Most innovative aircraft of WW2 ?

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krieghund said:
Ok I'll bite, what ideas would those be? Also just to throw another grenade out there, why did the Spitfire design team have a He-70 to play with while they were working up the spitfire?
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Its an interesting time. To save a lot of typing have a look at the first post in my 'Spitfire. My journey thread'.
Cheers
John
 
krieghund said:
Ok I'll bite, what ideas would those be? Also just to throw another grenade out there, why did the Spitfire design team have a He-70 to play with while they were working up the spitfire?
Click to expand...

did the Spitfire team have the He-70 or did Rolls-Royce?

Multi-seat aircraft make great testbeds for new engines. Lots of room of test instruments and observers.

He-70 was built as a German reply to the Lockheed Orion.
 
Shortround6 said:
did the Spitfire team have the He-70 or did Rolls-Royce?

Multi-seat aircraft make great testbeds for new engines. Lots of room of test instruments and observers.

He-70 was built as a German reply to the Lockheed Orion.
Click to expand...

Give that man a cigar!! Yeap used for exhaust nozzles and radiator tests by RR.
 
Dreadfully sorry, I meant the HE 70 and the wing design...
Getting my Heinkels mixed up.
Cheers
John
 
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Was the Me210 a light bomber or a heavy fighter to replace the Bf110?

Volkert (Handley Page) proposed the unarmed high speed bomber in 1937.
 
this thread could go on and on with no real winners found although it does make interesting reading,how about this choice of aircraft that could fit the topic

fokker eindover [sorry about the spelling] from ww1,1st single winged fighter with forward firing guns
staaken e.4/20 monoplane the 1st all metal 4 engined airliner from 1920
from ww2
he219 owl (built as a nightfighter]
mozzie [apart from being a true design classic that could do anything that was asked of it well, by construction properly had stealth technology
b17 (designed to go to its target with no fighter escort]
b29( the best bomber in ww2 bar none for design,the layout can still be seen in the b52's of today]
me262( 1st operational jet fighter]
not forgetting the large Gigants transports germany had the fore runner of todays large cargo planes
i could go on but i think we were trying to keep it up to the end of ww2
 
b29 (the best bomber in ww2 bar none....)
Umm, that's a debate in itself

its difficult to separate the original innovative and the subsequent developments, your example of the Fokker Eindecker and its machine guns is a good example.
Aviation in World War I - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The idea of synchronisation pre-dates the Fokker scourge.

Back to the thread.
I have several candidates in mind but, cannot decide which to put forward yet

Cheers
John
 
how does anybody feel about the gloster gladiator with its enclosed canopy,i know its an outdated design being a by-plane but enclosing the cockpit was a new idea
 
woljags said:
how does anybody feel about the gloster gladiator with its enclosed canopy,i know its an outdated design being a by-plane but enclosing the cockpit was a new idea
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It was a good idea and the Gladiator acquitted itself with honour in WW2.
A candidate.
Cheers
John
 
drgondog said:
I would go with the Horten, the B-29 and perhaps the Mossie.. but the jets including the Me 262 the Metoer and the P-80 have to be shoe horned in also.
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Drgondog,

The original question was the most innovative piston engined aircraft. So the Horten, Me 262, Meteor and P-80 are out.

The B-29 brought a lot of new technologies together, probably the most integrated weapons sytem of the war.
The Mossie brought a new train of bomber thought to fruition (ie the unarmed high speed bomber).

Both good choices.
 
woljags said:
this thread could go on and on with no real winners found although it does make interesting reading,how about this choice of aircraft that could fit the topic

me262( 1st operational jet fighter]
Click to expand...

A technicality, I will freely admit, but the Me 262 was not the worlds first operational jet fighter. It was the worlds first operational jet aircraft, but hitler forbade its designation as a fighter until the following october. by that time the worlds operational jet fighter, the meteors of 616 sqn, had been operational for some three months

This is an extract from something that I found, to try and explain....

"April 1944 - during a discussion about the Me-262, Hitler suddenly realizes that it is produced only in the original fighter version, not in "his" bomber version. Hitler is furious. He commands to shift all production to a bomber version. He forbids to even refer to the aircraft as an interceptor or even as a fighter-bomber, and the military responsibilities related to the Me-262 are transferred from the fighter command to the bomber command. This means that jet fighter pilot training is stopped. Instead, bomber pilots will train to fly the Me-262, as a bomber. The decision also further delays production.

Aug. 1944 - Ploesti, Germany's only source of natural oil, is destroyed by systematic bombardments, and then occupied by the Russian army. The shortage of fuel quickly becomes unbearable, and until the end of the war the German Air Force will have much more aircraft than it can actually fly, because of fuel shortage. Furthermore, allied fighters achieve air superiority all over Germany, and will keep it until the end of the war. They also begin to raid German air bases. The Me-262 (bomber version) makes its debut, bombing mostly in France, causing insignificant damage.

Sept. 1944 - The Luftwaffe's 60 Me-262 bombers are destroyed on the ground by American bombers. The Luftwaffe's first six evaluation Me-262 fighters are scrambled to protect them, but too late. (just imagine what if all the 66 Me-262s were operated by fighter pilots and scrambled..)

Oct. 1944 - Germany now has a real jet bomber, the Arado 234, and Hitler, still obsessed with bombers, agrees to a "deal" in which for every Arado 234 bomber delivered, a Me-262 of the fighter version will also be delivered. The first few Me-262s (fighter version) become operational. The small new unit shoots down an increasing number of allied aircraft, and The Allies respond by fighter and bomber raids on its air base. Hitler agrees to expand the small unit from a few aircraft to the world's first jet fighter wing (JG7)".
 
woljags said:
so what do you have in mind John as your selection
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Woljags, I'm looking for original idea(s). Its very hard to pick just one so...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Iiwd-_uCLQ.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdUAucryZII. Very much like the B29.
Arado Ar E.340 Medium Bomber - History, Specs and Pictures - Military Aircraft.

That'll do for starters. 2 ground breaking designs and 1 to prove that the LW Boeing were heading in a similar direction.

Cheers
John
 
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