Monthly Archives: January 2026

Fighter, Composite, Projects

Lippisch P.12 Concept III, (Resin, Unicraft Models) and Dornier Do 217K-1 (Italeri)

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TYPE: Interceptor aircraft, project

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only

POWER PLANT: One Lorin type liquid fuel burning ramjet, power output unknown

PERFORMANCE: 750 mph (estimated)

COMMENT: The Lippisch P.12, Lippisch P.13a and Lippisch P.13b were related design projects for a ramjet-powered delta wing interceptor aircraft studied in 1944 by German designer Alexander Lippisch. The P.12 and P.13a were unarmed, relying on reinforced wings to ram its opponent. All designs were to be powered by ramjets under development using liquid fuel or producer gas made in-flight from powdered coal. A full-seized test glider was built by students from technical universities of Darmstadt and Munich, designated DM-1 (Darmstadt-München 1) and flown to test low-speed aerodynamics. The design series were unrelated to the earlier Lippisch P.13 proposed by Messerschmitt’s Lippisch design office.
During 1942, while still working on the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet (Comet) rocket fighter, Alexander Lippisch developed a sharply-swept, leaf-shaped delta wing which he believed was capable of supersonic flight. Out of this and subsequent development of the Lippisch P.11/Delta VI „power wing“ through 1943 and early 1944, he conceived the idea of a hollow delta wing (lifting body) with its interior shaped like a ramjet duct. As an interceptor fighter it would achieve supersonic speeds but would carry no armament. Instead it would be heavily reinforced and would ram its opponent. Initially conceived as a disposable machine with the pilot bailing out at the end of the mission, a landing skid was later added. Launch to ramjet operational speed would be via catapult, booster rockets, or launched by carrier aircraft.
The resulting design was initially assumed to use conventional liquid fuel and designated the P.12. But Lippisch had also become convinced of the benefits of solid fuel for short-duration high-speed flight and adopted this power source as the P.13. The design of both types then proceeded in parallel.
From autumn 1944, Alexander Lippisch had opened his own development office at the Aviation Research Institute Vienna (LFW) in Wiener Neustadt together with his mathematician from Messerschmitt Hermann Behrbohm on half-time (who still on half time worked for Messerschmitt in the underground facility of the Oberbayerische Forschungsanstalt in Oberammergau, Bavaria).
The P.12 was never fully defined but comprised studies of many variations. A model of it showed a typical configuration comprising a highly-swept delta flying wing. A large protruding oval shaped nose intake fed the single liquid fuel burning ramjet powerplant located between the delta wings. The wing centre section was hollow, with air ducts on either side of the cockpit leading to a large cavity which comprised the ramjet. The engine exhausted through a wide nozzle with control flaps above and below. Fuel tanks were located in the wing roots and fuselage. The pilot was seated in a finely blended cabin located above the ramjet combustion chamber. The delta wings were bent downward at the tips to form stabilizers for the single retracting central landing skid when on the ground. Wing area was approximately 130 ft2 and aspect ratio 1.33. A single triangular-shaped fin at the rear body was used as stabilizer.
For take-off the aircraft sat on a solid-fuel rocket-driven trolley or was towed by a tow-plane. It was envisaged that for test purposes the aircraft was placed on a superstructure on a carrier plane, probably a Dornier Do 217K. Finally, the Lippisch P.12 project was abandoned in favor of the P.13b (Ref.: 17).

Fighter, Fighter-Torpedobomber

Lockheed F-38L-5-LO ‘Lightning’, 431th FS, 475th FG, (Hasegawa Models)

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TYPE: Long-range fighter and –fighter bomber

ACCOMMODATION:  Pilot only

POWER PLANT: Two Allison V-1710-112/113 (F30R/L) liquid-cooled turbo-supercharged piston engines, rated at 1,600 hp at 26,500 ft

PERFORMANCE: 414 mph

COMMENT: The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinctive twin-boom design with a central nacell containing the cockpit and armament. Along with its use as a general fighter, the P-38 was used in various aerial combat roles, including as a highly effective fighter-bomber, a night-fighter (Lockheed P-38M) , and a long-range escort fighter when equipped withdrop tanks The P-38 was also used as a bomber-pathfinder, guiding streams of medium and heavy bpmbers, or even other P-38s equipped with bombs, to their targets (Lockheed P-38J Droop Snoot). Used in the aerial reconnaissance role, the P-38 (Lockheed F-4A) accounted for 90 percent of American aerial film captured over Europe. Although it was not designated a heavy fighter or a bomber destoyer by the USAAC, the P-38 filled those roles and more; unlike German heavy fighters crewed by two or three airmen, the P-38 with its lone pilot was nimble enough to compete with single-engine fighters.
The P-38 Lightning was used most successfully in the Pacific and the China-Burma-India Theaters of Operation. In the South-West Pacific Theater, the P-38 was the primary long-range fighter of USAAF until the introduction of large numbers of North American P-51 Mustangs toward the end of the war.
The Lockheed P-38L Lightning was the most numerous variant of the Lightning, with 3,923 built, 113 by Consolidated-Vultee in their Nashville plant. It entered service with the USAAF in June 1944, in time to support the Allied invasion of France on D-Day. Lockheed production of the Lightning was distinguished by a suffix consisting of a production block number followed by “LO,” for example “P-38L-1-LO”, while Consolidated-Vultee production was distinguished by a block number followed by “VN,” for example “P-38L-5-VN.”
The Lockheed P-38L was the first Lightning fitted with zero-length rocket launchers. Seven High Velocity Aircraft Rockets (HVARs) on pylons were placed beneath each wing, and later, five rockets were on each wing on “Christmas tree” launch racks, which added 619 kg to the aircraft. The P-38L also had strengthened stores pylons to allow carriage of 900 kg bombs or 1,100 L drop tanks.
Late-model Lightnings were delivered unpainted, per USAAF policy established in 1944. At first, field units tried to paint them, since pilots worried about being too visible to the enemy, but the reduction in weight and drag turned out to be a minor advantage in combat.
The Lockheed P-38L-5 Lightning, the most common subvariant of the P-38L, had a modified cockpit heating system consisting of a plug-socket in the cockpit into which the pilot could plug his heat-suit wire for improved comfort. These Lightnings also received the uprated V-1710-112/113 (F30R/L) engines, and this dramatically lowered the number of engine-failure problems experienced at high altitude so commonly associated with European operations (Ref.: 24).