Schmittfeuer's Hangar

[schmittfeuer]

Today's plane of the day is the SR.53, a british prototype fighter built by Saunders-Roe in the early 50s. The experimental aircraft was built mainly as a way to provide effective and fast interception of the soviet Tupolev Bear bombers. As such a regular turbojet engine of the time was out of the question as the long spool up times would leave the aircraft to waste too much time accelerating slowly before reaching the speed required to intercept these bombers. The solution provided by Saunders engineers was a mix between a regular turbojet engine and a rocket motor, building on the approach at designing a bomber interceptor that Messerschmitt and Bachem had taken only a decade earlier with their Komet and Natter aircraft. However the complexity of the two-engine mix caused a series of setbacks, one of which was an explosion during ground testing with the rocket engine, delaying the first flight further and further. Nevertheless on 16 May 1957 the prototype for the SR.53 did finally take to the skies for the first time and flew, alongside a second prototype called the XD151, a number of test flights during the following months. Test results stated that both prototypes were: "... an extremely docile and exceedingly pleasant aircraft to fly, with very vell harmonized controls".  Unfortunately the XD151 crashed on take off during a test flight in 1958, striking a concrete approach light while overshooting the runway, exploding and killing its pilot, Squadron Leader John Booth. The remaining prototype the SR.53 continued to fly for a few more missions. Despite its very promising performance and capabilities the concept was eventually scrapped in 1960 following the advent of surface-to-air missile development, the introduction of better turbojet engines as well as numerous advancements in the field of radar technologies.

[schmittfeuer]

Today's plane of the day is one that probably not too many of you have heard of. We're looking at the EFW N-20 Aiguillon (Stinger) and it's prototype the N-20.02 Arbalète (Crossbow), a swiss, all metal, delta wing, jet aircraft with a vertical stabilizer but no elevators.

During WWII engineers in Switzerland started work to plan and design a jet-powered fighter. The work yielded a substantial amount of data about the form of the fuselage, engine types, engine position and so on. The tests also took into consideration making use of swiss-built jet engines rather than foreing ones. However eventually engineers chose the "Swiss-Mamba" engine, a modified turbofan variant of the british Armstrong-Siddeley Mamba turboprop. The Swiss-Mamba was tested in flight, strapped to the belly of a captured De Havilland Mosquito. Six engines of this type were produced.

Given the swiss industrie's lack of knowledge and experience with the aerodynamics and design of jet aircraft several scaled wind tunnel models were produced. Furthermore a two-seater glider was built at a scale of 0.6:1 to conduct additional tests. The glider was powered by a rocket engine, giving it the ability to achieve the altitude necessary for the aerodynamic testing. Interesting to note is the fact that the nose gear for the glider stemmed from a De Havilland Vampire while the main landing gear was taken from a Messerschmitt Bf-109. Unfortunately the glider was destroyed during a landing accident in 1949.

After the loss of the glider the decision was taken to build another scaled test aircraft, this time however not as a rocket powered glider but as a regular jet. Unlike with the final design the engines were mounted on top and below the wings on either side. The result was the N-20.02 Arbalète.

Shortly after a full sized N-20 was built. It was planned to achieve an operational speed of 1000 km/h with a planned top-speed of 1200 km/h, which made the Aiguillon superior to many other aircraft of its time. It's ceiling was calculated to be at roughly 11,000 m ASL and it's range to be about 500 km. That range could be extended by having the plane cruise on just two of its four engines, using full power only for combat maneuvers. The planned armament for the Aiguillon consisted of a variety of different so called "weapon tubs", which would allow for fast and easy rearming of the aircraft on the ground. The planned tubs would include one with four 20mm autocannons, one with  800kg of bombload, one with 36 rockets and one with flares as well as fuel.

