CAC CA-11 Woomera; Too Little, Too Late
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- Опубліковано 16 вер 2024
- The CAC CA-11 Woomera was the intended production variant of the CA-4 "Wackett Bomber".
Unfortunately, the realities of war and timing, as well as the many issues hit during development, meant it was never to be.
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The fact that CAC got so many A/C into production in that short time span is remarkable.
Desperate times call for desperate measures ....... but yeh we went from effectively nothing to Wirraways , Boomerangs, Beauforts , Beaufighters , Mosquitoes and Mustangs pretty fast .
Stuff like this is why the Commonwealth should be it's own tech tree in War Thunder
Excellent! Outstanding! Thanks so much for covering this rare type. As a very young volunteer with Australian Aircraft Restoration Group in the 1960s, one of my duties was to clean the Perspex on the "moulded Perspex sighting turret", one of few remaining components from this aircraft. It's still there.
In North Sydney there's a park that was made by filling in a gulley. The infill was comprised in part of Beaufort fuselages deemed surplus in the 1950s. When I learned this as a young lad a little bit inside me died.
I note some comments about the name. A Woomera is a stick used to throw a spear more forcefully. A shaped stick used to propel other projectiles. It is a word in one Aboriginal language group.
Nice name for an attack aircraft.
For a bit of extra spice Canberra is also a native word in the tribe local to the area where the Australian capital was built. It is generally believed that Canberra in the local language means meeting point between two hills. There is some debate though that it could also or perhaps only mean the valley between two breasts or indeed just breast. This means our capital in Australia could be called tits.
Language is a wonderful thing and Aboriginal language is incredibly rich and varied.
Naaaah, the only tits in or around Canberra are the offspring of pommie convicts. Our favourite export of the 19th century.
The English Electric Tit's Bomber.
So Woomera is the Aboriginal word for "atlatl".
After white man conquered the outback . They turned to the Aborigines for place and festival names .
Understandably Aborigines of one part replied " Cunnamulla " ( meaning lots of excrement ) .
Around Melbourne . Aborigines replied For a festival " Moomba " . ( meaning Lots of bare bottoms ) .
Recalled from an article in " The Courier Mail " . Some time in the 1970s.
May God restore this noble people . Nation's that survived the harshest conditions . With agriculture officially dated back beyond 20000BC ( as with the New Guinea tribes ) . And fish traps dated back to 60000 years .
G'day,
All that, and more.
Australian Aborigines invented the Scientific Method of Problem Solving...
No "Experimental Results" are considered to be believable until after the Experiment has been attempted by independant Researchers who are able to reproduce the (claimed) Results...; thus CORROBORATING the original Claims.
Without Corroboration, it might be Marketing, or Self-Promotion, or Salesmanship - but it simply is Not SCIENCE...
And Corroboration was first practised by the Australian Aborigines, who first invented the
CORROBOREE...; ie a meeting of all the Wise People & Elders of many surrounding Tribes to discuss meaningful issues such as the Meaning of Life..., What Matters..., What's Happening Now..., and How should The People reasonably respond, thereunto...(?).
Quod Erat Demonstrandum...(!).
"Bee-All - End-All !"
("Finish !" in the Wherong Diaect - followed by the English translation thereof...)
The Colon-ists did their best to take everything of value from Oz, and ship it all back to the EuroPeon Markets - including lots of Words and Expressions, as well as the idea of Corroboration enabling Science.
Such is life.
Have a good one...
Stay safe,
;-p
Ciao !
PS
If ye be curious..., then maybe backtrack me to my "Aboriginal Technology..." Playlist, therein to check out,
"Boomerang Aerophysics...."
and if you like that, then perhaps follow it with,
"The Boomerang-Carving Stone...!
I'm still trying to figure out how they made that Stone...; but what they made it to do is pretty well indisputable...(!).
I just love the weird look of this aircraft, especially those massive windows in the waist
They're definitely good looking planes! Too bad a couple didn't survive to make it into the flying warbird circuit.
