Many countries entered World War II with obsolete types of combat aircraft. This concerns, first of all, the countries of the anti-fascist coalition, while the "axis" countries, which were the first to start active operations (Germany, Japan), re-equipped their aviation in advance. The qualitative superiority of the Axis aviation, which managed to gain air supremacy, over the aviation of the Western powers and the USSR largely explains the successes of the Germans and Japanese in the initial stages of World War II.
TB is short for "heavy bomber". It was created in the design bureau of A.N. Tupolev back in 1930. Equipped with four piston engines, the aircraft developed a maximum speed of less than 200 km / h. The practical ceiling was less than 4 km. Although the aircraft was armed with several (from 4 to 8) 7.62-mm machine guns, with its own performance characteristics(TTX) it was easy prey for fighters and could only be used with strong fighter cover or against an enemy that did not expect an attack. TB-3 at low speed and flight altitude and huge size was a convenient target for anti-aircraft artillery, including at night, as it was well illuminated by searchlights. In fact, it became obsolete almost immediately after it was put into service. This was shown by the Japanese-Chinese war that began already in 1937, where TB-3s fought on the Chinese side (some with Soviet crews).
In the same 1937, the production of TB-3 ceased, and in 1939 it was officially withdrawn from service with bomber squadrons. However, its combat use continued. So, on the first day of the Soviet-Finnish war, they bombed Helsinki and achieved success there, because the Finns did not expect an attack. By the beginning of World War II, more than 500 TB-3 remained in service. Due to the huge losses of Soviet aircraft in the first weeks of the war, ineffective attempts were made to use the TB-3 as a night bomber. In connection with the commissioning of more advanced machines, by the end of 1941, the TB-3 was completely retrained as a military transport aircraft.
Or ANT-40 (SB - high-speed bomber). This twin-engine monoplane was also developed at the Tupolev bureau. By the time it was put into service in 1936, it was one of the best front-line bombers in the world in terms of its performance characteristics. This was shown by the civil war that began soon in Spain. In October 1936, the USSR delivered the first 31 SB-2s to the Spanish Republic, in total there in 1936-1938. received 70 of these machines. The combat qualities of the SB-2 turned out to be quite high, although their intensive combat use led to the fact that by the time the Republic was defeated, only 19 of these aircraft had survived. Their engines turned out to be especially unreliable, so the Francoists converted captured SB-2s with French engines and used them in this form as training until 1951. SB-2s also performed well in the skies of China until 1942, although they could only be used under fighter cover - without it, they became easy prey for Japanese Zero fighters. The enemies had more advanced fighters, and by the beginning of the 40s the SB-2 was morally completely obsolete.
By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the SB-2 was the main aircraft of the Soviet bomber aviation - it accounted for 90% of the machines of this class. On the very first day of the war, they suffered heavy losses even at the airfields. Their combat use, as a rule, ended tragically. So, on June 22, 1941, 18 SB-2s made an attempt to strike at German crossings across the Western Bug. All 18 were shot down. On June 30, 14 SB-2, together with a group of other aircraft, attacked German mechanized columns while crossing the Western Dvina. 11 SB-2s lost. The next day, when trying to repeat the attack in the same area, all nine SB-2s participating in it were shot down by German fighters. These failures forced the same summer to stop the production of SB-2, and the remaining such machines were used as night bombers. The effectiveness of their bombing was low. Nevertheless, SB-2 continued to be listed in combat strength until 1943.
Aircraft designed by N.N. Polikarpov was the main fighter of the Soviet Air Force in the first year of the war. In total, about 10 thousand of these machines were produced, almost all of which were destroyed or crashed before the end of 1942. The I-16 had many of the virtues that emerged during the war in Spain. So, he had a retractable landing gear, he was armed with automatic aircraft 20-mm guns. But the maximum speed of 470 km / h was already clearly insufficient to fight enemy fighters in 1941. I-16s suffered heavy losses already in the sky of China from Japanese fighters in 1937-1941. the very same main disadvantage was poor management. The I-16 was purposely made dynamically unstable, as it was erroneously assumed that this quality would make it difficult for the enemy to fire on it. This, first of all, made it difficult for him to control his pilots and made it impossible to purposefully maneuver in battle. The plane often fell into a tailspin and crashed. The clear combat superiority of the German Me-109 and the high accident rate forced the I-16 to be taken out of production in 1942.
