Recently, I acquired a book, Focke Wulf Jet Fighters, by Justo Miranda. This covers all the jet fighter projects that Focke Wulf was engaged in until the end of the war. Needless to say, they were all paper planes(never left the notepad or drawing board), and never progressed to the stage where metal and/or wood was cut to build the prototype.
This covers every project, from the Fw190 TL, which had a turbine engine under the nose, through the Ta183(the rumored precursor to the MiG15, a mistaken conclusion), to some really exotic projects, such as the Rammjaeger project, which was a Feisler 103 with a cockpit, intended to ram bombers(not a kamekazi type).
One project that held particular fascination with me was the Fw190 Turbine(or TL), which was to be a 190 with a HeS centrifugal engine in the nose in place of the BMW 801. With this project, Focke Wulf built a proof of concept model by adding a ducted fan to the nose of an Fw44 training biplane. In spite of it seeming like it'd never work, the Fw44J(as it ended up being designated) flew quite nicely, and proved the concept. Alas, the modified 190 was never built, so the world may never know if the Wurger would've been a nice flier like the 44.
However, this is about the Fw44, more specifically the modification in 1/72 scale.
In order to do this, Focke Wulf added to the engine a cowl with bumps for the rocker boxes, and a 4 bladed ducted fan in front.
Welp, I got the model, a Huma Fw44, and found that the engine is uncowled. So, I ask, were there any other German aircraft at the time with the same engine with cowl and rocker box bumps? The ducted fan is another story, meaning I'll have to make it myself, but the cowl, I think I could use from another kit.
As a modeller, this is intriguing, as I know of only one other biplane that had a ducted fan, the 1910 Coanda Jet, and that's fascinating in its own right(with the possibilities of "jet" equipped fighters had Coanda stuck with the idea and tried to develop it further, but that's something for further discussion), but that was designed with the ducted fan. This, on the other hand, was just a little bitty trainer that was designed for a radial with prop, and it flew well with a ducted fan. And personally, I like this little beauty, 'cause the concept of a jet powered(face it gentlemen, ducted fan or turbine engine, they are still both reaction engines, that is, they propel the craft by dint of thrust with no propellor) biplane is a glorious freak.
Hell, I even like the M15 Belphegor, and that ugly beastie turned out to be a glorious failure. By my lights, the Belphegor(a very apt name, being the name of a noisy demon)) is so ugly that it has a kind of elegance to me. But then, and I don't know the Latin version of it, there's no accounting for taste.
This covers every project, from the Fw190 TL, which had a turbine engine under the nose, through the Ta183(the rumored precursor to the MiG15, a mistaken conclusion), to some really exotic projects, such as the Rammjaeger project, which was a Feisler 103 with a cockpit, intended to ram bombers(not a kamekazi type).
One project that held particular fascination with me was the Fw190 Turbine(or TL), which was to be a 190 with a HeS centrifugal engine in the nose in place of the BMW 801. With this project, Focke Wulf built a proof of concept model by adding a ducted fan to the nose of an Fw44 training biplane. In spite of it seeming like it'd never work, the Fw44J(as it ended up being designated) flew quite nicely, and proved the concept. Alas, the modified 190 was never built, so the world may never know if the Wurger would've been a nice flier like the 44.
However, this is about the Fw44, more specifically the modification in 1/72 scale.
In order to do this, Focke Wulf added to the engine a cowl with bumps for the rocker boxes, and a 4 bladed ducted fan in front.
Welp, I got the model, a Huma Fw44, and found that the engine is uncowled. So, I ask, were there any other German aircraft at the time with the same engine with cowl and rocker box bumps? The ducted fan is another story, meaning I'll have to make it myself, but the cowl, I think I could use from another kit.
As a modeller, this is intriguing, as I know of only one other biplane that had a ducted fan, the 1910 Coanda Jet, and that's fascinating in its own right(with the possibilities of "jet" equipped fighters had Coanda stuck with the idea and tried to develop it further, but that's something for further discussion), but that was designed with the ducted fan. This, on the other hand, was just a little bitty trainer that was designed for a radial with prop, and it flew well with a ducted fan. And personally, I like this little beauty, 'cause the concept of a jet powered(face it gentlemen, ducted fan or turbine engine, they are still both reaction engines, that is, they propel the craft by dint of thrust with no propellor) biplane is a glorious freak.
Hell, I even like the M15 Belphegor, and that ugly beastie turned out to be a glorious failure. By my lights, the Belphegor(a very apt name, being the name of a noisy demon)) is so ugly that it has a kind of elegance to me. But then, and I don't know the Latin version of it, there's no accounting for taste.
