15 Most ADVANCED Propeller Planes

most planes today use jet engine technology for propulsion the first planes used propeller technology and they were seen as marvels of human innovation and ingenuity let's take a trip back in time as we look at the 15 most advanced propeller planes number 15 britain norman bn2t aew defender first up on our list is the britain norman defender a surveillance aircraft manufactured in the uk the aew defender is the military version of the islander twin turboprop aircraft and it's a multi-purpose utility transport aircraft developer roles like casualty evacuation counter insurgency light attacks forward air control and reconnaissance but what makes it most interesting is the aew in its namesake or airborne early warning it may be easy to scoff at the funny-looking large nose of the defender but inside is an advanced radar that can track just about any incoming threat pretty easily and while it was manufactured in the uk the defender has been used by the fbi for electronic surveillance of hostage situations the royal cambodian air force against insurgents and even by the danish national guard for reconnaissance purposes during some pretty intense gang wars the defender is a versatile propeller plane that has proven its worth in both times of war and peace and has served countries since the 1970s number 14 north american f-82 twin mustang don't worry you're not seeing double for this one during world war ii jet aircraft were taking on more prominent roles during the war efforts and had become more commonplace in the skies they had to fully surpass the reliability and effectiveness of the propeller fighters in the air force so in order to essentially meet in the middle the united states combined two p-52 fighters to create the f-82 twin mustang and honestly they look like they fit better in a star wars movie than in the real world they managed to prove as an effective bomber escort interceptor and knight fighter later on in the war it certainly looked strange and required two pilots to operate but the twin mustang was still an extremely long range aircraft that could fly distances of over 2 300 miles which is about as twice as long as their single craft predecessor and had a maximum flight ceiling of 40 000 feet making it the preferred escort for the american b-29 stratofortress during deep airstrike missions over the pacific and while it officially made its appearance at the beginning of the end the f-82 twin mustang had a pretty successful military career during the korean war and in the air national guard proving it was more than just a one-hit wonder number 13 blackburn b-101 beverly this next aircraft may not have been the prettiest propeller plane to fly overhead but it was one serious workhorse the blackburn b-101 beverly made its debut at the sbac farmbra air show and surprised everyone with its fast and easy takeoff slow fly past and very short landing but the party really started when the beverly came to a halt and went in reverse down the runway by most standards sure that may be kind of boring but at the time that was mostly unheard of when it came to behemoth propeller planes the aircraft became a mainstay of the royal british air force but under a civilian guise was able to lug around six cars five motorcycles and 42 passengers so maybe translate that to some troopers and their vehicles it had an unorthodox appearance to say the least with a nice and boxy cargo hold very slim fuselage and an h-shaped tail it officially entered service in 1955 and mostly supported operations in east asia until it was retired in 1967. number 12 fairy gannet don't let the name fool you because a light and delicate propeller plane this was not the fairy garnet is another strange-looking aircraft flying high for the royal air force it was designed back in 1945 to fulfill the royal navy's request for a dedicated anti-submarine aircraft and finally it had its first flight four years later it looked like a bloated fighter plane but it's built with a much larger fuselage and airborne early warning radar system and gave it extra adaptability for the post-world war ii missions it would fly on the fairy garnet was fully functional by 1959 and its radar had a pretty impressive range of 200 miles out from the aircraft some variants were eventually made for trainer and cargo purposes but each model required a crew of three people although it is a goofy plane it served its purpose and other countries like australia and germany eventually bought models for their navies until it was retired in the 1980s when everyone's style went completely out of the window number 11 de havilland dh98 mosquito one of the royal british air force best planes not just during world war ii but of all time is hands down the de havilland dh-98 mosquito the team at de havilland set out to design and create a twin-engine bomber whose performance was so unmatched that it would require little to no defense equipment and so what they made was the fastest and top performing bomber and while it had originally served as a photo reconnaissance aircraft it quickly proved to be lethal during missions that call for more aggressive measures during the construction of the first mosquitoes a lot of resources were becoming more and more scarce as the war raged on and so the mosquito was mostly made of wood many of its pilots lovingly referred to it as the wooden wonder when they were reaching top speeds of about 400 miles an hour in