@@eliasgordon4321Exactly, I’d of loved to see one of these flying or at least static. Kinda like my fascination with the Westland Whirlwind or even better the Ca-15
Thank You for your efforts in these two videos - Lawrence Wackett's contribution to the Australian war effort is often down played because he did what was needed not always what the govt, decided it wanted - for example building Mustangs rather than the Spitfires the govt wanted - Wackett decided that the Spitfire was too hard for Australia to build and the Mustang was easier - so often Wackett was proved right. a great Man indeed.
Bristol Beaufighter: one of the most under-appreciated aircraft in the RAF - always overshadowed by Hurricanes, Spits and Lancs (and Mossies to a less extent).
Ed Nash videos are always a must watch.
Kind words, thanks from Australia
That center section puts the engines so far apart that single engine handling must have been difficult.
Yeah, that was the first thing I thought of when I saw that head on view. I wonder how the design would have gone had the wings been slung higher so that they could carry fuel internally rather than just the wings. It really would have ended up looking much more like a Beaufort, or an A-20.
Oooh, the beaufighter… 😘
Well Ed .Back to normal ! I really knew nothing of either of these aircraft . Which isn't surprising really . Thanks Ed.
More than welcome John.
Those were some pretty early Beaufighters.. No dihedral in the tailplane, an Australian modification later adopted by other manufacturers
Thank you Ed, for another aviation case of what could have been!
What a very plucky aircraft! It's the Drunk A-20
Really looking forward to the Boomerang :-)
Thanks Ed
A reminder that strategists were very much concerned early in the Pacific war that Japan might be able to isolate Australia from Allied support, meaning that arms would have to be produced domestically. Another one for the "what if" pile.
I think the Blenheim was the first to use a remote turret.
Yes, the British Beauforts and Beaufighters served us very well and were well loved by crews and ground personel alike.
Inexperienced aircraft industry punching above its weight, or rather too much weight to punch with
Being tied to the R 1830 Twin Wasp, which in the licensed version was 1,200hp, really meant building aircraft suitable for this engine
yet Australia consistently applied it to airframes which were too heavy for it, making clumsy flying targets nobody was enthused about.
Main case in point the Boomerang which was built in 12 weeks from pencil on paper to prototype parked outside.
The engine itself wasnt terrible and had a solid rate of climb to 15,000ft in lighter aircraft such as Curtis P-36 Hawk, but was abysmal in airframes like F4F 7,400lbs and Boomerang 7,700lbs.
Yes applied tactics won the day, but still ....
It worked well enough on the Ozzie built Beauforts.
Do what you can with what youve got.
This makes me wonder what's going on with the current aircraft industry in Australia.
Basically nothing, just maintenance on our American jets.
Boeing Australia is now located at what was the Government Aircraft Factories at Port Melbourne. They, and other local companies, are producing parts for the F-35 under our local content clause in the contract. This follows on from the assembly and parts manufacture for the F/A-18. For instance, flap shrouds were made for ALL F/A-18s, among other parts that I cannot remember. (I used to work at GAF from 1978 to 1988.)
Apart from the F-35 work, they are building parts for the 787 wings. They may also be building parts for various editions of Airbus airliners, notwithstanding being part of Boeing. Wing ribs were a specialty even in the 80s, using the massive NC Routers that they had, usually sent to British Aerospace for incorporation to the wings they were assembling. There is also a major building constructed in the late 80s for working with composite materials, which I believe is still being done for various clients, locally and internationally.
The latest development is the Loyal Wingman drone, intended to accompany F-35 or F/A-18 fighters into complex war zones. This is very largely designed and built in Australia.
De Havilland Australia used to be Sydney-based, but is now also part of Boeing Australia.
@@brettcoster4781 Thank you sir.
Another great video. Cheers.
