POWER PLANT: Two Rolls-Royce Merlin III engines, rated at 1,030 hp each
PERFORMANCE: No data available
COMMENT: Prior to WWII, the major world powers knew they needed long-range fighters to escort their bombers deep into enemy territory. To this end, the British aircraft company Martin Baker submitted an innovative design for a tailless, twin-engine fighter armed with 12 heavy machine guns. Its rudder gone to help reduce drag, the plane would use the trailing ends of its engine nacelles for lateral control supplemented with ducted engine exhaust gases as well as propeller induced air stream. Although seriously evaluated by the RAF, the Martin Baker 12 Gun Fighter never made it past the design stage.
POWER PLANT: One Rolls-Royce “Griffon II” engine, rated at 2,220 hp
PERFORMANCE: 315 m.p.h. at 17,000 ft
COMMENT: The Boulton Paul P.99 was one of several high-performance fighter projects of the Royal Air Force during WW II. The P. 99 was a twin-boom design, the Griffon engine was mounted in the rear driving two contra-rotating pusher propellers. This arrangement allowed the pilot an excellent visibility.
POWER PLANT: Two Rolls-Royce AJ 65 turbojet engines, rated at 2,500 kp thrust each
PERFORMANCE: 621 mph
COMMENT: The little-known Hawker P-1048/1 was a project “interceptor fighter” developed by Hawker/Hawker-Siddeley according to British Air Ministry Specification F.1/46 in 1946. The aircraft shared similarities with two others of the period, the German Luftwaffe’s war time Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe (Swallow) and the British Gloster Meteor, both designs going on to see operational-level service. The Hawker P.1048, however, did not advanced beyond its basic drawing board stage and ultimately fell to the pages of history.
The Hawker P.1048 was a simple concept built around quick reaction take-off and high-speed flight. Once airborne, the aircraft would fly to meet up enemy bombers or escorts and unleash cannon fire or rockets in an attempt to destroy in advance.
What is known of the Hawker P.1048 was that it would have carried two 30 mm automatic cannons in the nose. Its engine pair would be podded and underslung, the power plants being Rolls-Royce AJ 65 turbojet units providing the necessary thrust for fast acceleration and high-speed flight. Dimensions included a fuselage length of 41 ft and a wingspan of 39.5 ft.
Externally, the aircraft was an elongated Messerschmitt Me 262 with a slim, streamlined nose assembly and the cockpit just aft. The cockpit resided over and ahead of the mainplanes which themselves were seated ahead of midship. The mainplanes were straight in their general form and tapered towards the wing tips – the trailing edge seeing considerably more sweep than the leading edge. With the underslung engines, the center of gravity would climb towards the front of the aircraft so a modern tricycle undercarriage would be fitted for ground-running. The sleek design tapered to the rear to which a conventional single-finned tail unit was fitted. Horizontal tailplanes were mounted relatively low along the sides of the rudder.
Once build the Hawker P.1048 would have shown excellent performances. But the project status remained at the drawing boards (Ref: Military Factory).
Hawker P.1048
Hawker P.1048
Hawker P.1048
Hawker P.1048
Hawker P.1048
Hawker P.1048
Hawker P.1048
Hawker P.1048
Hawker P.1048
Hawker P.1048 an Gloster Meteor Mk. I
Hawker P.1048
Hawker P.1048
Hawker P.1048
Hawker P.1048
Hawker P.1048
Hawker P.1048
Hawker P.1048
Hawker P.1048
Hawker P.1048
Hawker P.1048 and Gloster Meteor Mk. I
Type: Two Turbojets Single Seat Fighter Project
Competitor to the Gloster Meteor
POWER PLANT: Two Rolls-Royce Merlin liquid-cooled engines, rated at 1,240 hp each
PERFORMANCE: 450 mph at 15.000 ft
COMMENT: The Supermarine Type 324 and Type 325 were British two-engined fighter designs proposed as the replacement for the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurrican. Neither of them nor a revised design – the Type 327 – to carry cannon was accepted for development and production.
As an aircraft to succeed the Hurricane and Spitfire then entering service, Air Ministry specification F.18/37 required a 400+ mph (at 15,000 ft) fighter with twelve .303 inch machine gun armament.
Hawker Aircraft submitted a single seat, single engine design with two possible engines, the Hawker Typhoon powered by the Rolls-Royce Vulture and the Hawker Typhoon, with Napier Sabre engine.
Gloster submitted two similar twin-boom designs with 12 Browning machine guns in the nose and a pusher Napier Sabre engine as well as an adaptation of their proposal to F.9/37 with nose-mounted armament.
Bristol’s design was one airframe offered with three alternative engines.
In 1938 Supermarine submitted brochures describing the Type 324 (under the company specification No.458) along with the Type 325. Both were compact twin-engine designs – one tractor and one pusher – with either Rolls-Royce Merlin or Bristol Taurus engines.
Hawker’s designs – which Sydney Camm had been working on since April 1937 – were accepted and prototypes of each ordered.
The Type 324 was a low-wing, twin-engined monoplane featuring the elliptical wing shape of the Spitfire, with retractable tricycle undercarriage.
Twin engines were expected to give a maximum speed of 450 mph. In addition, the twin layout gave the usual advantages of torque cancellation, improved pilot view, tricycle landing gear, performance, improved take-off performance and allowed the use of the proven Rolls-Royce Merlin engine.
The structure of the aircraft was Alclad aluminium alloy. The wing was designed in sections, so that alternative engines (Bristol Taurus) or armament could be accommodated. Fowler flaps were fitted for take-off/landing. Spoiler flaps were fitted to improve performance.
A number of armament types were considered. The main was 12 Browning in two packs of six in each wing outer section; these could be removed complete with ammunition to allow rapid rearming and servicing of the weapons.