the sky above european battlefields number 10 battery fbe 12 chaika being able to fly is pretty cool and being able to take off anywhere anytime is even cooler enter the battery of be 12 chaica shaika translates from russian to seagull which is an appropriate name for this amphibious propeller plane the aircraft entered service of the soviet naval aviation in the early 1960s for the purpose of maritime patrol and was designed to be a flying boat it's actually one of the few amphibious aircraft still in military service in the world it was originally designed for anti-submarine and patrol duties during the cold war but when the united states navy showed off their new missiles that could be launched from further offshore the soviets needed a response so the navy outfitted some of the be12 chicas to serve as a maritime rescue plane but if you know your history the cold war came to an end officially in 1991 so then what would be the fate of the chaica well many of them were converted to water bombers for the suppression of forest fires which is a pretty cool way for the russian navy to make sure they use the commendable aircraft to its fullest ability number nine messerschmitt me323 gigant based on a german military glider the messerschmitt me323 gigant was the largest land-based transport aircraft to take to the skies during world war ii it was an absolute beast it took a total of six radial propeller engines to get things going and it took a crew of five to run the aircraft smoothly it had an incredible wingspan of over 180 feet long and the craft itself was almost 100 feet when it was empty it weighed about 60 000 pounds but when it carried up to 130 troops there were around 65 000 pounds of steel flying through the sky ready to deploy at any given moment the six monstrous engines gave a plane a maximum speed of 177 miles an hour and it had a max service ceiling of about 13 000 feet in total over 200 of the guns were produced between 1942 and 1944 with the majority of them being used on the african front during the war and while it may not have been part of the right side of history this aircraft certainly played an integral role in the early days of world war ii number eight tupolev tu-95m bear a long-standing symbol of soviet and russian aerial engineering ingenuity and air power the tupolev tu-95m bear has been flying around for more than 60 years it served as the flagship reconnaissance plane and bomber and was a personal favorite of the federation and is the only propeller-powered strategic bomber still in use today the propellers move so fast that they break the speed of sound making it one of the loudest military aircraft in the world so you can only imagine what it's like to hear it roaring overhead let alone what it's like in the cockpit but the bear itself reaches an insane top speed of 574 miles an hour which is a world record that still stands today as it's moving at this record-breaking speed at up to 45 000 feet in the air so you can definitely hear it but you won't see this russian bear this aircraft with a 164-foot wingspan has four turboprop engines and was first flown in 1952 for the long-range aviation of the soviet air force and is expected to serve in the russian aerospace forces until at least 2040 that's some serious reliability number seven north american p51 voodoo don't let this next propeller plane on our list pass you by reaching a max speed of 555 miles per hour the north american p-51 mustang better known as the voodoo broke the three kilometer record for a piston engine propeller plane in 2018 the p-51 mustang is a single-seat aircraft that was originally a fighter and bomber that graced the skies during world war ii and the war in korea and while they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks the voodoo is one seriously tricked out mustang it was a long road to become a record-breaking plane at first the plane had issues with the wing's airfoils and the tail was all wrong canopy didn't fit well and the list goes on and on it wouldn't have made it in a world war ii air raid but somehow it still flew after putting in the right amount of time effort parts money and maybe even a little voodoo magic it flew again fast and the race team behind the voodoo used it to win a number of races before breaking the three kilometer record number six f8f bearcat rare bear just like the voodoo the f8f bearcat aka the rare bear is another restored and souped-up world war ii propeller plane and while its days of deep strike bombing and troop support are long behind it the rare bear is making waves in the air racing community the project took a few years and was repaired in stages but with each new stage the rare bear got faster and faster until in 1989 it absolutely shattered the 500 mile per hour barrier roaring across the sky at 528 miles an hour the rare bear was able to hold onto that record nice and tight for about a decade afterwards not bad for an old bear its racing history began in 1969 when the pilot dragged the pieces of the american fighter plane one at a time out of its wreck from seven years prior it finished fifth place in its first ever race reaching a top speed of just 356 miles an hour crazy to think that over 300 miles an hour is slow but that's still almost 200 miles an hour slower than what it would become sometimes it's all about persistence number five republic xp-47j super bolt the thunderbolt was a prominent world war ii fighter but as the war raged and more