Vultee XA-41 (Anigrand, Resin)

TYPE: Dive bomber, ground attack aircraft

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only

POWER PLANT: One Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engine, rated at 3,000 hp

PERFORMANCE: 363 mph

COMMENT: The Vultee XA-41 was originally ordered as a dive bomber. After combat experience led the U.S. Army Air Corps to believe dive-bombers were too vulnerable to enemy fighters, the contract was amended to change the role to low-level ground attack. Although the XA-41 was a potent weapons system, the design was overtaken by more advanced technology, and never entered production.
The Vultee engineering team decided early in the design process to build the XA-41 (company Model 90) around the 3,000 hp Pratt & Whitney R-4360 “Wasp Major” radial engine. The large wing resembled that of the two-seat attack aircraft/dive bomber Vultee A-31/A-35 “Vengeance including a straight leading edge, forward-tapered trailing edge and pronounced dihedral on the outer wing panels. Designed to carry both a large internal load and external stores, the XA-41 was large for a single-engine aircraft. The single-place cockpit, set in line with the wing root, was 15 ft off the ground when the airplane was parked. As operational priorities shifted during its development phase, the original order for two XA-41 prototypes was cancelled, although the USAAF pressed for the completion of one prototype as an engine testbed for the R-4360, the same engine used by the Boeing B-50 “Superfortess” bomber.
Flying for the first time on February 1944, the sole XA-41 proved to have good performance with a maximum speed of 354 mph reached in testing and superb maneuverability, being able to out-turn a P-51B “Mustang”. However, with the reduction in military orders due to the approaching end of the war, no production contract was placed, and the aircraft was used as an engine testbed for the USAAF as well as being evaluated by the U.S. Navy in comparison with other contemporary attack aircraft, especially the Douglas AD-1 “Skyraider” and Martin AM-1 “Mauler”. After its Navy trials, the XA-41, bearing civil registration, was consigned to the Pratt & Whitney division of United Aircraft to continue engine tests. These continued until 1950 before the XA-41 was scrapped (Ref.: 24).

 

Messerschmitt Me P.1079/18 „Schwalbe“ (Swallow), (Unicraft, Resin)

TYPE: Fast bomber, destoyer , ground attack aircraft. Project

 ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only

 POWER PLANT: Two Junkers Jumo 003B turbojet engines, rated at 900 kp each

 PERFORMANCE: 590 mph, estimated

COMMENT: The Messerschmitt Me P.1079/18 „Schwalbe“ (Swallow) project of 1942, not to confuse so to the  Messerschmitt Me 262 „Schwalbe,  was designed  in the Messerschmitt Abteilung L (for Lippisch) under the leadership of Dipl.-Ing R.Seitz. This single-seat tailles aircraft with a wing leading edge sweep of 37 degree and fitted with fixed outboard slots, ailerons and elevators, was powered by two superimposed  turbojet engines, the upper and the lower air intakes bifurcated  by the cockpit and nosewheel enclosures. The wide-track main wheels  retracted diagonally forwards into the wing roots, the aircraft having a total of six protected fuel tanks. The significance of tail brakes is not known. Beside its use as fast bomber and ground attack aircraft, it was also to function as a Zerstörer. Although this seemingly advanced project was stopped by the RLM in 1942, the Me P.1079/17 which later received the RLM designation Messerschmitt Me 328, was given green light to procced (Ref.:16).

Junkers Ju-187 (Unicraft, Resin)

TYPE: Dive-bomber and close-support aircraft. Project

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot and rear gunner/observer

POWER PLANT: Junkers Jumo 213 A-1, rated at 1,750 h.p.