Unlike with other planes of the time pilots of the N-20 would not have had to climb out of their aircraft to escape a crash as the Aiguillon was built in such a way that it could blast off its entire canopy section. The canopy would then safely glide to the ground with the use of a parachute. Furthermore the N-20 was equipped with retractable canards in the nose which would considerably boost low-speed performance. The plane was also equipped with eight afterburners for the four engines and the exhaust nozzles were shaped in a way that they would allow for the exhaust air to be directed downwards. This gave the Aiguillon the ability to considerably shorten it's take off run.

Unfortunately the project was cancelled in 1953 for not entirely clear reasons. Outside of a few "hops" the Aiguillon never took flight. Many workers that were involved in the project asked for at least one testrun to see the plane fly, even going as far as to finance such a flight themselves and taking full responsibility for the outcome of it. Sadly they never got the approval and the N-20 ended up in a museeum.

[schmittfeuer]

Curtiss-Wright P-55 Defender

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Developed as a fast interceptor the Defender uses two V-12 engines mounted to the airframe in a tandem fashion, this rather unusual design immensely reduces the aircraft's drag. The P-55 can be pushed to a respectable 450 mph at sea level, not to mention its insane climb rate and acceleration. Poor low-speed performance and a comparatively high stall speed encourage pilots to keep the throttle open for the duration of the flight.

The Defender comes armed with four .70cal cannons mounted to the wing roots as well as one 37mm autocannon mounted to the nose. With such a heavy armament the P-55 comes with very little ammunition.

All of the above factors make the P-55 an energy fighter more than anything else.

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Something a little different, for once I drew a regular CS-esque prop and not one of my jet-variants.

[schmittfeuer]

Little Announcement

So I'm now (actually it's been quite a while now) part of the blog over at fuckyeahcrimsonskies which you should definitely follow should you seek more information about the Shattered States of America.

The idea for the blog comes from a very amazing and dedicated fan of the series who is also responsible for recreating a whole bunch of flags over at her Dribbble as well as a map which can be found on www.crimsonski.es

Greetings and keep away from those cumulogranite clouds! - Schmittfeuer

[schmittfeuer]

Texan Legacy-Class Carrier Zeppelin

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.The Legacy-Class is the epitome of Texan engineering. With a length of 2000ft, a storage capability of about 72 fighters and a broadside that could easily rally the ISA's "Commerce" or Blake Aviation's "Aegis" this is the largest and possibly one of the most dangerous airships to fly the crimson skies to date. This massive beast is propelled by 26 Giberson Model 707 turboprop engines, which accelerate the zeppelin to an astonishing 155km/h in combat situations. In its massive belly the zeppelin carries around up to 72 William & Colt Thunderers, a small twin-engined, mid-wing jet interceptor. The planes are stored on three different levels and can be launched via two doors on the underside of the zeppelin for fast deployment. Exercises have shown that using the two hatches the fighter deck could be emptied within but a few minutes in emergency situations. However during regular operation one hatch would be used for launching aircraft while the other would let them dock. But even without any aircraft launched the Legacy is able to properly defend itself thanks to its good armament. 20 torpedo launchers, 32 120mm howitzers stationed on two decks as well as a number of FLAK and small AAA scattered all around the ship make the giant extremely lethal to airships and other aircraft alike. 

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The pictured variant, formerly the "Legacy" itself, was hijacked by a particularily suicidal gang of pirates and is eversince being used as a mobile homebase. Various modifications have been made to the ship itself, including the removal of a secondary array of cannons to make the ship faster and the installation of more powerful engines for the same reason.

[schmittfeuer]

Not much to add here, just a little design I made on request of someone from DA, asking me to design a "motorjet, canard Fw-190D". This is what I came up with.

There's currently no name or similar to this design, I just thought I'd upload it here because it's the latest clean sketch I've done in a while now.

Greetings and keep away from those cumulogranite clouds! - Schmittfeuer

[schmittfeuer]

Well now for something mildly different.

I've always been a huge fan of the Ace Combat series, and as a new installment was announced just recently (one that hopefully won't be as horrible as Assault Horizon) I figured I might as well do some fanart again.

So here you have Yellow 13 and Mobius 1 from Ace Combat 4 engaged in a close range dogfight. Attempting to turn the tide of battle Thirteen is performing a Cobra to fire off a missile at his pursuer.

