TYPE: Interceptor fighter. Project
ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only
POWER PLANT: Heinkel HeS 011 turbojet, rated at 1,500 kp
PERFORMANCE: Max speed 642 m.p.h., endurance 4 h with wing drop tanks (estimated)
COMMENT: Third and final design submitted by Blohm & Voss for the “Jägernotprogramm” (Fighter emergency competition) early 1945. Three prototypes were ordered, none realized.
Winner of the competition was the Focke-Wulf Ta 183
TYPE: Interception fighter. Project
ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only
POWER PLANT: Heinkel HeS 011 turbojet, rated at 1,500 kp
PERFORMANCE: Max. speed of +600 m.p.h. was estimated
COMMENT: Early Blohm & Voss design for the “Jägernotprogramm” (Fighter emergency competition) from spring 1945. Finally, a revised design, the Bv P. 212.03, was submitted.
Type: Interceptor fighter
ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only
POWER PLANT: BMW 003 turbojet, rated at 800 kp
PERFORMANCE: 477 m.p.h. at 19.500 ft (estimated)
COMMENT: This project, based at the earlier swept-back wing design Bv P. 211.01, was submitted for the “Volksjäger” (“Peoples fighter”) competition. Although judged as the best design the Heinkel He 162 was chosen because it was easier to built
TYPE: Interceptor fighter
ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only
POWER PLANT: Wright R-3350-17 Cyclone, rated at 2,300 h.p.
PERFORMANCE: 488 m.p.h.
COMMENTS: Only two prototypes ordered
TYPE: Carrier-based fighter
ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only
POWER PLANT: Westinghouse J 34-WE-30 turbojet, rated at 1.300 k.p.
PERFORMANCE: 564 m.p..h at 20,00ft
COMMENTS: First jet fighter of Chance Vought. First flight after WW II
TYPE: Carrier-borne attack aircraft
ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only
POWER PLANT: Allison XT40-A2 coupled turboprop engine, rated at 5,100 h.p., driving two contra-rotating three-bladed propellers,
PERFORMANCE: 492 mph at 40.000 ft
COMMENT: The Douglas A2D Skyshark was an American carrier-borne turbopropeller-powered attack aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company for the US Navy. The program was substantially delayed by engine reliability problems, and was canceled because more promising turbojet attack aircraft had entered development and the smaller escort carriers the A2D was intended to utilize were being phased out.
On June 1945, the Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) asked Douglas Aircraft for a turbine-powered, propeller-driven aircraft. Three proposals were put forth in the next year and a half: the D-557A, to use two General Electric TG-100s (T31s) in wing nacelles; the D-557B, the same engine, with counter-rotating propellers; and the D-557C, to use the Westinghouse 25D. These were canceled due to engine development difficulties, but BuAer continued to seek an answer to the high fuel-consumption of the turbojet powered aircraft.
On June 1947 Douglas received the Navy’s letter of intent for a carrier-based turboprop-powered aircraft. The need to operate from Casablanca-class escort carriers dictated the use of a turboprop instead of turbojet power.
While it resembled the in service Douglas AD Skyraider, the A2D was different in a number of unseen ways. The 5,100 hp rated Allison XT-40-A-2 had more than double the horsepower of the Skyraider’s Wright R-3350 Cyclone air-cooled piston engine. The XT40 installation on the Skyshark used contra-rotating propellers to harness all the available power. Wing root thickness decreased, from 17% to 12%, while both the height of the tail and its area grew.
Engine-development problems delayed the first flight until May 1950 and on December 1950, the first prototype crashed while landing approach killing the pilot. Investigation found the starboard power section of the coupled Allison XT-40-A-2 turboprop engine had failed and did not declutch, allowing the Skyshark to fly on the power of the opposite section, nor did the propellers feather. As the wings’ lift disappeared, a fatal sink rate was induced. Additional instrumentation and an automatic decoupler was added to the second prototype, but by the time it was ready to fly on April 1952, sixteen months had passed, and with all-jet designs being developed, the A2D program was essentially dead. Total flight time on the lost airframe was barely 20 hours.