PERFORMANCE: Not available

COMMENT: Needed as replacement for the shortcoming Ju 87, the design was faster, better armored and had a greater bomb load. The most unusual feature was the movable tail fin. In order to clear the field of fire for the remote-controlled rear turret the whole tail plane could be turned downwards by 180 degree. Although a full sized mock-up was built the OKL preferred the Focke Wulf Fw 190 as close-support fighter bomber

Blohm und Voss Bv P.207-02 (Unicraft, Resin)

TYPE: Fighter bomber, ground support aircraft. Project

ACCOMODATION: Pilot only

POWER PLANT: One Junkers Jumo 213 inline engine, rated at 1.800 hp

PERFORMANCE: Not available

COMMENT: This fighter design used a Junkers Jumo 213 buried in the fuselage just behind the cockpit. The air intake was located beneath the fuselage and the pusher propeller was driven by means of a long shaft. The rectangular wing was mounted at the bottom of the fuselage and had no sweep back or taper. The tail unit was of cruciform design and a tricycle undercarriage was fitted. Proposed armament was two MK 103 30mm cannon and two MG 151/20 20mm cannon located in the nose. A refined design was the Blohm & Voss Bv P.207/03 where the upper fin and rudder were deleted. But neither the BV P.207/2 or /3 proceeded past the design stage (Ref.: 16).

Heinkel He 178 V1 (AML)

TYPE: Experimental aircraft

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only

POWER PLANT: Heinkel HeS 3B turbojet engine, rated at 550 kp

PERFORMANCE: 420 mph

COMMENT: The Heinkel He 178 was the world’s first aircraft to fly under turbojet power, and the first practical turbojet aircraft. It was a private venture by the German Heinkel company in accordance with director Ernst Heinkel‘s’s emphasis on developing technology for high-speed flight. It first flew on 27 August 1939. This flight had been preceded by a short hop three days earlier.
In 1936, a young engineer named Hans von Ohain had taken out a patent on using the exhaust from a gas turbine as a means of propulsion. He presented his idea to Ernst Heinkel, who agreed to help develop the concept. von Ohain successfully demonstrated his first engine, the Heinkel HeS 1 (HeS = Heinkel Strahltriebwerke, Heinkel jet engines) in 1937, and plans were quickly made to test a similar engine in an aircraft. The Heinkel He 178 was designed around von Ohain’s third engine design, the HeS 3, which burned diesel fuel. The result was a small aircraft with a metal fuselage of conventional configuration and construction. The high-mounted wooden wings had the Heinkel-characteristic elliptical trailing edge. The jet intake was in the nose, and the aircraft was fitted with tailwheel undercarriage. The main landing gear was intended to be retractable, but remained fixed in “down” position throughout the flight trials.
The aircraft made its maiden flight on 27 August 1939, only days before Germany invaded Poland. The test pilot was Erich Warsitz, who had also flown the world’s first rocket powered aircraft, the Heinkel He 176, on its maiden flight in June 1939.
Heinkel had developed the turbojet engine and the testbed aircraft, the Heinkel He 178 V1, in great secrecy. They were kept secret even from the German air force, and on 1 November 1939, after the German victory in Poland, Heinkel arranged a demonstration of the jet for officials, which Hermann Göring, commander in chief of the Luftwaffe, did not attend. Ernst Udet and Erhard Milch, Minister of Aircraft Production and Supply watched the aircraft perform, but were unimpressed. While a technical success, speeds were limited to 372 mph even when fitted with more powerful HeS 6 580kp thrust engines and combat endurance was only 10 minutes.
Undeterred, Heinkel decided to embark on the development of a twin-engine jet fighter, the Heinkel He 280 as a private venture using what had been learned from the He 178 prototype. The He 178 V1 airframe was placed on display at the Berlin Aviation Museum, where it was destroyed in an air raid in 1943 (Ref. 24).