Please disregard the fact that the Sukhoi wouln't be able to perform the cobra with that many missiles attached.

[schmittfeuer]

Well given how I'm from Switzerland and seeing how I forgot to include a picture of one of these in the previous post about the Pony I might as well do it in a separate one.

So without further ado I may introduce you to the Swiss Mustang.

After World War Two Switzerland sought to replace it's outdated Messerschmitt Emils, Gustavs and license built Moranes in order to maintain a capable defence over their own skies. British Vampires and Venoms were planned, but just not ready yet. So the Swiss Air Force purchased 130 Mustangs from the USAAF surplus for just 4000 USD each in 1948.

Initially the Mustangs were supposed to only serve as a temporary solution for three years until the Venoms and Vampires could be fully employed and given to all frontline units. However, this was not how it went, Switzerland made use of the Mustang for a good ten years retiring the aircraft in 1958.

[schmittfeuer]

Alright for today we have scheduled one of the most iconic and well-known American aircraft to ever take to the skies. This one saw service in both World War Two, the Korean War as well as several other conflicts and was not retired from military service until 1948. Today we're looking at the P-51 Mustang, a long-range single-seat fighter and fighter bomber developped by North American Aviation in the 40s for use by the Allied forces. During World War Two it saw service with both the USAAF and the British RAF, the latter being the first operator to put it to use against the Luftwaffe.  While the original design intended for the Mustang to use an Allison V-1710 engine the RAF fitted theirs with the RR Merlin, giving the earlier Mustangs the performance boost needed to compete with the Luftwaffe at altitude. However the final variant of the fighter the, P-51D, was powered by a Packard V-1650-7, a derivative of the Merlin 60 engine. The standard armament for the fighter consisted of six .50 caliber Browning machine guns with a total of 1880 rounds. Some variants exchanged the machine guns for 20 mm Hispano autocannons. Furthermore the P-51 could be outfitted with two bombs up to 2000lb of weight as well as several HVAR rockets depending on the variant of the aircraft. During the war Mustangs carried out two types of missions. The americans used the P-51 as an escort aircraft to safeguard their  bombers during raids on Germany. The RAF had no such need as their bombers carried out their raids during night-time, as such the British used their Merlin-powered Mustangs as fighter-bombers. Both were roles that helped to strenghten and ensure Allied air-superiority in the closing years of the war. During the Korean War the Mustang first served as the main fighter for the USAAF, but it was soon replaced by it's jet-powered successors, such as the F-86 Sabre. From there on the P-51s took over the role of a fighter-bomber. Nowadays many Mustangs were converted for civil use, especially air racing.

[schmittfeuer]

Today's plane of the day saw action in World War II as the first operational jet-powered fighter and was nicknamed the Schwalbe (Swallow) by it's pilots. Today we're taking a quick look at the Messerschmitt Me-262. Compared with allied fighters of it's time, the Schwalbe surpassed all of them in both speed and armament, clocking at a stunning 190km/h (900km/h top speed) faster than the american P-51 Mustang fighter and packing four 30mm MK 108 autocannons. Such speeds could be achieved thanks to the two Junkers Jumo 004 turbojet engines mounted below either wing of the Schwalbe. The Jumos produced 8.8kN of thrust each. The 262 was employed in a variety of different roles including bomber interception, aerial reconnaissance, light bombing and strafing as well as night-fighting. In total Schwalbe pilots claimed a stunning 542 aerial victories during the short time between the jets deployment in 1944 and the end of the war in 1945. However the Allied superiority over the german skies during final year of the war and the development of tactics to offset the Schwalbes performance advantages left the fighter with little influence on the Allied air operations. Furthermore the 262s pilots had to fight with the poor reliability of the Junkers Jumo 004 jet engines and fuel shortages, both of which also greatly reduced the effectiveness of the jet fighter. Due to lack of ressources and workforce in the closing years of the war only a very limited number of the jet were produced and put into service. Roughly 1400 fighters were produced, yet only about 300 ever saw combat with a maximum of 200 operational at any given time, the others fell victim to training accients or allied bombings. Today only nine Me 262 fighters survive in museums around the globe. The Me 262 influenced the designs of several post-war aircraft such as the North American F-86 Sabre and the Boeing B-47 Stratojet.