and more modifications were made to the aircraft it only got heavier and heavier despite the improvements something had to be done before the republic p-47 thunderbolt came to a grinding halt mid-flight so republic was able to lighten the load considerably and the new model the xp-47j was approved in 1943. the design looked the same on the outside but when you popped open the hood it was almost a new aircraft entirely the new close-fitting cowl installed around the r-2800 engine dramatically increased power output and the large spinner and fan were added to help keep the engine cool when it was reaching top speeds then the radio equipment aft fuel tank and even two of the 50 caliber machine guns were all mixed to cut down on weight it became a very one and done type of fighter pilot needs to get where they're going fast and make it home in time for supper but the modifications were worth it because by 1944 this little propeller plane could hit a max speed of 507 miles an hour number four grumman ov-1 mohawk there is no shortage of funky looking propeller planes out there but alas they all served their purpose and that includes the grumman ov-1 mohawk the mohawk was specially designed for the united states army and made its first flight in 1959 as the ultimate observation aircraft it played a pretty big part for the us in korea where the demilitarized zone was full of minefields barbed wire tank traps and tripwire fashion like spiderwebs it was not the place you wanted to walk into blind so that's where the mohawk came in flying above the insanity of the korean dmz it acted as the eye in the sky for the united states commanders with its cockpit designed for visibility powerful radar systems and wings and a tail that was perfect for stable flight and maneuverability the mohawk was able to record any sight and sound and process them in seconds to be relayed down to the forces on the ground nothing could move even an inch without the mohawk finding out about it it was also the only fixed-wing aircraft ever built specifically for the us army after the air force became its own department in 1947 making it a very special advancement for the service the great big eye in the sky that was the mohawk performed its duty with honor and efficiency for almost 50 years when it was retired in 1996. number three the de havilland dh103 hornet another favorite of the royal british air force the de havilland dh-103 hornet represented peak design for a piston engine fighter the aircraft was designed with a slim fuselage clean lines and tightly cowled engines giving it maximum performance and the raf saw their first prototype in 1944 it came with a wingspan of about 45 feet across and had a maximum flight ceiling of 22 000 feet carrying with it four 20 millimeter hispano cannons and provisions for either two thousand pound bombs or eight sixty pound rockets but the cherry on top of this world war ii era propeller plane were the two 2070 horsepower rolls-royce merlin piston engines that let the hornet roar through the skies at a top speed of 485 miles an hour which was pretty fast by the 1940s standards but also the hornet just looks plain cool even to this day number two kyushu j7w shinden we can't talk about engineering without talking about japan and despite being under constant siege during world war ii by the american b-29 super fortress bombers which flew higher and faster than axis interceptors could reach japanese imperial navy was able to form a response and although they didn't win the war the kyushu j7w shindin was a pretty solid counter measure to the b-29 while it lasted the design was an interesting one with a typical rear propeller but with wings at the rear fuselage as well the j7w was also equipped with four forward firing 20 millimeter cannons on the nose and while the two prototypes were complete and ready for action the efforts of the japanese imperial navy came a bit too late in the war in an incredibly cruel twist of fate b-29 bombers were used to drop the atomic bombs on hiroshima and nagasaki before the kyushu j7w shinding could properly take flight number one supermarine spitfire no list of propeller planes could be complete without this final entry one of the most influential and recognizable propeller planes in the world and first seen in world war ii the spitfire was the crown jewel of the royal air force this iconic high performance craft was pure nightmare fuel to enemies on the battlefield it could fly higher faster and for longer and its photo reconnaissance capabilities helped to turn the tide of the war in the allies favor the spitfire is a direct descendant of racing planes with eight wing-mounted machine guns and a rolls-royce engine it was able to fly at speeds of up to 440 miles an hour and could reach altitudes of up to 34 000 feet these were the choice aircraft of the british to shoot down nazi fighters bombers and their v1 flying bombs they gained international prominence during the battle of britain when they boasted an incredibly high victory to loss ratio and became an enormous burden for anyone who dared to engage in a dogfight with one watch our vehicles playlist for more top 15 videos about amazing vehicles sit back relax and binge watch all of our best vehicle videos you

Channel: Top Fives

Views: 15,706

Rating: 4.8252873 out of 5

Keywords: Most Advanced Propeller Planes

Id: 144JbPF_DDk

Length: 16min 41sec (1001 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 30 2021