Heinkel He 176 (Jach)

TYPE: Experimental plane

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only

POWER PLANT: Walter HWK R1-203 liquid fuelled rocket engine, rated at 500 kp

PERFORMANCE: 466 mph

COMMENT: The Heinkel He 176 was a German rocket-powered aircraft. It was the world’s first aircraft to be propelled solely by a liquid-fuelled rocket, making its first powered flight on 20 June 1939. It was a private venture by the Heinkel Company in accordance with director Ernst Heinkel’s emphasis on developing technology for high-speed flight. The performance of the He 176 was not spectacular, but it did provide “proof of concept” for rocket propulsion.
During the 1920s, German daredevils had experimented with using solid-fuel rockets to propel cars, motorcycles, railway carriages, snow sleds, and, by 1929, aircraft such as Alexander Lippisch’s “Ente” and Fritz von Opel’s “RAK.1.
Solid-fuel rockets, however, have major disadvantages when used for aircraft propulsion, as their thrust cannot be regulated, and the engines cannot be shut down once fired.
In the late 1930s, Werner von Braun’s rocketry team working at Peenemünde investigated installing liquid-fuelled rockets in aircraft. Heinkel enthusiastically supported their efforts, supplying a Heinkel He 72 and later two Heinkel He 112 for flight tests. In early 1937, one of these latter aircraft was flown with its piston engine shut down during flight, at which time it was propelled by rocket power alone. At the same time, Hellmuth Walter’s experiments into Hydrogen peroxyd monopropellant-based rockets were leading towards light and simple rockets that appeared well-suited for aircraft installation.
The He 176 was built to utilise one of the new Walter engines. It was a tiny, simple aircraft, built almost entirely out of wood, but did possess an open cockpit with a little windshield  and a frameless single-piece clear nose, through which the pilot’s rudder pedal mounts were visible. The landing gear was a combination of conventional and tricycle gear designs, with the main gear’s struts intended to retract rearwards into the fuselage, with a fixed, aerodynamically faired nose wheel and strut, and a retractable tail wheel. A unique feature of the He 176 was its jettisonable nose escape system. Compressed air was used to separate the nose from the aircraft. A drogue chute was used to reduce the opening force required. After the drogue was deployed, the flush-fitting cockpit canopy was released and a conventional pilot/parachute bailout occurred.
Heinkel demonstrated the aircraft to the RLM (Reichsluftfahrtministerium, Ministry of aviation), but official lack of interest led to the abandonment of the company’s rocket propulsion programme. Testing of the He 176 ended with only one aircraft being built. It was put on display at the Berlin Air Museum and was destroyed by an Allied bombing raid in 1943.
Prior to the cancellation of the programme, plans had been drawn up for a more sophisticated rocket-plane, still designated He 176. This was never constructed, but because it bore the same designation as the aircraft that was actually flown, many books and websites mistakenly publish pictures of it to illustrate its earlier namesake.
Germany did eventually fly an operational rocket-propelled fighter, the Alexander Lippisch-designed Messerschmitt Me 163 “Komet” (Comet), but this was made by the competing Messerschmitt firm, using an engine that was a further development of the one that powered the He 176 (Ref.: 24).

Douglas XB-43 “Jetmaster” (Anigrand, Resin)

TYPE: High-speed medium bomber

ACCOMMODATION: Crew of three

POWER PLANT: Two General Electric J35-GE-3 turbojet engines, rated at 1,835 kp each