French fighter Morane-Saulnier MS.406
The backwardness of the I-16 is clearly visible when compared with the MS.406, which formed the basis of French fighter aircraft by the beginning of World War II, but was already noticeably inferior in terms of its performance characteristics to the German Me-109. He developed a speed of up to 480 km / h and at the time of its adoption in 1935 was a first-class aircraft. Its superiority over Soviet aircraft of the same class was reflected in Finland in the winter of 1939/40, where, piloted by Finnish pilots, they shot down 16 Soviet aircraft, losing only one of their own. But in May-June 1940, in the skies over Belgium and France in battles with German aircraft, the loss ratio turned out to be the opposite: 3:1 more for the French.
Italian Fiat CR.32 fighter
Italy, unlike the major Axis powers, had done little to modernize its air force by the start of World War II. The Fiat CR.32 biplane, put into service in 1935, remained the most massive fighter. For the war with Ethiopia, which did not have aviation, it fighting qualities were brilliant, civil war in Spain, where CR.32s fought for the Francoists, seemed satisfactory. In the air battles that began in the summer of 1940, not only with the English Hurricanes, but also with the already mentioned French MS.406s, the slow-moving and poorly armed CR.32s were absolutely helpless. Already in January 1941, he had to be removed from service.
Russian history
Victory Day is coming soon - one of our favorite holidays! We are starting to publish a series of articles about the Great Patriotic War: today we recall Soviet aircraft that successfully participated in military operations, and the exploits of pilots. 
contour maps help in studying recent history XX - beginning of the XXI century. When completing assignments, you can use a textbook and a historical atlas. It is included in the educational and methodological complexes for the lines of history textbooks recommended by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.
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The link of his fighters entered into battle with the German bombers in the first minutes of the war. In a battle with another group of Luftwaffe vehicles, Soviet pilots used up all their ammunition, barely enough fuel to reach the airfield, but stopping the German vehicles was much more important than surviving. Realizing this, I. I. Ivanov made the first air ram in the history of the Great Patriotic War. |
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The legendary "Lavochkin" became a real workhorse of Soviet aviation: it was this aircraft that was most popular among Soviet aces - the most productive pilots of domestic aviation. Ivan Kozhedub, Nikolai Gulaev, Kirill Evstigneev fought on La-5 - the list goes on for a very long time! The famous Alexei Maresyev flew on this plane - a pilot who, due to a wound, lost both legs, but remained in the service. |
The textbook gives an idea of Russia's place in the world, of the main events in Russian and world history in the 20th and early 21st centuries. It will help schoolchildren learn to analyze the phenomena of the past, compare the features of the historical path of Russia and other countries, introduce them to new sources and opinions of scientists. The textbook is written in accordance with the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standard of Secondary (Complete) General Education.
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The Pe-2 dive bombers, which became the most massive bomber-class aircraft in the USSR, also contributed to the defeat of Nazi Germany. All-metal, nimble and maneuverable, these winged vehicles became a real disaster for the German ground forces - the accuracy of bombing strikes turned out to be extremely high, and thanks to the high speed of the Pe-2, Soviet aces-bombers evaded the attacks of German fighter aircraft. Zholudev, Anpilov, Dolina and many more pilots at the helm of their favorite "pawns" - so affectionately they called the Pe-2 - made a huge contribution to the victory of the Soviet army in the Great Patriotic War. |
 Photo from the site aviaru.rf |
Another legendary bomber of Soviet aviation, the Il-4, also proved itself well and even became famous during the bombing of Berlin in the summer and autumn of 1941. After the start of the war, in August, the aviation command of the Soviet Baltic Fleet developed a plan to bomb the German capital. After careful reconnaissance, the Air Force formed a special strike group of fifteen Il-4 aircraft. On the night of August 7-8, the link bombed Berlin. The Nazis were so dumbfounded that they could not react in time and shoot down the Soviet bombers with their air defense forces. All Soviet vehicles returned safely to the base. |
On the cover of the article - a frame from the film "Heavenly slug" (1945).
The textbook, prepared in accordance with the IKS, covers the period of national history from 1914 to the beginning of the 21st century. The content of the textbook is aimed at developing cognitive interests students. The methodology of the textbook is based on a system-activity approach, which contributes to the formation of skills to independently work with information and use it in practical activities.
Warplanes are birds of prey in the sky. For more than a hundred years they have been shining in warriors and at air shows. Agree, it is difficult to take your eyes off modern multi-purpose devices stuffed with electronics and composite materials. But there's something special about World War II planes. It was an era of great victories and great aces who fought in the air, looking into each other's eyes. Engineers and aircraft designers from different countries came up with many legendary aircraft. Today we present to your attention a list of the ten most famous, recognizable, popular and the best aircraft times of the Second World War according to the editorial board of the [email protected] .
