Fighter, Projects

Lippisch Li P.13b (Anigrand, Resin)

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TYPE: Interceptor, fighter. Project.

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only

POWER PLANT: One Kronach-Lorin coal burning ramjet, power output unknown

PERFORMANCE: 650 mph (estimated)

COMMENT: The Lippisch Li P.13b was a follow-on design from the Lippisch Li P.13a, and was also a ramjet fighter. Designed in December 1944, it featured Lippisch’s favorite wing plan, a delta design (sweepback was 60 degrees) with downturned wingtips. A double fin and rudder was chosen to provide steady flight, and the cockpit was moved forward for better pilot’s visibility, ahead of the delta wing’s apex. On each side of the cockpit on the wing’s leading edge were the air intakes which fed the ramjet. For take-off a liquid-fuel rocket driven trolley was used; additional rockets were necessary to accelerate the aircraft to speed for operating of ramjets. The main landing gear was a retractable landing skid, and the rear rested on the reinforced downturned wingtips. No armament was planned at this stage. Because of the fuel shortage in Germany at this stage in the war, an ingenious plan to use coal (or paraffin coated lignite dust) for fuel was to be tried. A centrally installed round or hexagonal heat-resistant ceramic combustion chamber was fitted in the interior of the wing, and was fillable from above. No tests were ever carried out with this design or with the unique power source and the project only stayed in stage of concept sketches on the drawing board (Ref.: 16).

Cargo, Glider

Cornelius XFG-1(Frank-Airmodel, Vacu-formed)

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TYPE: Fuel transporting towed glider

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only

POWER PLANT: None

PERFORMANCE: 250 mph

COMMENT: The Cornelius XFG-1 was a military fuel transporting towed glider, without a tail plane and with a forward-swept wing. Its designation “FG” stood for fuel glider and its role was as a fuel transport. It was to be towed behind another aircraft rather like contemporary troop carrying gliders, but its two fuselage tanks held 677 US gal of aviation gasoline. Unlike other troop carrying gliders like the Waco CG-4A Hadrian, the XFG-1 could be towed by bombers or transports at a cruise speed of 250 mph. Proposals seem to have included a piloted tow version behind a large transport, the glider landing loaded on skids having jettisoned its wheels after take-off; or a pilotless version towed behind a B-29 bomber, disconnected and abandoned after fuel transfer was completed; the intent of the scheme being for the glider to act, essentially, as a giant, winged drop tank for extending the range of the towing aircraft. The XFG-1 was a high-wing monoplane, its wing set far back towards its vertical stabilizer. The wing was quite high aspect ratio and of modest forward sweep. Though the earlier Cornelius aircraft had wings that had their incidence variable in the air, the incidence on the XFG-1 could only be adjusted on the ground, with two settings of 3˚ and 7˚. There was no horizontal tail. It had a simple fixed tricycle undercarriage and a conventional single seat cockpit; two examples of the type were built for test purposes only (Ref.:  24).

Fighter

Supermarine Spiteful Mk. XIV (Czechmaster)

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TYPE: Low- and medium-altitude fighter

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only

POWER PLANT: One Rolls-Royce Griffon 69 liquid-cooled engine, rated at 2,375 hp

PERFORMANCE: 483 mph at 26,000 ft

COMMENT: The Supermarine Spiteful was a British Rolls-Royce Griffon-engined fighter aircraft designed by Supermarine to Air Ministry specification F.1/43 during WW II as a successor to the famous Spitfire. By 1942, Supermarine designers had realised that the characteristics of the Spitfire’s wing at high Mach numbers might become a limiting factor in increasing the aircraft’s high-speed performance. The main problem was the aeroelasticity  of the Spitfire’s wing; at high speeds the relatively light structure behind the strong leading edge torsion box would flex, changing the airflow and limiting the maximum safe diving speed to 480 mph. If the Spitfire were to be able to fly higher and faster, a radically new wing would be needed. The new wing was of single-spar stressed-skin construction with an auxiliary spar and fitted to a modified Spitfire Mk. XIV, in order to make a direct comparison with the earlier elliptical wing, and was first flown on 30 June 1944. The new Spitfire’s speed performance was comfortably in excess of an unmodified Spitfire XIV, but the new wing displayed some undesirable behaviour at the stall. Additionally the Supermarine team took the opportunity to redesign the Spitfire’s fuselage, to improve the pilot’s view over the nose and to eliminate gross directional instability by using a larger fin and rudder. This instability had been apparent since the introduction of the more powerful Griffon engine. The instability was exacerbated by the increase in propeller blade area due to the introduction of the four-bladed and subsequent five-bladed airscrews. The updated design was now substantially different from a Spitfire, the aircraft was named “Spiteful” ,although “Victor” had been originally proposed. The reason for the allocation of the mark number “XIV” to the first production variant is somewhat obscure but appears to have stemmed from an early attempt to link the mark numbers of the new fighter to those of the equivalent Spitfires from which, at the time, they stemmed. In production when the war terminated, the Spiteful was never issued to a squadron, but in its definite form it gained the distinction of being the fastest piston-engined aircraft ever produced in the UK (Ref.: 23).