PERFORMANCE: 507 mph

COMMENT: USAAF leaders in the Air Material Command began to consider the possibilities of jet-propelled bombers as far back as October 1943. At that time, Douglas Aircraft was just beginning to design a promising twin-engine bomber designated the XB-42 “Mixmaster”. Reciprocating engines powered this aircraft but they were buried in the fuselage, leaving the laminar flow-airfoil wing clean of any drag-inducing pylon mounts or engine cowlings. The airframe appeared ideally suited to test turbojet propulsion. Douglas confirmed the feasibility of the concept and the USAAF amended the XB-42 contract in March 1944 to include the development of two turbojet-powered XB-43 prototypes, reduced from an initial order of 13 test aircraft. The Douglas design team convinced the Army that modifying the XB-42 static test airframe into the first XB-43 was a relatively straightforward process that would save time and money compared to developing a brand new design. Douglas replaced the two Allison V-1710 engines with a pair of General Electric J35 turbojets, then cut two air intakes into each side of the fuselage, aft of the pressurized cockpit. Removing the propellers and drive shafts freed enough space for two long jet exhaust ducts. Without any propellers present, there was no chance of striking the blade tips on the runway, so the entire ventral fin/rudder unit of the earlier XB-42’s full four-surface cruciform tail was omitted. Douglas compensated for the loss of yaw stability by enlarging the dorsal fin/rudder unit. The end of World War II caused a general slowdown within the aviation industry and General Electric was late delivering the engines. So America’s first turbojet bomber finally flew for the first time on 17 May 1946. Douglas Aircraft was keen to mass-produce the new bomber and the USAAF considered ordering 50, but these plans never became realized. The USAAF was already moving ahead with a new bomber, the North American XB-45 “Tornado”, designed from the outset for turbojet power and promising a quantum leap in every category of performance (Ref.: 24).

Douglas XB-42 “Mixmaster” (Anigrand, Resin)

TYPE: High-speed medium bomber

ACCOMMODATION: Crew of three

POWER PLANT: Two Allison V-1710-125 liquid-cooled engine, rated at 1,325 hp each, driving three-bladed, contra-rotating propellers

PERFORMANCE: 410 mph at 23,440 ft

COMMENT: The XB-42 was developed initially as a private venture; an unsolicited proposal was presented to the USAAF in May 1943. This resulted in a contract for two prototypes and one static test airframe, the USAAF seeing an intriguing possibility of finding a bomber capable of the Boeing B-29 “Superfortress” range without its size or cost. The aircraft mounted a pair of Allison V-1710-125 liquid-cooled V-12 engines behind the crew’s cabin, each driving one of the twin propellers. Air intakes were in the wing leading edge. The landing gear was tricycle and a full, four surface cruciform tail was fitted, whose ventral fin/rudder unit prevented the coaxial propellers from striking the ground. The pilot and co-pilot sat under twin bubble canopies, and the bombardier sat in the extreme front behind a plexiglass nose. Defensive armament was two 0.50 in machine guns each side in the trailing edge of the wing, which retracted into the wing when not in use. These guns were aimed by the copilot through a sighting station at the rear of his cockpit. The guns had a limited field of fire and could only cover the rear, but with the aircraft’s high speed it was thought unlikely that intercepting fighters would be attacking from any other angle. The first XB-42 was delivered to the Army Air Force and flew at on 6 May 1944. Performance was excellent, being basically as described in the original proposal: as fast or even faster than the de Havilland “Moquito” but with defensive armament and twice the bomb-load. The end of World War II allowed the Air Force to consider possibilities with a little more leisure. Although with the second prototype additional Westinghouse 19XB-2A jet engines were mounted under the wings to enhance performance (XB-42A) it was decided to wait for the development of better jet bombers rather than continue with the XB-42 program (Ref.: 24).

Douglas DS-312A (Unicraft, Resin)

TYPE: Experimental pusher fighter. Project

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only

POWER PLANT: One Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled engine, rated at 1,100 hp at 30,000ft, driving contra-rotating propellers via extension shaft

PERFORMANCE:  Data not available

COMMENT: Work on this unusual design started in in 1939. In order to keep the fuselage aerodynamically as clean as possible the engine was mounted in the mid-fuselage, driving counter-rotating three bladed pusher propellers via an extension shaft. Another advantage of the buried engine was enough room for heavy cannon armament in the nose. Thus the pilot had an excellent view and a wide field of fire. Although this fighter project was never realized it was the basis for many other pusher-type aircraft e.g. Bell XP-52, Vultee XP-54 Swoose Goose, Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender, Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet, and Douglas XB-42 Mixmaster.

Hawker P.1048 (Unicraft, Resin)

Type: Two Turbojets Single Seat Fighter Project
Competitor to the Gloster Meteor