Allison failed to deliver a “production” engine until 1953, and by the summer of 1954, the new Douglas A4D Skyhawk pure turbojet-powered ground attacker was ready to fly. The escort carriers were being mothballed, and time had run out for the troubled A2D program.
Due largely to the failure of the T40 program to produce a reliable engine, the Skyshark never entered operational service. Twelve Douglas A2D Skysharks were built, two prototypes and ten preproduction aircraft. Most were scrapped or destroyed in accidents, and only one has survived (Ref.: 24).
TYPE: Carrier-borne fighter
ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only
POWER PLANT: One Pratt & Whitney R-2800-34W Double Wasp air-cooled engine, rated at 2,100 hp and one Allis-Chalmers J 36 centrifugal flow turbojet, rated at 1,244 kp thrust
PERFORMANCE: 469 m.p.h. (with both engines) at 25,300 ft
COMMENT: The Curtiss XF15C-1 is a mixed-propulsion fighter prototype of the 1940s. It was among a number of similar designs ordered by the US Navy before pure turbojet powered aircraft had demonstrated their ability to operate from carriers and the mixed-propulsion designs were abandoned. Only three prototypes were constructed, one of which survived to this day.
By the late 1940s, the US Navy was interested in the mixed-power concept for its shipborne fighters. Turbojet engines of that era had very slow throttle response, which presented a safety concern in the case of a missed approach on an aircraft carrier as the aircraft might not be able to throttle up quickly enough to keep flying after leaving the end of the flight deck. This led to orders for a number of mixed-propulsion fighters, including the Ryan FR-1 Fireball.
As such, an order was placed with Curtiss on April 1944 for delivery of three mixed-power aircraft, designated the F15C. Powered by both a 2,100 hp Pratt 6 Whitney R-2800-34W Double Wasp propeller engine, and an Allis-Chalmers J 36 centrifugal flow turbojet, the aircraft was in theory the fastest fighter in the US Navy at that time.
The first flight of the first prototype was on 27 February 1945, without the turbojet installed. When this was completed in April of the same year, the aircraft flew several mixed-power trials, however on May, it crashed on a landing approach. The second prototype flew for the first time on July, again in 1945, and was soon followed by a third prototype. Both aircraft showed promise, however, by October 1946, the Navy had lost interest in the mixed-power concept and cancelled further development (Ref.: 24).
TYPE: High speed bomber, fighter bomber. Project
ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only
POWER PLANT: 2 x Daimler-Benz DB 605, rated at 1,475 PS each
PERFORMANCE: Not available
COMMENT: This design for a tailless high-speed bomber is dated November 25, 1942 and originates from Dipl.-Ing. Josef Hubert, head of Lippisch’s aerodynamics section in Department “L”, as part of Messerschmitt Company. Two Daimler-Benz DB 605B engines provided power. One was mounted conventionally in the front of the fuselage the other was placed in the rear and drove a propeller via a short extension shaft. The wings were swept back at approximately 18 degrees and 38 degrees. Since this was a tailless design, there were no horizontal tail planes but a single fin and rudder was set at the rear and extended slightly below the fuselage. The two main landing gear legs were mounted near the wing’s leading edge, and retracted towards the fuselage. A single tail wheel retracted forward into the fuselage. The pilot sat in a cockpit placed midway along the fuselage. No armament was to be fitted at this stage, as it was felt the aircraft’s speed would be sufficient to prevent interception. As there was no internal bomb bay, the bomb load had to be carried externally. Although calculations were promising, this project remained on the drawing board (Ref. 16).
TYPE: Interceptor, fighter. Project
ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only
POWER PLANT: Heinkel HeS 011 turbojet, rated at 1,500 kp
PERFORMANCE: Not available
TYPE: Interceptor, fighter. Project
ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only, prone position
POWER PLANT: 2 x Heinkel HeS 011 turbo jets, rated at 1,300 kp each
PERFORMANCE: Not available
COMMENT: Project of a twin engined delta fighter. Only a model was built