Fun facts: Woomera (name origin) - Australian Aboriginal spear throwing device. Essentially a lever to launch a spear. Now "Woomera" is generally the reference for a small Air Force base in Australia that is home to one of the largest Test and Evaluation proving grounds in the world. The Woomera test area for evaluating war materiel is almost the size of England....
Excellent video, thank you!
This indigenous designed stuff from Australia is wild!
Another great video Ed, thanks!
Yours is always an exciting and insightful program on little known aircraft, to which I look forward too, On the pronunciation of Aussie place names: Woomera, has no accent on the first syllable., rather the Woo is as the word wool, So woom-a-ra. We have some tricky words, not as commonly in use as the North American Indian tribal or place names.
Ed Nash 2050: the story of the Australian built nuclear subs....
Lol yeah! Dont want to touch that story 😂
People just love the idea of "what ifs". This is just one more plane of which only a single one was built, that captures people's fascination, and just like the Fokker D XXIII can be found in any military aviation reference book as if it had seen wide service.
This almost looks like the Japanese Kawasaki Ki-45. Very close. If it only had the 3350 engines & a 4 blade paddle prop. Promising possibilities.
Pronunciation note (if you will excuse me); Woomera is pronounced 'wUmera' by most of us, as if you were from the North of England (as in; "Eh Up! It's bUms that count 'ere, not 'ats"). Similarly, the preferred pronunciation of Boomerang is 'bUmerang', though few of us do this.
Hah! Thank you!
Mind you, if you're pulling my leg on "boomerang" I'll be sending the outraged hordes to you after I do the video ;D
Leg pulling class 1 ha
@@EdNashsMilitaryMatters Hmmm... Woomera is pronounced as in Woman... Wom-era. The woomera is held in one hand while the other hand places the butt of the spear on the woomera's hook; the hollow curved shape facilitates this alignment without looking. The woomera effectively lengthens the thrower's arm, greatly increasing the velocity of the spear. Correcting for the game animal's lateral dodging is accomplished by tilting the wing-shape woomera during the throw for last-second corrections. The kinetic energy of a spear launched from a woomera has been calculated as four times that of an arrow launched from a compound bow. Boomerangs were described in 1822, in detail and recorded as "bou-mar-rang" in the language of the Turuwal people (a sub-group of the Darug) of the Georges River near Port Jackson.
Bum-arang!?
Boomerang mate.😂
It looks like it has a triangular cavity through the middle fuselage section , giving a clear vision of the surrounding landscape .
Thank you for these pieces on aircraft previously totally unknown to me. Incidentally and not terribly importantly, the "woo" in "woomera" is usually pronounced with a short "u" - ie more like "wuh" than "woo". A woomera of course is a piece of wood shaped to be used to throw a spear further and harder - a similar principle to a modern day plastic dog ball thrower.
that boomerang feature just keeps coming back doesn't it
Dear Mr. Nash, awesome video again, so my LIKE for this ! As a subscriber please allow me a question. Is it possible to look in resolution 1080p? Thank you very much for all your good works, and please stay safe and healthy! With my best regards! Frank
Good question! I generally compile videos in 720 due to size constraints - I'm quite often uploading in places where internet isnt great and so I limit the resolution.
Plus I've never known it be an issue.
But I can certainly look at doing videos in higher resolution in places where upload is feasible. Hopefully up until Xmas thatll be possible, so I will see about that.
@@EdNashsMilitaryMatters Ok Sir. thank you!
This is a good case of "what if" that in a very positive way was caused by never having to be pushed into service. Had the situation been different, the problems would have been sorted with trading the lives of pilots and crew, which was sadly all too common with other nations that had a more immediate threat.
Thank you Ed, for your informative video.
More than welcome :)
Pronounciation of 'oo' in Woomera is like 'oo' in look. Not like 'oo' in boo. This name is from the indiginous australian word describing a throwing stick for launching a spear.
A learning curve..........lucky the war did not leave them to sort it out..
