Oddball, Experimental, or One-off

[red750]

Thanks Red, that one had escaped me. Here's the story.

 

The Bristol Type 138 High Altitude Monoplane was a British high-altitude single-engine, low-wing monoplane research aircraft developed and produced by the Bristol Aeroplane Company during the 1930s. It set nine world altitude records, with the maximum altitude achieved being 53,937 ft (16,440 m) on 30 June 1937, during a 2¼-hour flight.

 

A second aircraft, designated as the Type 138B, was ordered in 1935 but work was abandoned during 1937 without it having flown.

 

The Type 138 was built during a period of intense competition between aviation manufacturers. Prestige and useful technological progress came from breaking major aviation records, such as airspeed, distance and altitude but by the 1930s, the resources and development work necessary to achieve these records was beyond individual companies, and required government assistance.

 

Bristol found themselves lagging behind other companies from Germany, Italy, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Between 1929 and 1934, altitude records established by rival aircraft included those set by a Junkers W.34, a Vickers Vespa and a Caproni Ca.113 biplane, as well as the first flight over Everest by a pair of Westland Wallaces in 1933. All of these aircraft had been powered by Bristol engines. Between 1928 and 1938, the altitude record was broken 10 times, once using a Jupiter engine and five times using Pegasus engines which was seen as a major achievement for Bristol's engines.

 

In November 1933, having observed British Air Ministry interest following the success of the Everest flight, aeronautical engineer Frank Barnwell proposed a purpose-built high-altitude research aircraft. This proposal, designated the Type 138, was a large single-engine, single-seat monoplane, equipped with a retractable undercarriage and a supercharged Pegasus radial engine. Nothing came of this until Italian pilot Renato Donati achieved a new world record during April 1934 prompting public opinion to swing in favour of a government-sponsored record attempt. In June 1934, the Air Ministry issued Specification 2/34, for a pair of prototypes capable of reaching an altitude of 50,000 ft (15,240 m). Bristol was among the companies which were invited to tender proposal.

 

Barnwell revised the Type 138 proposal, producing the Type 138A whose size and configuration remained the same, but the retractable undercarriage was replaced with a fixed design to reduce weight and it would be powered by a two-stage supercharged Pegasus engine and provision for an observer was made. Using the Pegasus was expected to generate publicity and boost sales.

 

Considerable research was carried out by both the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) and National Physical Laboratory to fine tune the design of the aircraft, as well as to develop a reliable pressure suit to be worn by the pilot. Sir Robert Davis of Siebe Gorman and Professor J.S. Haldane were instrumental in developing the helmet. During tests, the pressure suit was tested to the equivalent altitude of 80,000 ft (24,384 m).

 

In early 1936, the airframe was completed and on 11 May 1936 the Type 138A was flown for the first time by Cyril Uwins, Bristol's chief test pilot, who had previously flown the Vickers Vespa on its world record flight. As the engine was not ready, it was powered by a standard Pegasus IV driving a three-bladed propeller for the early flights. Two additional flights were performed at Filton prior to the aircraft being delivered to the RAE at Farnborough where the pressure helmet was tested prior to the aircraft being returned to Filton for the installation of the special Pegasus engine and a four-blade propeller. On 5 September 1936, the Type 138A returned to Farnborough for more test flights.

 

For details of design. operational history, variants and specificatiions, click here.

 

 

 

 

[red750]

The Tairov OKO-1 (Opytno Konstrooktorskoye - experimental design section), was a passenger transport aircraft produced in the Ukrainian SSR in the USSR in 1937.

 

Late in 1935 V.K. Tairov helped form the OKO (experimental design section) in Kiev. In 1937 the OKO-1 was completed as a six-seat passenger transport, with all wood construction, this single engined monoplane demonstrated good performance with state-of-the-art systems. Electrically driven flaps, pneumatic wheel brakes, trimmers on all the tail surfaces, heated cabin, lighting and instruments for night or blind flying, full sound-proofing and full GVF(civil air fleet) equipment were all incorporated. The performance of the aircraft in flight tests was regarded as excellent but, for unknown reasons, production was not undertaken.

 

Status    cancelled (no production commenced). Number built    1

 

 

[onetrack]

It doesn't take much contemplation to see why the design didn't proceed. Not a lot of money to be made from an aircraft that size, that only carries 6 pax.

[red750]

The Fairchild T-46 was an American light jet trainer aircraft of the 1980s. It was cancelled in 1986 with only three aircraft being produced due to cost over-runs and budget cuts.

 

[red750]

The Breda-Zappata B.Z.308 was an Italian four-engined airliner produced by Breda.

 

It was conceived by the engineer Filippo Zappata in 1942, still in time war, with all the problems connected to the priorities of the moment, so much so that the September 8, 1943 only the fuselage of the prototype was built. In the period 1944-45 the work was blocked first by the Germans and, at the end of the conflict, by the Allies, whose Allied Armistice Commission prohibited the continuation of any aeronautical project until the beginning of 1946

 

The B.Z.308 was a four-engined civil transport developed in the late 1940s for operation over both European and transatlantic routes. A large low-wing monoplane of all-metal construction, it was powered by four Bristol Centaurus radial engines driving five-bladed propellers. It had a large tailplane with endplate fins and rudders, and had retractable landing gear. The fuselage, oval in cross-section, accommodated a flight crew of five and 55 passengers in two cabins; a high-density model was planned with seats for 80.

