Article Type: Military History
Article Date: October 12, 2001
Flying Wings
Northrup has been in the "flying wing" mode for a long time though we know the first was the Go 229. The B-2 traces back to the YB-49 six-engine jet and the prop-driven XB-35. But the XP-79 was intriguing. It was the first jet aircraft designed for ramming! The pilot lay prone in between two 1,150 lb. thrust Westinghouse J30-WEs in the forward center of the 38' wingspan. Two vertical stabilizers sprouted aft. The 8,670 lb. fighter was stressed for 12 Gs and with the lay-down position the pilot could handle more G stress too.
Leading edges of the airfoil were built of heavy magnesium to withstand the forces of ramming blows. A secondary armament of four .50 calibers was envisioned. The maximum estimated speed was projected to be 510 mph but in the initial test flight, in September of 1945, the aircraft was destroyed. Unbelievably, the Northrup MX-324 rocker-powered fighter preceded it in 1944. Thankfully no further aircraft were built. The Zeppelin company in Germany had a design for a rocket powered "Rammer."
Flying wing fever spread across the Atlantic in the 1947 Armstrong Whitworth A.W.52. The 90' foot wing weighing 34,154 loaded was a test bed for a proposed six-engine concept on the order of the YB-49 which had a 172' span. Two 5,000 lb. thrust Rolls-Royce Nenes mounted in the wing resulted in a climb rate of 4,800 fpm and a 500 mph top speed carrying its two-man crew to its 50,000' ceiling and 2,130 mile range. But by 1952 the quite superior Avro Vulcan delta wing and Hadley Page Victor bombers were beginning production and further "all-wing" designs were terminated.
The Victor's crescent wing design was developed from the Arado 234C, which had the same, shape and was similar to a Messerschmitt P.1108 jet bomber design except for pure "V" shaped tail. Actually the Victor had a high-mounted horizontal stabilizer that had a positive "V" dihedral. Focke Wulf had a delta wing bomber design with a 620 mph estimated speed.
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Victor is too similar to P.1108  |
The Horten brothers in WWII Germany, who had designs for the Ho XVIII Amerika Bomber, a jet wing with a range and speed of 6,835 miles and 528 mph respectively, pursued the flying wing design concept.
Russian/American Rip Offs
Many Russian designs were commenced before invading Soviet forces lay their hands on German blueprints such as those of the Ta 183 that eventually became the MiG 15. Planes like the YAK 15 (early 1946) and MiG 9 (late 1945) actually performed their maiden flights on Jumo 004Bs as did several French airframes. The YAK 23 was developed during the same time as the MiG 15 but is quite different.
Like the YAK 15 and MiG 9 it had non-swept wings of 30' span. Its engine was developed from the Rolls Royce Derwent of 3,500 lb. thrust acquired from Britain. The pilot sat way back and directly above the engine that had a long intake requiring a long nose resulting in poor visibility. It had a top speed of 610 mph and eventually served Balkan satellite nations. Many similarities coincide with the German Focke Wulf Super TL concept.
If we look at non-swept-wing 1947 American bombers like the North American B-45, Convair XB-46 and the Martin XB-48 we see Arado and Junkers in the wing-mounted engine placement using the pod concepts used. Medium bombers by the day's standards, they all carried about 8,000 lbs. of bombs with top speeds of 500-550 mph. The Martin XB-51 used exactly the Ju 287's six-engine jet layout in the two forward mounts. Two 5,200 lb. thrust J47-GE-13s clung to the lower port and starboard fuselage side in the exact fashion of the Ju 287's. A third engine was buried in the aft fuselage making for a top speed of 620 mph. The rear-swept wing spanned 53' and it could carry 12,000 lbs. of bombs. Its horizontal stabilizer was mounted at the very top of the vertical stabilizer ala the Ta 183 design.
Ilyushin's IL-28 was the first Soviet jet bomber owing its engines to original Jumo 004H units that it copied. It flew in late 1948 with two 5,950 lb. thrust Klimov VK-1power plants able to propel it to 580 mph. All tail surfaces are swept but the 65' wing is not. The engines are slung beneath them in Ar 234B style. Range for the 42,500 lb. plane is 2,200 miles with its wing-tip tanks and it has a ceiling of 42,000 feet. Large numbers (about 750) were built and subsequently used in satellite countries including China. Two 23mm cannons in the nose and tail defended it and its bomb load was about 8,800 lbs. Much of what they learned from the captured Ju 287 jet bomber prototype that they finished and flew in 1947 went into the IL-28.
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| Was the Tu-16 an EF132 copy? |
By just 1952 the Tupolev Tu-16 was using two 19,000 lb. thrust engines attaining a speed of 620 mph, a range of 3,800 miles and a bomb load of 20,000 lbs. It utilized the Arado-pioneered wing employing a slight crescent shape in its sweep. The remainder of the aircraft looks much like the Junkers EF 132 that the Russians had a wooden mock up of in the captured Junkers factory. The Tu-16 is not substantially superior in performance to the projected EF 132's.
Just Strange
The era spawned jets that had no defined role as we know today. It was time when aircraft were constructed more as design exercises almost just to see if they would fly.
In 1947 Sanders-Roe built the first, and perhaps only, jet flying boat fighter called the S.R.A.I. powered by two 3,850 lb. thrust Beryl 1 M.V.B.2 turbo jets semi-internally mounted in the fuselage. The 16,255 lb. craft could climb on its 46' wings at 4,000 fpm and had a maximum speed of 516 mph once the wing floats were retracted. Four 20mm cannons was the armament of the three prototypes built. Dornier discounted the once discussed idea of a single-seat flying boat fighter.