She sure was a looker! A shame for CAC not to be able to bring her to bear against the Japanese but thankfully they weren't cut off from outside support which was the condition for she was designed in the first place. Her shape puts me a little bit in the mind of the PZL P.37 Los - one of my favorite aircraft of WW2.
I agree about the P-37 Los. It didn't get the chance to show what a fine warplane it could have been.
@@roscoewhite3793 Glad I'm not alone in seeing the darling Los in the Woomera! I'm not sure that she lost the opportunity to show her potential though.
She continued to see service with the Romanian Air Force as a combat aircraft on the Eastern Front until October of 1941. Afterwards she was relegated to training duties. However she was reactivated to combat duty for a month in 1944!
In a sense it is true that she was unable to demonstrate her full potential as she couldn't receive the many upgrades that PZL no doubt would've provided over the years. At least she didn't fall into total obscurity with no record to show for herself.
Like you say, terrific achievement by such a young, and largely self-created, aircraft industry. On the other hand, I wonder from the photo at 5:40 (and earlier), what its crews would have nicknamed it?
Could you maybe do a video about the CAC Sabre.
Reminds me a lot of the Martin Maryland. Nice looking aircraft but those big triangular windows...
Seeing that there was another excellent video of Ed's coming up I was suddenly reminded of a book I had years ago. It was a small book full of aircraft like these. Aircraft that were just a little bit late, or never made it to production or were very limited in number. Always found it an enjoyable book.
One thing we can see in all of these videos is the importance of timing. If the Woomera had just been a few years early it could have been a very useful aircraft to have if it was working properly. I do wonder about using it as a torpedo bomber as the external fuel tanks do look a bit close together.
Was the Woomera the first aircraft to use remote turrets? I know the B-29 used them but was it the first?
For information - the oo in Woomera is pronounced much closer to the OO in Book, of cook. No worries, as i say, just for future reference.
Up against the "Whispering Death" Beaufighter? Tough luck, kids.
You mentioned the Boomerang fighter which was developed from the T-6 Texan. It might be interesting for a brief comparison of the Boomerang to the P-64 which was North American's own attempt to get a fighter out of the Texan. Some of those actually saw combat in a war between South American countries.
It was a development of the wirraway. Which was a licence built texan with some local modifications.
I was wondering by 1942 why they just didn't license build A-20s or Beaufighters.
Aw come on Ed, I'll not get a pot washed today if you keep releasing stuff.
😂
Not a criticism. But as an Australian I would like to mention this. The woo in Woomera is pronunced like the Wo in woman.
Us Australian fancy ourselves in a scrap but we're the 3rd division when it comes to plane production.
Would have been interesting if Aus has built capacity a bit earlier. Maybe imported some English or US know how.
Australia's WW2 combat aircraft industry was the equivalent of Bert Gummer "doing the best with what I got." Considering their national defense was at stake, can't blame them for trying.
Great video
Wouldn't the triangle observation ports be a critical weakness?
It's pronounced Wumera. Wum as in woman. Hope that makes sense.
@JZ's Best Friend Same as in the word look.
Very *Noice!*
How could the gunners aim with the remote control turrets? Obviously they didn't have CCTV, so very clever gunsights? Some sort of very long periscopes?
A great little video that plane would have no chance against the mighty Japanese airforce plenty of great USA aircraft available remember the rubbish at Singapore the buffalo.
Too many bad wartime Aussie lagers. What the hell!
You don’t use the ‘oo’ sound in Woomera. More like 'Woumra'. Most Aboriginal words are said very fast and don't sound anything like they are transcribed into English.
"Woomera", "Wackett"? Were they planning to attack whilst the enemy were laughing hysterically at the names of the aircraft and unable to intercept?
The Boomerang will come back in the Future.
Obviously the aircraft name is all wrong 2:38 mark would imply the bollocks bomber🙄 certainly has a right Hefty ,,,pair there
A max speed of 270mph would have made the CA-11 obsolescent even in 1939.