Fighter, Fighterbomber, Projects

Lippisch Li P.11 (Planet, Resin)

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TYPE: Heavy fighter, fighter bomber. Project

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only

POWER PLANT: Two Junkers Jumo 004B turbojet engines, rated at 1.100 kp each

PERFORMANCE: 646 mph

COMMENT: In the late summer of 1942, Lippisch’s team was working on the twin-jet bomber project under designation Lippisch Li P.11. When the RLM gave priority to the Horten Ho IX (Ho 229, Gotha Go 229), all work was stopped on the Li P.11. One year later, the RLM reissued an official contract with Prof. Lippisch to develop a “Very Fast Bomber” that was based on Lippisch’s earlier research. The project was renamed “Delta VI” upon completion of design work on an unpowered glider, which was to serve as the initial prototype. The RLM bestowed the highest priority on producing a fighter version and ordered to construct models, mock-ups, wind tunnel research, and made ready for production. By February 1944, design work for the proposed fighter, fighter-bomber and heavy fighter was nearly complete. The wing was swept back at 37 degrees, and the low wing loading promised a good climb capability and excellent maneuverability. Dr. Lippisch hoped to commence flight tests with the unpowered glider by April 1944, with the two Jumo 004B turbojet powered version to be flying by July 1944. The center section of the unpowered glider Delta VI was captured by American troops at Salzburg, this being the only part of the aircraft to be completed (Ref. 16, 23).

Fighter, Fighterbomber

Westland “Whirlwind” Mk.I (Airfix)

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TYPE: Escort fighter, fighter-bomber

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only

POWER PLANT: Two Rolls-Royce Peregrine liquid-cooled engines, rated at 885 hp each

PERFORMANCE: 360 mph at 15,000 ft

COMMENT: The Westland “Whirlwind” was a British twin-engine heavy fighter developed by Westland Aircraft.. A contemporary of the Supermarine “Spitfire” and Hawker “Hurricane”, it was the Royal Air Force’s first single-seat, twin-engine, cannon-armed fighter. When it first flew in 1938, the “Whirlwind” was one of the fastest and most heavily-armed combat aircraft in the world. Protracted development problems with its Rolls-Royce “Peregrine” engines delayed the project and only a relatively small number of “Whirlwinds”, in total 116 aircraft, were built. During the Second World War, only three RAF squadrons were equipped with the Whirlwind, and despite its successful use as a fighter and ground-attack aircraft it was withdrawn from service in 1943. At least 67 Mk.I fighters were converted into Mk.II aircraft, nicknamed “Whirlibombers”. Lessons learned from the “Whirlwind” influenced the development of the high altitude fighter Westland “Welkin” (Ref.: 23).

Glider

Lippisch DM-1(Huma)

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TYPE: Test glider for Lippisch P. 13a supersonic ramjet project

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only

POWER PLANT: None

PERFORMANCE: Unknown

COMMENT: During work on the Lippisch P.13a supersonic ramjet project the Lippisch team proposed to build a test glider in order to study the flight characteristics of this revolutionary design. So a test glider was built by students from technical universities of Darmstadt and Munich, designated DM-1 (Darmstadt-München 1). At the end of the war the prototype of this test glider had not been finished when it was captured by US forces at the Prien airfield in Bavaria. Prof. Theodore von Karmann, a high capacity in aerodynamics in supersonic airflow, (native Hungarian, worked in Germany, later in the US) proposed to complete the test glider by Lippisch’s team. The aircraft was then shipped to the USA where it was test flown. According to NACA the results were positive and lessons learned were incorporated into NASA’s research as well as service aircraft of the 1950s. Mainly the Convair Company recognized the advantage on the Lippisch P.13a design and built the delta-aircraft XF2Y-1, XF-92, F-102, F-106, and B-58 (Ref. 19, 23)

Fighter, Composite, Projects

Lippisch P.13a (RS-Model; Resin) with Dornier Do 217K-1 (Italeri)

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TYPE: High-speed experimental fighter project

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only

POWER PLANT: One Kronach-Lorin coal burning ramjet, power output unknown

PERFORMANCE: 1.025 mph (estimated)