[schmittfeuer]

So just what the heck is Crimson Skies?

So you've heard me talk about it, but so far I never really explained what Crimson Skies was actually about and there's a high chance that there's quite a few people out there that don't know anything the series.

The Crimson Skies series consist of a boardgame, PC release and an Xbox sequel as well as several books that are all set in an alternate timeline starting just after the events of the Great War. The games were mostly about arcade-styled dogfighting and barnstorming-esque stunts, all while flying very odd and fantastic looking planes. All in all this made for two very enjoyable video games and an interesting boardgame that I unfortunately didn't have the chance to play yet.

As for the lore surrounding the series. In the Crimson Skies alternate reality the United States of America broke apart and made way for several new nation states. The secessions were largely due to several events that put the United States into a national and later even regional isolation from one another. The events include the second outbreak of the King's Plague, that put communities into isolations as a desperate measure to quarantine themselves. Regional isolasionism was then even further reinforced by newly introduced prohibition laws that allowed for each state to decide their own liquor laws, dividing the nation between wet and dry states.

Further inept political decisions lead to the second secession of Texas from the Union in 1930. Lastly, the Great Depression was the straw that broke the Union's back and the independent American nations were born.

Though the nations have gone through several permutations since their inceptions they have now reached sort of a stable form, although tensions are still very present and eventough often not official, multiple nations have aerial privateers working for them. With the central railway system as well as interstate roads in ruins and travel hindered by the newly found boundaries, the blood of the new nations flows through the air, mostly via zeppelins and other airships. But this new lifestream presents itself an easy target for aerial piracy and the like. These pirates of the air stop at nothing, looting and shooting cargo zeppelins left and right, fighting the new nations militias and occasionally even kidnapping upstanding citizens as well as generally leaving chaos in their wake. As such it is no surprise as to why the skies above the Shattered Union are called the Crimson Skies.

Greetings and fly safe!

- Schmittfeuer

[schmittfeuer]

Today's plane of the day is the Piaggio-Pegna P.7, a seaplane racer designed by Giovanni Pegna for the Schneider Cup of 1929. The Schneider Cup was an international race cup for seaplanes from 1913-1931 (Though the races were revived in 1981 and held up to 2009) with the intention of boosting seaplane designs and general aircraft technology of the time. Most of the planes competing in these races were equipped with large floats mounted below the fuselage or built entirely as flying boats. As one might imagine floats generate a lot of unnecessary drag, fitting a racer with the body of a flying boat is not too preferrable either.  Aiming to avoid such drag forces Giovanni Pegna came up with the P.7, a slender, shoulder-wing plane equipped with a set of hydrofoils and a waterscrew at the back. The plane would rest on the water, submerged all the way to just below it's wings, the propeller below the waterline. On take-off the pilot would set a clutch in such a way for the engine to power the waterscrew rather than the airscrew. Once a sufficient speed was reached in that manner the plane would lift its body out of the water, standing on it's hydrofoils. At this point the pilot would switch the clutch back to the propeller, that was now clear of any water, open up the carburettor air intake and continue the take-off like on a regular plane. Although sources differ on what the predicted top speed of the P.7 was, claiming both 580km/h and 700km/h, Giovanni's design would have been one of the fastest racers around at the time. Unfortunately the P.7 never flew a race or even left the water due to technical problems with the clutch and the difficulty of handling it on both take-off and presumably landing. According to one of the few pilots that flew the aircraft Tommaso Dal Molin, the spray of the hydrofoils made it impossible to see anything on take-off. The project was eventually cancelled after Piaggio was excluded from the races of 1929, with racers built by Macchi representing Italy in the race. Plans to build a second P.7 were scratched. However despite the real P.7 never having taken to the skies there were several RC models of the plane that successfully flew and even won reinactments of the Schneider Cup.