I wish we'd kept the blue-white roundel after the war. I feel insignia adopted by necessity during wartime should be retained, to honour those who died displaying it.
You know, I'm kind of surprised they didnt.
@@EdNashsMilitaryMatters - I suspect the postwar conservative and royalist Menzies government was very keen to re-emphasise Commonwealth links, after all the strains during the war (Labor's famous turn to America, the row with Churchill, ratifying the Statute of Westminster).
@@FlyxPat That seems a good explanation. Still a shame though.
Woomera.
Oo as in book not moon.
2 back to back videos amazing
back to back eh? kinky... whatever floats your boat **shrug**
I'm guessing that there was an interlock of some kind,to keep the gunner from shooting his own aircraft's tail off?
One would certainly hope so!
My grandfather worked at CAC gun turret during the war and he said that his team 'sweated blood' trying to get those mounts working properly. That and the 'Wet Wing' fuel stowage were two of the many problems that held the programme up so long. One wonders if they had have stuck with a normal gun turret and ordinary fuel tanks in the wings (even at the cost of some range) as well as starting a year earlier they might have managed to get the type into service in time to be useful.
Ed, you forgot to mention what a Woomera is !
For the non-Australian viewers, it is an Aboriginal weapon, a spear throwing device.
@Uncle Joe , you can hit someone or something with it I guess.
Hi sir can you do a topic about Taiwanese misslie like sky bow sky sowrd HF it would be interesting ！
I'd love to, but not sure how much information is available. I'll have a look.
was smoking allowed ?
I wonder if R-2600's like were used in the B-25 and A-20 would have been the more appropriate powerplants for this airplane, although same problem, that very large stretch of wet between the US and Australia. It is sad that with so many of these aircraft there is no impetus to save an example for future generations, but where would you put them all I guess.
Australia had a factory tooled up for the wasp engine, and at that time ('39-'41) both the US and UK were not likely to ship a technical package because of the risk of interception. Weird examples of this, are the skipping from 2 pdr guns to 17 pdr guns and holding out for the technical package of the sten gun, only to find it wasn't worth the wait. Another is that, the Australian 20mm cannons were reverse engineered, again because the technical packages wouldn't be shipped.
@@hart-of-gold I am interested in how they were able to make their cannon without nickel by coming up with a different steel formulation. Pretty interesting how they just adapted and overcame.
@@300guy The British Commonwealth, during WW2, according to professor John Ellis's "statistical survey", produced 90.6% of the world's nickel ore production. Most of it in Canada. The only other notable producers were New Caledonia at 4.3%, and the USSR at 1.8%. Australia produced other exotics like magnesite and zinc., and other dominions produced chromium, tungsten and bauxite more efficiently, obviating the need to develop those mines in Australia in the war years, operating within an integrated commonwealth economy.
Having said that, today Canada, Russia, and Australia are the biggest nickel producers on the planet. I suspect, if the cheaper Canadian & New Caledonian stuff had not been available, local mining would have been a priority, just as shale oil production was in the war years, despite the higher cost.
A few years ago, when oil prices were high, and improved American fracking tech was moving the US into oil self sufficiency and net export territory, the big miners were starting to look at the shale shelf under the South Australian salt pan - and until the Saudis woke up to themselves and dropped the barrel price, it was starting to look inviting. I have seen assessments to the effect there are more barrels waiting to be tapped there than known middle east oil reserves. One day it might be worth going to dig it up.
Compared to the Mosquito which flew in the same time span it's not a very formidable aircraft .
The Beaufort was a terrible bombing aircraft and the RAAF was never happy with it in that role.
A test pilot at Boscombe Downs in the 1930s declared that it was: "An exceptionally poor bombing platform, being subject to an excessive and continuous roll, which made determination of drift particularly difficult".
Ah yes, Australians and their weirdly named planes....
It means "spear thrower", like the atlatl.
Australia "Don't Worry MATE !! England will protect us ! .. ??? .. Thanks Yank ! " It's always good to have powerful friends. :D
:)