Supermarine Spitfire (Supermarine Spitfire)
The list of the best aircraft of the Second World War opens with the British fighter Supermarine Spitfire. He has a classic look, but a little awkward. Wings - shovels, a heavy nose, a lantern in the form of a bubble. However, it was the Spitfire that saved the Royal Air Force by stopping German bombers during the Battle of Britain. German fighter pilots, with great displeasure, found that British aircraft were in no way inferior to them, and even superior in maneuverability.
The Spitfire was developed and put into service just in time - just before the outbreak of World War II. True, an incident came out with the first battle. Due to a radar failure, the Spitfires were sent into battle with a phantom enemy and fired on their own British fighters. But then, when the British tasted the advantages of the new aircraft, they did not use it as soon as they were used. And for interception, and for reconnaissance, and even as bombers. A total of 20,000 Spitfires were produced. For all the good things and, first of all, for saving the island during the Battle of Britain, this aircraft takes an honorable tenth place.
Heinkel He 111 is exactly the aircraft that the British fighters fought. This is the most recognizable German bomber. It cannot be confused with any other aircraft due to the characteristic shape of the wide wings. It was the wings that gave the Heinkel He 111 the nickname "flying shovel".
This bomber was created long before the war under the guise passenger aircraft. He showed himself very well back in the 30s, but by the beginning of World War II he began to become obsolete, both in speed and in maneuverability. For a while, he held out because of the ability to withstand heavy damage, but when the Allies conquered the sky, the Heinkel He 111 was “degraded” to an ordinary transport. This aircraft embodies the very definition of a Luftwaffe bomber, for which it receives the ninth place in our rating.
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, German aviation did what it wanted in the sky of the USSR. Only in 1942 did a Soviet fighter appear that could fight on an equal footing with the Messerschmitts and Focke-Wulfs. It was "La-5" developed in the design bureau Lavochkin. It was created in great haste. The plane is so simple that the cockpit does not even have the most basic instruments like the artificial horizon. But the La-5 pilots immediately liked it. In the very first test flights, 16 enemy aircraft were shot down on it.
"La-5" bore the brunt of the battles in the sky over Stalingrad and Kursk salient. Ace Ivan Kozhedub fought on it, it was on him that the famous Alexei Maresyev flew with prostheses. The only problem of "La-5" that prevented him from climbing higher in our rating is appearance. He is completely faceless and expressionless. When the Germans first saw this fighter, they immediately gave it the nickname "new rat". And that's all, because it strongly resembled the legendary I-16 aircraft, nicknamed the "rat".
North American P-51 Mustang (North American P-51 Mustang)
The Americans in World War II participated in many types of fighters, but the most famous among them was, of course, the P-51 Mustang. The history of its creation is unusual. The British already at the height of the war in 1940 ordered aircraft from the Americans. The order was fulfilled and in 1942 the first Mustangs among the British Royal Air Force entered into battle. And then it turned out that the planes are so good that they will be useful to the Americans themselves.
The most notable feature of the R-51 Mustang is its huge fuel tanks. This made them ideal fighters for bomber escort, which they did successfully in Europe and the Pacific. They were also used for reconnaissance and assault. They even bombed a little. Especially got from the "Mustangs" to the Japanese.
The most famous US bomber of those years is, of course, the Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress". The four-engine, heavy, machine-gunned Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber spawned many heroic and fanatical stories. On the one hand, the pilots loved him for his ease of control and survivability, on the other hand, the losses among these bombers were indecently high. In one of the sorties, out of 300 Flying Fortresses, 77 did not return. Why? Here we can mention the complete and defenselessness of the crew from fire in front and an increased risk of fire. However, the main problem was the persuasion of the American generals. At the beginning of the war, they thought that if there were a lot of bombers and they were flying high, then they could do without any escort. Luftwaffe fighters disproved this misconception. The lessons they gave were harsh. The Americans and the British had to learn very quickly, change tactics, strategy and aircraft design. Strategic bombers contributed to the victory, but the cost was high. A third of the "Flying Fortresses" did not return to the airfields.
In fifth place in our ranking of the best aircraft of World War II is the main hunter for German Yak-9 aircraft. If the La-5 was a workhorse that endured the brunt of the battles of the turning point of the war, then the Yak-9 is the aircraft of victory. It was created on the basis of previous models of Yak fighters, but instead of heavy wood, duralumin was used in the design. This made the aircraft lighter and left room for modifications. What they just didn’t do with the Yak-9. Front-line fighter, fighter-bomber, interceptor, escort, reconnaissance and even courier aircraft.
