Fairey Gannet

3,400 HP, 310 MPH, bi-fold wings, coaxial propellers, oldest flying Turboprop, Fairey Gannet
Looks like we are marching back in time. Started with Tektronix R7912 from the 1970's, then we had the Friden EC-132 from the 1960's, and now we have the Fairey Gannet from the 1950's.

This airplane has two engines, one for each of the propellers. You can fly the plane on one engine just fine. It needs help starting an engine on the ground, but once you have one engine started, you can use the wind blast from the propeller to start the second engine.

Coax propellers are unusual. I found a couple. The Antonov An-70 and the Russian Bear bomber use a single engine and a gearbox to drive the two propellers. The Electroflight uses separate motors, like the Fairey.

So I'm watching this video and I'm thinking that these guys weren't really afraid of the Soviet Union, they just wanted an excuse to play with all the technology that WW2 created.

Some people (like me) like to complain about the size of the defense budget, but a lot of the really cool technology we use everyday originated with the defense industry. And our strong military is what gave us the biggest and levelest playing field in the world.

So while a big defense budget may seem evil, it serves several purposes:

• it keeps a large number of people occupied
• it develops some amazing technology
• it keeps the bullies off of our playing fields