The equally strange Convair Sea Dart flew in 1953. Though the near Mach 1 jet had retractable hydro-skis, it came to rest on its hull like a flying boat. Several German design concepts were that of delta wing layout later used in many aircraft designs.
Nordic Clones
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| Too close for comfort |
Sweden's SAAB-21R was the only fighter to have had both piston and jet engines at different times. Originally the 1,475 hp SFA-built DB 605B powered it in 1943 and the 3,000 lb. thrust de Havilland Goblin was used in 1947. The Vampire-ish look with the twin tail had one interesting feature—a detachable gun pod. Though the 37' wing-spanned plane could make 520 mph and mounted a 20mm Hispano cannon and four 13.2 mm MGs in the nose, it was a forerunner of the 20mm Vulpod on 7.62mm GE mini-gun pods we know. Eight more machine guns could be attached with the pod. Sixty jets were produced. The 21R is a twin for the Fw "Flitzer" concept plane. Did Sweden have some collaboration?
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| Not coincidental |
But SAAB's next real fighter came in 1948 with the 29 model. It was chubby and Ta 183/MiG-ish looking with it 36' swept wings. The pilot sat well forward above four 20mm Hispano cannons and above the duct for the single 4,400 lb. thrust Ghost 50 engine. Climb rate was 7,500 fpm with a top speed of 658 mph. The 10,120 lb. plane could climb to a ceiling of 45,000' and with external tankage could travel 1,677 miles. Later models had a more powerful turbojet and updated missile weapons kept it in Swedish service well into the 1960's culminating with the 29-F. The 29 looks very much like a Focke Wulf concept called the Super TL.
Even The Canadians?
Avro Canada's two-seat CF-100 Canuck Mk.1 flew in 1950 looking like a T-33 with two engine nacelles strapped onto the fuselage sides. But smooth lines or not, the same-year's, Mk.3 34,000 lb. all weather interceptor was potent with its climb rate of 10,000 fpm and speed of 640 mph coming from the 6,000 lb. thrust Orenda 2 engines. It was small for a two-seater with a 52' wingspan able to climb to 40,000 feet. Eight .50 calibers were built-in and a variety of missiles were used. With upgraded engines and weapons the type evolved through the Mk.5 and was in service into the 1960's. The engine layout is quite extremely akin to a Heinkel design called the P.1080
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| Not the Canadians too! |
Large & Little
When too big isn't big enough we can look at the Convair YB-60 of 1952. Though it doesn't meet our time criteria of post WWII/pre-Korean War, its 1946 predecessor, the B-36, does. These planes hark back to the Luftwaffe desire for a New York bomber of super long range.
The YB-60 was pretty much a B-36 with 35 degree swept wings and eight jet engines mounted two to a pod like the B-52. They were P & W J57-P-3s of 8,800 lbs. thrust each. Where the B-36 had a 230' wingspan the YB-60 flew on 206' though its loaded weight was much higher at 380,000 lbs.! It had a range of 8,000 miles and could reach 55,000 feet high and fly at 550 mph at that altitude. It could haul 10,000 lbs. of bombs at long range and for close-in target a whopping 72,000 lbs could be accommodated.
The 1952 Boeing B-52 was chosen over B-60 to be the USAF heavy bomber and is still in service forty-nine years later! The proposed Junkers EF 101 was to have a 230' wingspan with a 10,500 mile carrying a Bf 109H to be launched and retrieved like the XF-85. The Junker EF 100 was to have a 213' wingspan and be able to tote 11,000 lbs. of bombs 5,600 miles on six piston engines.
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| German parasite bomber and US parasite fighter |
And when too small isn't small enough there was the McDonnell XF-85 Goblin of 1948. Someone was dreaming about airships with airplane hooks when they dreamed this up. The little lump measured just under 15' in length with a 21' wingspan and weighed in at 4,835 lbs. loaded.
Powered by a J-24-WE-22 of 3,000 lbs. thrust, the craft was designed as a parasite fighter to be launched and retrieved by B-36's! It reached 520 mph though estimates of 664 mph were foreseen. It had a combat endurance of thirty minutes.
Four faired over gun ports are evident on the prototype but armament was unspecified. Probably four .50s or two 20mms would have been the thinking of the time. It had no landing gear. If it did not hook up to the trapeze when returning to the mother aircraft emergency landing skids were used. This thing is quite reminiscent of the Bachem Natter of Germany in part of its concept. But the proposed piston powered Junkers EF 101 was to have a 230' wingspan with a 10,500 mile carrying a Bf 109H to be launched and retrieved like the Goblin and B-36.
We must remember that beside the liberation of many blueprints, models, mock-ups and prototypes the Allies later had the very people responsible for those items who continued in aeronautical engineering in the Soviet Union and in the West. And we will save for another time the scant details about the German flying disc!
Sources
- Colby, C.B.
Bomber Parade
Coward-McCann, Inc., NY, 1960
- Colby, C.B.
Jets of the World
Coward-McCann, Inc., NY, 1952
- Green, William & Swanborough, Gordon
The Complete Book of Fighters
Salamander Books, London 1994
- Green, William
The World Guide to Combat Planes Vol. 1
Doubleday & Co. NY, 1967
- Green, William
Jets Aircraft of the World
Macdonald, London, 1955
- Myhra, David
Secret Aircraft Designs of the Third Reich
Schiffer Publishing, 1998