 

In early 1946 the work resumed, also slowed down by British resistance to delivering the needed engines, so the aircraft was completed in June 1946 and the first flight took place on August 27, 1948. V.Meleca 

 

Construction began during 1946, under aircraft designer Filippo Zappata at Breda's Sesto San Giovanni works. The Allied Commission halted the work, which was not resumed until January 1947. Further delays in the delivery of Bristol Centaurus engines delayed the first flight, which was on 27 August 1948, piloted by Mario Stoppani. Although flight testing went well, the project was abandoned as a result of financial problems, anticipated competition from American airliners in the postwar market, and pressure (under the Marshall Plan) to close down Breda's aeronautical section. Breda subsequently stopped producing aircraft entirely. Only the one was produced.

 

Maximum speed: 573 km/h (356 mph, 309 kn)
Cruise speed: 441 km/h (274 mph, 238 kn) at 4,300 m (14,100 ft)
Stall speed: 135 km/h (84 mph, 73 kn)
Range: 7,700 km (4,800 mi, 4,200 nmi)
Service ceiling: 8,000 m (26,000 ft)

 

[red750]

This one never made it off the drawing board. No prototype built.

 

The Nakajima G10N Fugaku (Japanese: 富岳 or 富嶽, "Mount Fuji") was a planned Japanese ultra-long-range heavy bomber designed during World War II. It was conceived as a method for mounting aerial attacks from Japan against industrial targets along the west coast (e.g., San Francisco) and in the Midwest (e.g., Detroit, Milwaukee, Chicago, and Wichita) and the northeast (e.g., New York City and Norfolk) of the United States. Japan's worsening war situation resulted in the project's cancellation in 1944.

 

The Fugaku had its origins in "Project Z (bomber project)", a 1942 Imperial Japanese Army specification for an intercontinental bomber which could take off from the Kuril Islands, bomb the contiguous United States, then continue onward to land in German-occupied France. Once there, it would be refueled and rearmed and make another return sortie.

 

Project Z called for three variations on the airframe: heavy bomber, transport (capable of carrying 300 troops), and a gunship armed with forty downward-firing machine guns in the fuselage for intense ground attacks at the rate of 640 rounds per second (i.e. 38,400 rounds per minute).

 

The project was conceived by Nakajima Aircraft Company head Chikuhei Nakajima. The design had straight wings and contra-rotating four-blade propellers. To save weight, some of the landing gear was to be jettisoned after takeoff (being unnecessary on landing with emptied bomb load), as had been planned on some of the more developed German Amerika Bomber competing designs. It used six engines,[1] as with the later Amerikabomber design competitors, to compensate for nearly all German aircraft engines being limited to 1,500 kW (2,000 hp) maximum output levels apiece.

 

Development was initiated in January 1943 and a design and manufacturing facility built in Mitaka, Tokyo. Nakajima's 4-row 36-cylinder 5,000 hp Ha-54 (Ha-505) engine was abandoned as too complex.

 

Flightsim image.

 

 

 

[johnm]

Nakajima G10N Fugaku - gunship (post above) Project Z called for three variations on the airframe: heavy bomber, transport (capable of carrying 300 troops), and a gunship armed with forty downward-firing machine guns in the fuselage for intense ground attacks at the rate of 640 rounds per second (i.e. 38,400 rounds per minute).

 

interesting concept - 40 downward firing guns

 

A .303 shell weighs 14 grams ? - In one minute:

       - 38400 x 14 = 537,600 grams

           = 1/2 a tonne

 

 

 

[Marty_d]

4 minutes ago, johnm said:

Nakajima G10N Fugaku - gunship (post above) Project Z called for three variations on the airframe: heavy bomber, transport (capable of carrying 300 troops), and a gunship armed with forty downward-firing machine guns in the fuselage for intense ground attacks at the rate of 640 rounds per second (i.e. 38,400 rounds per minute).

 

interesting concept - 40 downward firing guns

 

A .303 shell weighs 14 grams ? - In one minute:

       - 38400 x 14 = 537,600 grams

           = 1/2 a tonne

 

 

 

According to Wiki, .303 ball rounds (ie projectile only) weigh 11.3g and tracer 8.4g.
Not sure how much the shell casing and propellant would weigh but it'd have to be more than the bullet.   If you assume they're ejecting the casings out of the aircraft as well you could probably more than double that estimate.

(Having said that, a minute is a long time, and bombers lose much more weight than that quite quickly... a Lancaster carried up to 6.3 tonnes of bombs).

[johnm]

On 30/08/2024 at 7:20 PM, onetrack said:

It doesn't take much contemplation to see why the design didn't proceed. Not a lot of money to be made from an aircraft that size, that only carries 6 pax.

 

The Tairov OKO-1 (Opytno Konstrooktorskoye

................ it could have been a futuristic concept (sponsered by the great-grandparents of Messers MacDonald, Jack, Dinno and Hutt) - on the off-chance that the 1935 60 kilo person might evolve into  ..................

[red750]

English translation from Russian website airwar.ru:

In 1929 Chicago-Midwest Aircraft Co. released a light transport aircraft for 10 passengers, designated X-101. He was a highly mixed design, equipped with two Wright R-1750 Cyclone engines with a capacity of 525 hp, set tandemno. The wing for the plane was purchased from the company Fokker American.

 

Single copy (registration number X3094) successfully flew 80 hours, after which he crashed. At recovery he had changed engine position. To this time company changed its name to Dayton Aircraft Corp., and the plane received a new name - Dayton Overmount x. Noteworthy was the length of her run, which was only 68 meters.

 

 

Chicago-Midwest Aircraft Co. X-101

 

 

Dayton Overmount x