[schmittfeuer]

Plane of the Day

Well I've been thinking. I figured to keep myself somewhat active on this blog that I'll post a so-called "Plane of the Day" every now and then. It will be a spotlight on a particular plane that I like, find interesting or think deserves some attention.

Now how does that sound?

Of course given how I don't have any followers so far you can't really say anything about that so I'm just gonna roll with it for now.

If you have any suggestions on the Plane of the Day you may send me the aircraft via the ask-function or through any other means you find here on tumblr.

Greetings and fly safe!

- Schmittfeuer

[schmittfeuer]

Blohm-Voss BV-189 Zerstörer

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The Blohm-Voss BV-189 Zerstörer is a biplane twin-engine turbojet  all-weather fighter, also nicknamed the Libelle or Dragonfly because of its distinctive wing configuration. The 189 is probably the first and only jet biplane to be put on the market and one of only a handful of german fighters in general to be exported to other nations.

It's short wingspan and biplane design leave the aircraft to be extremely maneuverable, easily capable of out-turning most of its competitors. The Libelle comes equipped with two 50mm and 20mm autocannons as well as as number of under-wing pylons mounted on the upper wing for a variety of payloads.

A Lichtenstein-FuG 330 radar system furthermore allows Blohm-Voss' fighter to fly and fight even during night or non-VMC conditions. Two powerfull Junkers Jumo 400 turbojet engines fed by a single, supercharged nose inlet propell the plane to speeds approaching just below supersonic flight. 

However the biplane design as well as the very edged airframe leave the plane to face comparatively large drag forces in flight leading to a larger fuel consumption, which in turn shortens the range of the fighter drastically.

Much like with other european fighters the Libelle is a comparatively rare sight over North America, given the difficulty of aquiring spares and able maintenance personel for such a plane.

[schmittfeuer]

North American N-15 Warhorse

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The N-15 Warhorse, oftentimes also nicknamed the "Pony", was North American Aerospace's answer to Columbia's request to develop a prime fighter for the state. The Warhorse is a twin engined, mid-wing turbojet fighter. Much like other turbojets of it's time, the Warhorse is fitted with a supercharged, singular intake that feeds the two turbojets that propell the plane.

In terms of armament the Warhorse comes equipped with four .50 caliber machine guns as well as two heavy 50mm autocannons mounted below the air intake. In order to save weight and allow for more ammunition to be loaded for guns, the Warhorse is not equipped with any hardpoints for external payloads.

While the almost rectangular wing design allow for a high rate of roll and good stall characteristics the N-15 does have a larger turning radius than it's contemporaries, leaving it weak to turn-fighting.   

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The variant pictured above carries the logo of the Columbia state, the seahorse.

[schmittfeuer]

Grumman F-83 Spiteful

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The F-83 Spiteful, also known as the "Fork-Muzzled Devil", is a mid-wing, turboprop fighter produced by Grumman Aerospace. It is used by the airforces of several north american nations, inlcuding the display team of the Empire State.

The F-83 is known for it’s supreme speed while still remaining comparatively maneuverable, although it has been criticized for it’s lack of payload and short range. Furthermore the Spiteful is the first and so far only aircraft to utilize a four-point landing gear owing to it’s long engines.

The fighter is equipped with four 20mm autocannons mounted ahead of the canopy as well as two 50mm cannons firing through the hollow propeller shafts. As such all weapons are placed outside of the radi of the propellers, allowing for them to fire at full speed. In addition to the cannons four underwing hardpoints serve as pylons for a variety of different payloads.

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The Spiteful pictured above is nicknamed after the Vne mark that can be found on common air speed inticators.The name is due to a set of overpowered engines that replace the line turboprops on the Vne, allowing for the plane to reach speeds well beyond it’s limits including experiencing flutter effects in level flight. To date the Vne is assumed to be the fastest propeller driven aircraft flying the skies above the fractured states of America.