentokonetehdas (VL for short). The type itself is not inherently special, resembling much of the type's contemporaries (such as the de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth, Stampe et Vertongen SV.4, Polikarpov Po-2, Bücker Bü 131 Jungmann, Heinkel He 72 Kadett, Focke-Wulf Fw 44 Stieglitz, etc.), but what is so interesting about it is its long service life.The type first flew in 1936 in its initial variant, of which two prototypes were produced. They were both of the same design, featuring a tubular steel fuselage, unequal span wings of plywood construction with a positive stagger, braced with N struts (forward facing on the interplane struts and "reversed" on the cabane struts, with cross-rigging as is typical with most period types, ailerons positioned on both top and bottom wings (which was, in some ways, unique) and an elevator surface featuring a Flettner Flap (again, somewhat unique among other trainers). This was all retained between both the Viima I and the production model (Viima II) variants, but the Viima II had a revised fuselage, new airfoil and redesigned fuel system making the aircraft, lighter and more well balanced in flight.Both of these aircraft featured a Siemens-Halske SH14A 7 cylinder radial engine, the same engine used on the Bücker Bü 133 Jungmeister (C and D variant, the most numerous ones of this type), Heinkel He 72 Kadett, Focke-Wulf Fw 44 Stieglitz and the vast majority of early German helicopters, but a later variant, the Viima IIB had a de Havilland Gipsy Major inline 4 cylinder engine, as was used on the de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth, de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk, Miles M.14 Magister and Stampe et Vertongen SV.4, among many other types. It is unknown if the IIB was produced this way or if it was a conversion (and how many were produced/converted).[1/2]
>>65201314The VL Viima does not a have certain Entry Into Service date, but it is said that anywhere between 1937 and 1939. The type was mostly operated by the Finnish Air Force or Ilmavoimat, who had 20 of the 24 produced production examples, the last two unaccounted for (2 prototypes and 20 Air Force examples) went to the Air Defense Guild.During the Winter War the type's role expanded beyond the trainer duties it was originally tasked with. It served as an observation aircraft, a light transport for documents that needed quick transfer, as well as the transfer of high ranking personnel.In the 1950s, the Viima was upgraded to have an enclosed canopy, framed canopy. The aircraft served this way for its final decade of service, having been officially retired in the late spring of 1960, however, this might have been later, since the type's replacement, the Saab 91 Safir, did not enter Finnish service until 1962, but Finnish basic air training continued in the period of late 1960 and 1961.After the type's retirement, many saw a second life in civilian ownership. Today, two aircraft are airworthy, one, OH-VIF, looking much like it did at the end of its service life, and the other, OH-VIG, looks much like it would have in the 1930s and 1940s and flies at airshows throughout Finland.As a bonus, here is some flight footage:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA6m3aFlm6Qhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB4BesxlxL4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GszSt1JSFoIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3NfgCGm2yghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nLNb9-0-ns>>65201292You are right, I must be mistaken. My apologies, I managed to at least confirm that this was indeed the funeral of Dobkevičius. I can provide a source, if interested.
This Viima is currently located at the Suomen ilmailumuseo or the Finnish Aviation Museum near Helsinki.
One last picture, from an aerial display.
very nice
>>65199775Why did they keep losing if they were so good?
