Focke-Wulf Fw 190C-V18/U1 (Frank-Airmodel)
Category Archives: Luftwaffe
Deutschland / Germany
Messerschmitt Me 108B Taifun (Fly)
TYPE: Personal transport and liaison aircraft
ACCOMMODATION: Crew of one or two
POWER PLANT: One Argus As 10E air-cooled inline engine, rated at 266 hp
PERFORMANCE: 190 mph
COMMENT: The Messerschmitt Bf 108 Taifun (“Typhoon”) was a German single-engine sport and touring aircraft, developed by Bayrische Flugzeugwerke in the 1930s. The Bf 108 was of all-metal construction.Originally designated the M 37, the aircraft was designed as a four-seat sports/recreation aircraft for competition in the 4th Challenge International de Tourisme (1934). The M 37 prototype flew first in spring 1934, powered by a 247 hp Hirth HM 8U air-cooled engine, which drove a three-blade propeller.
Although it was outperformed by several other aircraft in the competition, the M 37’s overall performance marked it as a popular choice for record flights. Particular among these traits was its low fuel consumption rate, good handling, and superb takeoff and landing characteristics.
The Bf 108A first flew in 1934, followed by the Bf 108B in 1935. This revised version, built from late 1935. The prototype had a Siemens-Halske Sh 14A radial, but production machines used the the substantially larger, 12.67 litre displacement 237 hp Argus As 10C or the 266 hp Argus As 10E air-cooled inverted V8 engine.. A quadrant-shaped rather than rectangular rear window, tailwheel replacing skid, revision of shape of empennnage and removal of tailplane upper bracing was introduced.The Bf 108B used The nickname Taifun (“typhoon”) was given to her own aircraft by Elly Beinhorn, a well-known German pilot, and was generally adopted.
Soon after the first production aircraft began to roll off the assembly line in Augsburg, several Bf 108s had set endurance records.
The Bf 108 was adopted into Luftwaffe service during World War II, where it was primarily used as a personal transport and liaison aicraft.
Production of the Bf 108 was transferred to occupied France during World War II and production continued after the war as the Nord 1000 Pingouin. In total 885 aircraft have been built (Ref.: 24).
Junkers Ju 188E-1 with LT 950 (Italeri)
TYPE: Medium bomber, torpedo bomber
ACCOMMODATION: Crew of five
POWER PLANT: Two BMW 801G-2 air-cooled radial engines, rated at 1,700 hp each
PERFORMANCE: 310 mph
COMMENT: The Junkers Ju 188 was a German Luftwaffe high-performance medium bomber built during WW II, the planned follow-up to the famous Junkers Ju 88 with better performance and payload. It was produced only in limited numbers, due both to the presence of improved versions of the Ju 88, as well as the increasingly effective Allied strategic bombing campaign against German industry and the resulting focus on fighter production.
In grand total 1,234 aircraft were delivered until the end of the war in several subtypes Junkers Ju 188A & E, C, D & F, G & H, and R. The Ju 188 was designed to be fitted with either the 1,730 hp Jumo 213A or 1,680 hp BMW 801 G-2 engines without any changes to the airframe, with the exclusion of the re-design for Jumo-powered examples, of the annular radiators from their Jumo 211 layout for the A-series to better match the more powerful 213’s cooling needs, while still using essentially the same broad-chord three-blade propellers as the A-series did. It was originally intended that both would be known as A models, but the naming was later changed: the Ju 188A model powered by the Jumo 213, and the Ju 188E by the BMW 801.
The first three production Ju 188 E-1 machines were delivered with the BMW engines in February 1943, another seven in March, and eight in April. A special unit for conversion testing was formed up in May 1943, after testing the aircraft were attached to an operational unit, with the first mission taking place on 18 August 1943. By the end of the year, 283 Ju 188s had been delivered (including Ju 188Fs), and two new factories were added to the production effort. Most operational machines differed from the prototypes only in having a 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon in the nose and dorsal turrets in place of the 13 mm MG 131. The MG 131 I was intended to be used in the Ju 188 E-1 or the G-2. But the heavy armament in the A and E series was the MG 151/20. The Junkers Ju 188 E-2 was built as a torpedo bomber, but was identical to the Junkers Ju 188 A-3 (Ref.: 24).
Junkers Ju 188E-2 with L 10_Friedensengel (Italeri)
TYPE: Medium bomber, torpedo bomber
ACCOMMODATION: Crew of five
POWER PLANT: Two BMW 801G-2 air-cooled radial engines, rated at 1,700 hp each
PERFORMANCE: 310 mph
COMMENT: A modified torpedo bomber version of the German Luftwaffe high-performance medium bomber Junkers Ju 188 was the Junkers Ju 188E-2. These aircraft differed from the Junkers Ju 188E-1 by mounting a small, low-UHF-band FuG 200 “Hohentwiel” sea-search radar set under the nose (not shown on these pictures) and shackles for a torpedo for naval strike missions. The aircraft were delivered as the Ju 188 E-2 with BMW 801 air-cooled radial engines, and with the Jumo as the Ju 188 A-3. The only other difference was the removal of the outer pair of wing bomb shackles (Ref.: 24).
DFS 228A-0 on Dornier Do 217K-1 (Italeri, Huma)
TYPE: Rocket-powered high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. Project
ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only in prone position in pressurized cabin
POWER PLANT: One Walter HWK 109-509 bi-fuel liquid rocket engine, rated at 1,650 kp at 40,000 ft
PERFORMANCE: 559 mph (estimated)
COMMENT: The rocket-powered high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft DFS 228 (Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug, German Institute for Sailplane Flight) was designed to climb to altitudes up to 75,459 ft and was than – due to this extreme height – far beyond the operational limits of any other aircraft at its time.
The DFS 228 design was a mid-wing monoplane, using wood whenever possible, with the exception of the pressurized nose compartment, which was an all-metal construction. Fins were plywood covered, ailerons and rudder fabric covered. A landing skid was housed in the center fuselage and could be extended for landing. For take-off a “Mistel” (Mistletoe) pick a pack configuration with landing skids retracted on a carrier Dornier Do 217K was proposed. Equipped with Zeiss infrared camera the aircraft was to be used for powerless reconnaissance missions. To perform these missions the DFS 228 was carried to an altitude of 33,000 ft. After ignition of the Walter HWK 109-509 liquid-fuel rocket engine and separation from its carrier the aircraft was able to reach its service ceiling of app. 75,000 ft within five minutes. The actual reconnaissance mission was done in powerless flight. Descending to its release height of 33,000 ft the aircraft could cover a distance of app. 466 miles and another 218 miles until landing. In case of emergency the pressurized nose compartment, equipped with all life-supporting systems, could be jettisoned by means of four explosive bolts, the module descend to an altitude at which the pilot could survive without oxygen supply. The pilot was ejected through the front windscreen and at the same time a parachute was deployed to bring the pilot safely to the ground.
By the end of WW II one prototype had been built (DFS 228 V1) and flown but only as glider. A second prototype DFS 228 V2 was in advanced stage. However, flight testing was only performed in a non-powered glide and a height of 33,000 ft resp.75,000 ft was not exceeded (Ref 17, 24).
Arado E 555-1 (Revell)
