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Vicious circle – A sequence of reciprocal cause and effect in which two or more elements intensify and aggravate each other, leading inexorably to a worsening of the situation.
Virtuous circle – A recurring cycle of events with each one having a beneficial effect on the next.
Fifteen years after the end of the First World War, in the 1930’s, development of aircraft continued, albeit more slowly without the pressure of war. Wood and fabric had largely given way to metal construction, primarily aluminum. New designs incorporated the advances in aerodynamics, becoming “smoother,” “cleaner,” more rounded, and “flowing.” Greater speed was generally desirable, being an inherent advantage of aviation relative to other modes of transportation.
Fighter aircraft, sometimes referred to as “Pursuit” (thus the nomenclature of “P-51”), or, in French “chasseurs,” were evolving toward higher speed, forced by the need for a competitive advantage over their adversaries.
Meanwhile, in the development of bombers, while speed was good, the primary goals were always a bigger bomb load and a greater range.
From its first major use during the Spanish Civil war and into the second world war, the bomber evolved under the pressures of its environment. Slower than defending fighters and unable to avoid them, bombers were increasingly heavily armed. Their armament took the form of defensive guns.
Every added gun added weight — both directly and indirectly. It added the weight of the gun, its mount, the supply of ammunition, and the operator or the gunner. All of this would require more space, which meant more structure and, in turn, more weight.
If the original bomb load was to be maintained, the aircraft was now heavier. More load required more wing area which provided more lift, but also more drag.
More drag required more power to pull it through the air if speed was to be maintained — bigger, or even more, engines.
More power requires more fuel which resulted in more weight.
More weight started the cycle all over again.
This meant that any small gains in bombing ability were achieved at ever greater cost and increasingly disproportionate aircraft size and resources. One report stated that one bomber consumed more resources than four fighter aircraft.
During the Second World War, this trend resulted in impressively large aircraft like the American Boeing B-17 and the British Avro Lancaster — enormous aircraft bristling with guns and crews of 7 to 10 men. They were expensive to build, expensive to maintain, and expensive, in training and lives, to crew. And every “improvement,” to speed, range, bomb load, or armament made this worse.
But the circle can, to some degree, work both ways — it is possible to invoke the opposite — a “virtuous circle.”
In 1938, anticipating the coming war, Geoffrey de Havilland approached the requirements of a bomber with the almost-mythical “fresh sheet of paper.”
“Our scheme was to discard every item of equipment that was not essential, design for a two-man crew, and no rear armament, relying on high speed for defence.”
— Geoffrey de Havilland, p 156, Sky Fever
This was minimalism applied to aircraft design. The result was the Mosquito.
One can imagine starting with the design of one of the great bombers of the time and by stripping out the weight of the gunners, their guns, and ammunition, saving enough weight to reduce the size of the wing, which saved enough drag that the number of engines could be reduced from four to two, which, in turn, would save enough fuel that the load was reduced, so the cycle could be repeated.
“We believed that we could produce a twin-engine bomber which would have a performance so outstanding that little defensive equipment would be needed.”
– Geoffrey de Havilland – September 1939
In the end, some models of the small Mosquito could carry the same 4,000 pound bomb load as early versions of the mighty Lancaster — and do it with a speed that could outrun enemy fighters.
They were also more economical to build, using half the number of engines and much less material. Also, there were great savings in construction time from not having to install as much equipment.
When the Mosquito first flew, it was faster than the contemporary models of the famous Spitfire.
While the Mosquito had the benefits of a sleek design and rivet-free surfaces, much of it’s performance was the result of focusing firmly on the barest necessities of the design — as stated, a minimalism, or economy of means, from the beginning of the design.
The same principle can be seen in our personal lives: The more stuff we have, the more complicated it is, the more time, effort, and money it requires to take care of it — a pattern of diminishing returns until we spend too many resources for the result obtained.