When the Air Ministry felt progress on the Westland Whirlwind cannon-armed fighter was too slow, they asked for the F.18/37 tenders to be revised with 20mm cannon armament. Supermarine dropped the pusher design and proposed a six-cannon fighter as the Type 327 Spito. The Ministry did not feel its advantages outweighed other considerations, and that the Whirlwind – or the adaption oft he Bristol Beaufort – would enter service before Supermarine’s design could (Ref.: 24).
Supermarine 327 Spito
Supermarine 327 Spito
Supermarine 327 Spito
Supermarine 327 Spito
Supermarine 327 Spito
Supermarine 327 Spito
Supermarine 327 Spito
Supermarine 327 Spito and Supermarine Spitfire F Mk.IV
Supermarine 327 Spito and Westland Whirlwind Mk. II
TYPE: Fighter, fighter-bomber, project
ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only
POWER PLANT: Two Rolls-Royce Griffin liquid-cooled engines, rated at 1.600 hp each
PERFORMANCE: 504 mph at 15,000 ft (estimated
COMMENT: The Miles M.22 was a single-seat, twin-engine, high performance fighter design originating from Britain at the beginning of WW II. This unique entry was developed in 1939 and eventually offered against Air Ministry Specification F.6/39. The fighter certainly held unique traits about it, particularly for the period, including a streamlined cockpit placement within the wing mainplanes and a complete 10-machinegun-battery for standard armament.
The M.22 was intended to be powered by a pair of underslung Rolls-Royce Griffon piston engines, these embedded in streamlined nacelles at each wing leading edge. The wing mainplanes were elliptical in their general shape familiar to the Supermarine Spitfire fighter and housed the engines and cockpit. The cockpit was centered at the mainplanes center mass with a well-streamed canopy integrated into the rounded fuselage assembly. The fuselage terminated at the extreme rear to which a conventional twin-rudder tailplane arrangement. Ground-running would involve a tail-dragger configuration with the main, single-wheeled legs retracting into each engine nacelle and a tail wheel bringing up the rear. Beyond this, the aircraft was to be built primarily of wood to save on critical resources, metal reserved for the wing spars and other crucial components however.
To complete the design, engineers drew up plans for a “gun nest” to feature all the fixed, forward-firing armament for their M.22. This was to involve no fewer than 10 x 0.303 caliber air-cooled Browning machine guns concentrated at the mainplane’s leading edge just ahead of the cockpit – giving the fighter considerable frontal firepower against any target.
While never built nor ever flying, the M.22 was estimated with a maximum speed of 504 mph at 15.000 ft, a service ceiling nearing 37,000 ft and a rate-of-climb of approximately 5,200 ft/min. The fighter required a cockpit pressurization and had a total length of 33 ft and a wingspan of 39 ft what was smaller than the classic de Havilland DH. 98 Mosquito heavy fighter. Power was to come from 2 x Rolls-Royce Griffon engines of 1.600 hp each driving three-blades propellers (Ref: Military Factory).
POWER PLANT: Two Rolls-Royce RB.50 Trent turboprop engines, rated at 750 hp and 570 kp thrust each
PERFORMANCE:
COMMENT: Experimental works with early jets proved that in the speed range of less than 450 mph the substantial reduction of fuel consumption can be obtained by fitting a reduction gearbox to the impeller of a turbojet engine driving an airscrew. In German companies such as BMW, Heinkel and Junkers were pioneers related to this new power unit and some of these were in an advanced stage of realization (Messerschmitt Me 262B-2 “Turboprop”), but the end of the war stopped all further works. Also in the UK this idea was materialized by Rolls- Royce in the form of a ‘Trent’ turboprop engine what was in fact a modified ‘Derwent’ turbojet, fitted with shaft reduction gearbox and five-bladed Rotol propellers. Two ‘Trent’ turboprops were installed in a Gloster ‘Meteor’ F. 1 turbojet fighter as a test bed. The aircraft needed little modification for the accommodation of the ‘Trent’ power plant, though the nacelles were somewhat larger, which, with the extra side area of the propellers, entailed the fitting of two small auxiliary fins towards the outboard end of the tail plane to ensure directional stability. The Gloster ‘Trent’-Meteor and became the first aircraft to take-off and fly solely on turboprop power on September, 1945. By March 1948 the development program had been completed. The results of it were embodied in highly successful Rolls-Royce ‘Clyde’ and ‘Dart’ turboprop engines (Ref.: 24).
POWER PLANT: Two Rolls-Royce Merlin 76/77 liquid-cooled engines, rated at 1,250 hp each
PERFORMANCE: 387 mph at 26,000 ft
COMMENT: The Westland Welkin was a British twin-engine heavy fighter from the Westland Aircraft Company, designed in 1940 to fight at extremely high altitudes, in the stratosphere. Westland had some expertise in twin-engine aircraft; its Whirlwind Mk.I escort fighter was in full production. The word Welkin means “the vault of heaven” or the upper atmosphere. As mentioned, first conceived in 1940, it was built from 1942–43 in response to the arrival of modified Junkers Ju 86P bombers flying reconnaissance missions that suggested the German Luftwaffe might attempt to re-open the bombing of England from high altitude. But the threat was never materialized. Consequently, Westland produced only a small number of Welkins. In total 77 aircraft were built but only few of these flew. Most of the aircraft were produced without engines. One sole aircraft was modified as Welkin II which had a lengthened nose to accommodate A.I. radar (Ref.: 23).
Mit der weiteren Nutzung unserer Webseite erklären Sie sich damit einverstanden, dass wir Cookies verwenden um Ihnen die Nutzerfreundlichkeit dieser Webseite zu verbessern. Weitere Informationen zum Datenschutz finden Sie in unserer Datenschutzerklärung.