COMMENT: The Lippisch P.13a was an experimental ramjet-powered delta wing interceptor aircraft designed in late 1944. The aircraft never made it past the drawing board, but testing of wind-tunnel models in the DVL (Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt) thigh-speed wind tunnel showed that the design had extraordinary stability into the Mach 2.6 range. As conventional fuels were in extremely short supply by late 1944, Lippisch proposed that the P.13a be powered by coal. Initially, it was proposed that a wire-mesh basket holding coal be mounted behind a nose air intake, protruding slightly into the airflow and ignited by a gas burner. Following wind-tunnel testing of the ramjet and the coal basket, modifications were incorporated to provide more efficient combustion. The coal was to take the form of small granules instead of irregular lumps, to produce a controlled and even burn, and the basket was altered to a mesh drum revolving on a vertical axis at 60 rpm. A jet of flame from tanks of bottled gas would fire into the basket once the P.13a had reached operating speed (above 200 mph). The aircraft started on a trolley by using solid-fuel rockets or by towplane. For tests it could be launched by a carrier aircraft. In order to test this unorthodox design a test glider DM-1 was built by students from technical faculty of Darmstadt and Munich (DM 1 = Darmstadt-München 1). Furthermore, Film footage exists which shows a gliding test of a scaled-down model of the Lippisch P.13a. These tests began in May 1944 at Spitzerberg, near Vienna, before Nazi Germany collapsed (Ref.: 23).

Fighterbomber, Reconnaissance

Fairey Firefly F.R.Mk.I (Pawla Models)

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TYPE: Carrier-borne fighter-reconnaissance aircraft

ACCOMMODATION: Crew of two (pilot and radar-observer)

POWER PLANT: One Rolls-Royce Griffon XII inline engine, rated at 1,765 hp

PERFORMANCE:  316 mph at 14,000 ft

COMMENT: The Fairey Firefly brought versatility to a degree previously unapproached in a carrier-borne aircraft. Despite the fact that its wartime career was relatively brief, the Firefly not seeing action until mid-July 1944, it fought in practically every operational theatre, from the Arctic to the Tropics, emerging as perhaps the most successful of British wartime shipboard aeroplanes. In 1939 the admiralty issued specification N.8/39 and N.9/39, which respectively called for a fixed-gun fighter and a fighter possessing a power-driven turret in which all armament was concentrated. The Fairey Company submitted designs for both specifications, but concluded that a clean two-seat fighter with fixed-gun armament offered greater potentialities. A design on these lines was accepted in principle, specification was revised to N.5/40, and an initial contract for 200 machines was ordered. On December 1941 the first prototype – the name “Firefly” was selected – made its initial flight. The first production aircraft was delivered in March 1943 and quantity production began in autumn 1942. The contract called for 800 aircraft and the first operational unit received the Firefy F.I. on October 1943. A total of 430 F.Mk.I are built by Fairey and under sub-contract by General Aircraft. The Firefly F.I was succeeded by the F.R.Mk.I fighter-reconnaissance aircraft carrying ASH shipping detection radar, a total of 376 aircraft were produced (Ref.: 12).

Glider

Horten Ho IX V-1 (A + V Models, Resin)

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TYPE: Test glider for the turbojet powered Gotha Go 229

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only

POWER PLANT: None

PERFORMANCE: Not available

COMMENT: During summer 1943 the RLM interest in a pure flying wing had waned. Despite this loss of official interest, the Horten brothers continued to work on their jet fighter project which they had designated Horten Ho IX, and although entirely unauthorized by the RLM, construction work on a prototype had already started at Göttingen. To explore the aerodynamic characteristics of the revolutionary fighter thoroughly before attempting powered flight trials, the first prototype, the Ho IX V-1, was intended from the outset for testing as a glider before the installation of the planned BMW 003 turbojets, and was provided with a fixed tricycle undercarriage, the legs of the aft members being enclosed by swept aerofoil-section fairings. It was not until early 1944 that the RLM became aware of the existence of the Horten prototype and issued instructions that powered trial should be initiated. During spring 1944 the Ho IX V-1 had performed its first successful gliding trials and showed highly favourable results. But further trials terminated abruptly when the prototype crashed during a landing attempt. Meanwhile work began on the construction of a second prototype, Horten Ho IX V-2. The center section, accommodating the cockpit, power plants and undercarriage wells, was of conventional welded steel-tube construction with plywood skinning. Powered by two Junkers Jumo 004B turbojet engines, the Horten Ho IX V-2 made its test flight in January 1945.

Fighter-Torpedobomber, Reconnaissance

Fairey Albacore Mk.II, 145 Squadron, RCAF (MPM)

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TYPE: Carrier-borne torpedo bomber, reconnaissance

ACCOMMODATION: Crew of three

POWER PLANT: One Bristol Taurus XII radial engine, rated at 1,130 hp

PERFORMANCE: 161 mph

COMMENT: The Fairey Albacore was a British single-engine carrier-borne biplane torpedo bomber built  by Fairey Aviation between 1939 and 1943 for the  Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm and used during the  Second World War. It was designed for spotting and reconnaissance as well as level bombing, dive bombing and as a torpedo bomber. The Albacore, popularly known as the “Applecore”, was conceived as a replacement for the ageing Fairey Swordfish , which had entered service in 1936. The Albacore served with the Swordfish and was retired before it, being replaced by the Fairey Barracuda and Grumman Avenger torpedo bombers. A total of 800 Albacores were built (Ref.: 23).