British design quest

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/cultureshow/designquest/vote/

I voted for the Supermarine Spitfire. A true British Icon.

Art, beauty, speed and some big machine guns....the perfect big boy's toy.

[carelesschucca]

Can't really vote for the Mini can you it was designed by a Turk...

[Biker Biggles]

I voted for Concorde,even though the French had a bit to do with it.

I'm sorry... Mini skirts and the E-Type Jag got dropped out of the top ten, in favour of GTA and Tombraider???

I mean. Catseyes may save lives and things... but, the E-Type Jag. I saw a minty one the other day in Greenwich Village, sitting there, parked, English racing green... I actually felt a bit giddy looking at it.
I honestly think... they make most Ferraris look gauche.

Deeply pretty things.

( I am with BB about the Concorde. My old man lived in Scotland when they were prototyping and developing it. And, now I can poke my head out of my window and see one over the river... and they are titchy! )

I think the CLEVEREST thing is the www, but it's hardly a design, is it? So, given that the E-type is dropped (WTF ) it'll have to be the Routemaster bus - if only because, by dropping it, Mayor Stali...oops, Livingstone has managed to choke up London streets for the next twenty years.

[fizzwheel]

Why oh why is Grand Theft Auto in that list

Tube Map for me, thats a work of genius IMHO

Erm did we invent the world wide web ? I thought that was the US military, arpanet and all that ?.

Tough choice for me between the Spitfire, the Routemaster and the Underground map (Harry Beck a largley unsung hero of British engineering)

I think its got to be Harry's map though.

P.S. E-Type and DB5 out, Tombraider in ???

Originally Posted by The Basket

I voted for the Supermarine Spitfire. A true British Icon.

Art, beauty, speed and some big machine guns....the perfect big boy's toy.

Sorry for the Minor de-rail but here goes anyway.
Micthell's Spitfire is a beautiful and fearsome warplane but it was largly made of stressed aluminum, so you didn't have to put to many holes in it before it came to bits.

Also because of the position of its glycol tanks (under the nose) it was also vunerable to flak and small arms fire at low altitude.

Sydney Camm's Hurricane on the other hand was old technology and wasn't so pretty but it could take a hell of a pounding and still bring its a pilot home.
Shot down a lot more planes than the Spitfire and could also be used as an effective close support tool too.
Shame it never really got the recognition or development it deserved IMHO

I have nothing against the Spitfire it was a brilliant warplane and a work of genius, not to mention one of the most stunning looking aircraft of all time (Marks 9 and under, the Griffon engined planes never looked right to me)

All good points and spot on.
The Hurricane was old tech but was a better warplane than the Spitfire. As it could keep flying with very little support...and that was vital in 1940.

The Rolls Royce Merlin engine should also be a design classic...Youth of today, Eh?

Originally Posted by tricky

Erm did we invent the world wide web ? I thought that was the US military, arpanet and all that ?.

I stand to be corrected but, I think the Internet concept was the US Military, but the WWW is accredited to Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

While we are at it, why isn't Colossus, the world's FIRST real computer and invented and largely built by Sir Tommy Flowers, not on the list?

Lastly, IMO, the Hurricane was a great fighter - and spawned an even greater array of superb ground support airplanes from Tornado to Tempest - but the real genius of the Spitfire was the thin semi-elliptical wing which simply made it faster for given power - and therefore the better interceptor. It may not have been able to take the pounding that a Hurri could take, but it got up to the enemy faster, and at a higher altitude, and therefore was a better fighter plane per se.