The Coolest 'Radical' Aircaft of World War II

[HealzDevo]

That is what makes it a radical aircraft. The fact that it is so different from the norm. It is a feature that no other aircraft has. It is a unique feature and thus a cool radical aircraft the Ju-187/287. It may be unnecessary but then so is an aircraft like the Osprey when you look at it.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I dont argue with you that it was radical but it was pointless...

The Osprey is actually far from pointless and very innovative design.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

That is what makes it a radical aircraft. The fact that it is so different from the norm. It is a feature that no other aircraft has. It is a unique feature and thus a cool radical aircraft the Ju-187/287. It may be unnecessary but then so is an aircraft like the Osprey when you look at it.

Better not let mkloby here you say that!

INCOMING!!!!!

 

[Matt308]

 

[HealzDevo]

Also the Messerschmitt Me-323 Gigant was a radical concept probably for its time as I don't ever remember the Allies having anything like this as a heavy lifter. It is radical as being such a large and superheavy aircraft. Even today there are only three types defined as superheavy aircraft: the C-5 Galaxy, the Antonov An-124 Condor or the Antonov An-225 Mriya otherwise known as Cossack. These are not common types of aircraft. They are very large and can shift large amounts of cargo anywhere in the world.

 

[Chocks away!]

Since most of my favorite German designs have been mentioned, how about this monster of an aircraft.
It didn't make it in time for world war two but was in fact in service from 1946 to 1950: In order to counter the introduction of German turbojet-powered aircraft such as the Me-262, the Soviet Union began a crash program in 1944 to develop a high-performance fighter which resulted in the Mikoyan-Gurevich I-250 (N). It was equipped with a thermojet, a piston engine driving a tractor propeller, which was in turn connected via an extension shaft to a compressor which powered a booster jet engine in the tail. It could reach 825km/h.


Technical data
Type /I-250/N MiG-13/N
Function fighter
Year 1945 1947
Crew 1 1
Engines 1*1500/1650hp Klimov VK-107A(R?) 1*300kg Khalshchevnikov VRDK
Length 8.18m 8.20m
Wing Span 9.5m 9.5m
Wing Area 15.0m2 15.0m2
Empty Weight 2935kg 3028kg
Loaded Weight 3680kg 3931kg
Wing load 245kg/m2 262kg/m2
Power load 2.23kg/hp 2.38kg/hp
Speed at 0m 670km/h ?
Speed at 7800m 825km/h ?
Speed without VRDK ? 600km/h
Climb to 5000m 4.6min ?
Ceiling 11900m ?
Range 1380km 1818km

 

[Matt308]

I wonder if they sufferred a bit of erosion on the upperside of the exhaust structure. C'mon. Coolest?

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Also the Messerschmitt Me-323 Gigant was a radical concept probably for its time as I don't ever remember the Allies having anything like this as a heavy lifter. It is radical as being such a large and superheavy aircraft. Even today there are only three types defined as superheavy aircraft: the C-5 Galaxy, the Antonov An-124 Condor or the Antonov An-225 Mriya otherwise known as Cossack. These are not common types of aircraft. They are very large and can shift large amounts of cargo anywhere in the world.

The Me-323 just looked like a heavy lifter - compare it with a C-47...

Specifications (Me 323)
General characteristics
Crew: 5
Capacity: 130 troops or 10–12 tonnes equipment
Length: 28.2 m (92 ft 4 in)
Wingspan: 55.2 m (181 ft 0 in)
Height: 10.15 m (33 ft 3.5 in)
Empty weight: 27,330 kg (60,260 lb)
Loaded weight: 29,500 kg (65,000 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 43,000 kg (94,815 lb)
Powerplant: 6× Gnôme-Rhône 14N , 700 kW (950 hp) each


Specifications (C-47B)
General characteristics
Crew: 3
Capacity: 28 troops
Payload: 6,000 lb (2,700 kg) of cargo
Length: 63 ft 9 in (19.43 m)
Wingspan: 95 ft 6 in (29.11 m)
Height: 17 ft 0 in (5.18 m)
Wing area: 987 ft² (91.70 m²)
Empty weight: 18,135 lb (8,225 kg)
Loaded weight: 26,000 lb (11,800 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 31,000 lb (14,000 kg)
Powerplant: 2× Pratt Whitney R-1830-90C "Twin Wasp" 14-cylinder radial engines, 1,200 hp (895 kW) each

C-47 usefull load = 12865 Me 323 useful load = 13500

Compare performance....

Me 323
Performance
Maximum speed: 270 km/h (170 mph)
Range: 800 km (500 miles)
Service ceiling: 4,000 m (13,100 ft)
Rate of climb: 216 m/min (710 ft/min)
Ferry range: 1,100 km (684 miles)

C-47
Performance
Maximum speed: 224 mph (195 knots, 360 km/h)
Cruise speed: 160 mph (140 knots, 260 km/h)
Range: 1,600 mi (1,400 nm, 2,600 km)
Service ceiling: 26,400 ft (8,050 m)
Rate of climb: 1,130 ft/min (5.75 m/s)

The only advantage the Me 323 had over the C-47 was the font loading door and wide fuselage. Aside from that I think it could be seen the thing was a flying pig that couldn't get out of it's own way....

 

[Matt308]

Good post!!!

 

[Chocks away!]

Are you by any chance the master of duplicate posts??

