Load Factors for German Aircraft

[Zipper730]

Does anybody have the maximum rated g-load figures for German aircraft designs, particularly combat aircraft. This would include fighter and bombers, as well as scouts and maritime patrol aircraft. For the purposes of simplicity, bombers will include both level and dive-bomber designs.

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[tomo pauk]

Dietmar Hermann mentions the factor of 6.93 for the Fw 190A3 (take off weight of 3850 kg); the lightened Fw 190A3 than never went into service (a lot of protection deleted, as well as cowl MGs deleted; a bit more fuel; take off weight 3660 kg) was to have factor of 7.15. That light Fw 190A3 if equipped with bigger wing (20.3 sq m; weight 3700 kg) was to have factor of 6.0.
Same author notes the factor interval between 5.5 and -2.5 for the Ta-152H for the design weight of 4500 kg. For the Ta-152C, it was factor of 6.35 for the design weight of 5000 kg.

 

[Dawncaster]

Ta 152 H-0/H-1
+5.0 ~ -2.5 for 4,500 kg

Bf 109 G
7G for 3110kg (wing unit)

ps. In addition, according to German documents, the limit load factor of Bf 109 falls into the category of fighter-acrobatic airplane equivalent to +8G to -4G. Perhaps this seems to correspond to a design weight like the Mustang's 8G for 8000 lbs.

 

[Zipper730]

So from what I got so far...

Aircraft.................Mass/Weight...............Normal Rated L/F.....Allied L/F..........Ultimate L/F.........Notes
Me.109G..............3113 kg / ..6863 lb.....+7.0.../ N/A...............+8.4.../ N/A..../-+12.6.../ N/A.......Baseline
Me.109G..............3900 kg / ..8598 lb.....+5.0.../ N/A...............+7.5.../ N/A...///+..7.5.../ N/A.......Equipped w/ Torpedo
Fw.190A3.............3850 kg / ..8488 lb.....+6.93 / N/A...............+8.32 / N/A....//+12.47 / N/A...../-Baseline design
Ta.152H-0/H-1.....4500 kg / ..9921 lb.....+5.0.../ -2.5...............+6.0.../ N/A.-.=.+..9.0.../ -4.5...../-Design Weight
Ta.152H-0............4730 kg / 10428 lb.....+4.76 / -2.38.............+5.71 / -2.86.=/+..8.56 / -4.28.../-Takeoff Weight
Ta.152H-1............5520 kg / 12170 lb.....+4.08 / -2.04.............+4.9.../ -2.45.../+..7.34 / -3.67.../-Takeoff Weight

The allied load-factor figure was based simply on the fact that almost everybody used a 1.5 safety factor, whereas the Germans used a 1.8 safety factor. There's one exception regarding the Me.109 with a torpedo, which used a safety factor of 1.5.

 

[Zipper730]

While it was posted in another thread, it seems as if it should be here, as it discusses load-factors in German Aircraft designs: The He 177's maximum g-load was listed as 4.0g in Manfred Griehl & Joachim Dressel's Heinkel He 177/277/274, on aircraft with strengthened wings (A-3/A-5?). Assuming that's not the ultimate-rated load-factor: That would produce an ultimate load-factor of 7.2g, with a safety factor of 1.8 (as was custom for the Germans). If correct, that would correlate to a normal-rated load-factor in US/UK terms of 4.8g, and this would apply (far as I know) at a weight of 27000 kg (59525 lbs).

This would produce a remarkably rugged airframe compared to most all the heavy bombers used by the UK & USA: The ultimate load-factors, as listed for the Lancaster & Halifax were 4.5g ultimate (3g normal-rated); the B-17C was 4.2g (2.8); the Shorts Stirling & B-24D were 4.0g (2.67g) at listed design weights that were pretty much the gross weight. With the He 177A-3 & A-5 weighing in at 31000-34000 kg (63433-74957 lbs) at MTOW, this would result in an estimated load factor of 5.72-6.27g.

Other than the Mosquito and Beaufort, there weren't many bombers that could pull higher g-loads than this design.

In an attempt to find data on the Ju 88, I've been reduced to trying to find data from video games -- something I'm extremely reluctant to do (DCS World and BMS might be exceptions because of the dedication to detail), but IL2's the only data-source I got and, while I've heard different figures regarding accuracy: It might be a start, if for no other reason than it could get a discussion going, and (provided I don't get decapitated by the moderators) such discussions often lead to a variety of links and sources, that provide factual data (and that's my goal).

That said, I do have deep skepticism of an ultimate load-factor of 8g: That said, the Mosquito could pull similar loads (that said, not every light/medium could do that), and it was used as a heavy fighter (though, it was said to take significant losses to Beaufighters).

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