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According to his figures the Whirlwind had a longer wing span, but had less wing area, was shorter, and had less height. I think the cockpit was quite a bit smaller on the Fw187 though."After comparing these planes, it is obvious that the Whirlwind was too small.............The Fw 187 looks close to our needs"
Is he reading the same figures as me ?
Steve
I'm not sure who reads what, so here are the numbers from Wikipedia (Whirly vs. Falke):
-wing area: 250 vs. 327.22 sq ft,
-wing span: 45 ft vs. 50-something ft
-length: 32 ft 3 in vs. 36 ft 6 in
Falke is about as big as P-38, the Whirlwind is about as big as Hurricane (one of biggest S/E, single seat fighter, piston-engined, V-12 engine).
According to the wikipedia entry it was tested even with the BMW 801 engine, along with the DB605, and was tested as a fighter-bomber, though I don't recall if that was advanced well with the FW187C prototype in our other long thread on the subject. I know it was lengthened in the high altitude version, so I imagine they would be able to adapt it well enough if they could handle a 500kg bomb, which IIRC the FW187C could do. If the BMW 801 could be tolerated it would make a fine ground attack aircraft, but I imagine the DB605 would be needed for the fighter-bomber version.If the CoG issues can be easily dealt with (since it would be good to have a more powerful/heavier engine installed), then I'm all for it.
If you want a better fast, long range light bomber then use an aircraft designed for the job.
According to the wikipedia entry it was tested even with the BMW 801 engine, along with the DB605, and was tested as a fighter-bomber, though I don't recall if that was advanced well with the FW187C prototype in our other long thread on the subject. I know it was lengthened in the high altitude version, so I imagine they would be able to adapt it well enough if they could handle a 500kg bomb, which IIRC the FW187C could do. If the BMW 801 could be tolerated it would make a fine ground attack aircraft, but I imagine the DB605 would be needed for the fighter-bomber version.
D-AXAK (WkNmr 949) Equipped with Jumo210D - first flight 10 April 1937 - crashed (fatal) 15 May 1938Don't think the BMW Fw 187s were anything more than paper airplanes.
Don't think any flew with the DB 605 either.
Fighter-bombers rely on speed, not armor per se. The FW190F was able to go the job despite its uparmoring and was fast enough to get out. It wasn't a dog fighter, nor intended to be. It was meant to be fast in to avoid accurate ground fire and fast out the avoid fighters. As to the comparisons, we don't have a fighter-bomber version that was operational to compare it to, so its not exactly fair to say it wouldn't have been as good with some modifications. The Bf110 wasn't supposed to be a fighter-bomber or ground attack aircraft pre se, yet was able to adapt to other roles.Like most fighter aircraft Fw-187 would have been horribly vulnerable to ground fire. Add 900 lbs of armor to protect crew and other vulnerable areas (i.e. similar to Me-210 protection) and it's not much of a fighter aircraft anymore. Nor does it compare well to Ju-87, Ju-88 or Me-210/Me-410 for air to ground weapons delivery.
We are talking about a fighter-bomber like the FW190G, but with two engines and not external mounted fuel tanks.If you want a fast, long range light bomber then use an aircraft designed for the job.
Tomo, I'm looking, though I don't recall ever seeing a photo.GG, is there a photo of BMW-outfitted Falke?
Armor didn't really work out for the Sturmovik or Hs129 either.So do Jacky Fisher's battle cruisers. Neither were good ideas...
The Hs129 had an armored tub for the pilot much like several verions of the IL-2 which offered excellent protection.Armor didn't really work out for the Sturmovik or Hs129 either.
The Hs129 had an armored tub for the pilot much like several verions of the IL-2 which offered excellent protection.
The problem with the Hs129, was that it's engines were not up to the task of hauling all the weight around, especially with the excellent up-gunned version armed with the Bk37 cannon. Being as slow as it was, it was vulnerable to enemy aircraft, not ground fire.