 

[Matt308]

Why yes I am.

 

[HealzDevo]

I somehow doubt the 825kph figure. Did it actually get built so there is some actual test data that we can look at? I see that figure for some conventional looking late Spitfires and Hurricanes and hear talk here about late war aircraft going almost to the sound barrier in a dive but I disbelieve it. I don't believe it could happen. It is not possible.

 

[Matt308]

Sure it is. Many a pilot was lost in vertical dives where the high speeds resulted in control surfaces becoming ineffective.

 

[HealzDevo]

Okay, but the aircraft should be destroyed at those speeds wouldn't it? I thought that was one of the reasons why the sound-barrier was dangerous because the aircraft up until the Bell X-1 kept hitting the barrier and blowing up or crashing...

 

[evangilder]

No, that was the theory before the X-1. The reason is because as the mach shock wave is passing over the fuselage, the air is very rough because of the shock wave. Once the shock wave has passed over the fuselage, the air smooths out.

As an aircraft moves through the air, the air molecules near the aircraft are disturbed and move around the aircraft. If the aircraft passes at a low speed, typically less than 250 mph, the density of the air remains constant. But for higher speeds, some of the energy of the aircraft goes into compressing the air and locally changing the density of the air. This compressibility effect alters the amount of resulting force on the aircraft. The effect becomes more important as speed increases. Near and beyond the speed of sound, about 330 m/s or 760 mph at sea level, small disturbances in the flow are transmitted to other locations isentropically or with constant entropy. Sharp disturbances generate shock waves that affect both the lift and drag of the aircraft, and the flow conditions downstream of the shock wave.

The ratio of the speed of the aircraft to the speed of sound in the gas determines the magnitude of many of the compressibility effects. Because of the importance of this speed ratio, aerodynamicists have designated it with a special parameter called the Mach number in honor of Ernst Mach, a late 19th century physicist who studied gas dynamics. The Mach number M allows us to define flight regimes in which compressibility effects vary.

1. Subsonic conditions occur for Mach numbers less than one, M < 1 . For the lowest subsonic conditions, compressibility can be ignored.
2. As the speed of the object approaches the speed of sound, the flight Mach number is nearly equal to one, M = 1, and the flow is said to be transonic. At some places on the object, the local speed exceeds the speed of sound. Compressibility effects are most important in transonic flows and lead to the early belief in a sound barrier. Flight faster than sound was thought to be impossible. In fact, the sound barrier was only an increase in the drag near sonic conditions because of compressibility effects. Because of the high drag associated with compressibility effects, aircraft do not cruise near Mach 1.
3. Supersonic conditions occur for Mach numbers greater than one, 1 < M < 3. Compressibility effects are important for supersonic aircraft, and shock waves are generated by the surface of the object. For high supersonic speeds, 3 < M < 5, aerodynamic heating also becomes very important for aircraft design.
4. For speeds greater than five times the speed of sound, M > 5, the flow is said to be hypersonic. At these speeds, some of the energy of the object now goes into exciting the chemical bonds which hold together the nitrogen and oxygen molecules of the air. At hypersonic speeds, the chemistry of the air must be considered when determining forces on the object. The Space Shuttle re-enters the atmosphere at high hypersonic speeds, M ~ 25. Under these conditions, the heated air becomes an ionized plasma of gas and the spacecraft must be insulated from the high temperatures.

For supersonic and hypersonic flows, small disturbances are transmitted downstream within a cone. The trigonometric sine of the cone angle b is equal to the inverse of the Mach number M and the angle is therefore called the Mach angle.

sin(b) = 1 / M

There is no upstream influence in a supersonic or hypersonic flow; disturbances are only transmitted downstream.

The Mach number depends on the speed of sound in the gas and the speed of sound depends on the type of gas and the temperature of the gas. The speed of sound varies from planet to planet. On Earth, the atmosphere is composed of mostly diatomic nitrogen and oxygen, and the temperature depends on the altitude in a rather complex way. Scientists and engineers have created a mathematical model of the atmosphere to help them account for the changing effects of temperature with altitude. Mars also has an atmosphere composed of mostly carbon dioxide. There is a similar mathematical model of the Martian atmosphere. We have created an atmospheric calculator to let you study the variation of sound speed with planet and altitude.

https://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/////airplane/mach.html

 

[Matt308]

It also resulted in "Mach Tuck". Here is the Wiki explanation. Pretty good. But a visual might help.
__________________________________

Mach tuck is an aerodynamic effect, whereby the nose of an aircraft tends to pitch downwards as the airflow around the wing reaches supersonic speeds. Note that the aircraft is subsonic, and traveling significantly below Mach 1.0, when it experiences this effect.[1]

Initially as airspeed is increased past the critical Mach number, the wing develops an increasing amount of lift, requiring a nose-down force or trim to maintain level flight. With increased speed, and the aft movement of the shock wave, the wing's center of pressure also moves aft causing the start of a nose-down tendency or "tuck." If allowed to progress unchecked, in an aircraft not designed for supersonic flight, Mach tuck may occur. Although Mach tuck develops gradually, if it is allowed to progress significantly, the center of pressure can move so far rearward that there is no longer enough elevator authority available to counteract it, and the airplane could enter a steep, sometimes unrecoverable dive.[2]

 

[HealzDevo]

Ah, okay. I just wasn't sure about it occuring in WW2 aircraft but I suppose it could.