On the Yak-9, Soviet pilots fought on equal terms with the German aces, who were greatly frightened by its powerful guns. Suffice it to say that our pilots affectionately nicknamed the best modification of the Yak-9U the "Killer". The Yak-9 became a symbol of Soviet aviation and the most massive Soviet fighter during World War II. At factories, sometimes 20 aircraft were assembled per day, and in total, almost 15,000 of them were produced during the war.
Junkers Ju-87 (Junkers Ju 87)
Junkers Yu-87 "Stuka" - German dive bomber. Thanks to the ability to fall vertically on the target, the Junkers laid bombs with pinpoint precision. Supporting the fighter offensive, everything in the Stuka design is subordinated to one thing - to hit the target. Air brakes did not allow to accelerate during a dive, special mechanisms diverted the dropped bomb away from the propeller and automatically brought the aircraft out of the dive.
Junkers Yu-87 - the main aircraft of the Blitzkrieg. He shone at the very beginning of the war, when Germany was marching victoriously across Europe. True, it later turned out that the Junkers were very vulnerable to fighters, so their use gradually faded away. True, in Russia, thanks to the advantage of the Germans in the air, the Stukas still managed to make war. For their characteristic non-retractable landing gear, they were nicknamed "lappets". The German pilot ace Hans-Ulrich Rudel brought additional fame to the Stukas. But despite its worldwide fame, the Junkers Ju-87 was in fourth place in the list of the best aircraft of the Second World War.
In the honorable third place in the ranking of the best aircraft of World War II is the Japanese carrier-based fighter Mitsubishi A6M Zero. This is the most famous aircraft of the Pacific War. The history of this aircraft is very revealing. At the beginning of the war, he was almost the most advanced aircraft - light, maneuverable, high-tech, with an incredible range. For the Americans, Zero was an extremely unpleasant surprise, it was head and shoulders above everything they had at that time.
However, the Japanese worldview played a cruel joke with Zero, no one thought about its protection in air combat - gas tanks burned easily, the pilots were not covered by armor, and no one thought about parachutes. When hit, the Mitsubishi A6M Zero flared up like matches, and the Japanese pilots had no chance to escape. The Americans eventually learned how to deal with Zero, they flew in pairs and attacked from above, avoiding the fight on turns. They released the new Chance Vought F4U Corsair, Lockheed P-38 Lightning and Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters. The Americans admitted their mistakes and adapted, but the proud Japanese did not. Obsolete by the end of the war, Zero became a kamikaze aircraft, a symbol of senseless resistance.
The famous Messerschmitt Bf.109 is the main fighter of World War II. It was he who reigned supreme in the Soviet sky until 1942. The exceptionally successful design allowed the Messerschmitt to impose its tactics on other aircraft. He gained excellent speed in a dive. The favorite technique of the German pilots was the "falcon strike", in which the fighter swoops down on the enemy and, after a quick attack, again goes to the height.
This aircraft also had its shortcomings. He was prevented from conquering the skies of England by a low flight range. It was also not easy to escort the Messerschmitt bombers. At low altitude, he lost his advantage in speed. By the end of the war, the Messers were hard hit by both Soviet fighters from the east and Allied bombers from the west. But the Messerschmitt Bf.109, nevertheless, entered the legends as the best fighter of the Luftwaffe. In total, almost 34,000 pieces were made. This is the second largest aircraft in history.
So, meet the winner in our ranking of the most legendary aircraft of World War II. Attack aircraft "IL-2" aka "Humpback", aka "flying tank", the Germans most often called him "black death". The IL-2 is a special aircraft, it was immediately conceived as a well-protected attack aircraft, so it was many times more difficult to shoot it down than other aircraft. There was a case when an attack aircraft returned from a flight and more than 600 hits were counted on it. After a quick repair, the "Humpbacks" again went into battle. Even if the plane was shot down, it often remained intact, the armored belly allowed it to land in an open field without any problems.
"IL-2" went through the whole war. In total, 36,000 attack aircraft were manufactured. This made the "Hunchback" the record holder, the most massive combat aircraft of all time. For its outstanding qualities, the original design and a huge role in World War II, the famous Il-2 rightfully takes first place in the ranking of the best aircraft of those years.
It was one of the main branches of the military and played a very important role in the course of hostilities. It is no coincidence that each of the belligerents sought to ensure a constant increase in the combat capability of their aviation by increasing the production of aircraft and their continuous improvement and renewal. As never before, scientific and engineering potential was widely involved in the military sphere, many research institutes and laboratories, design bureaus and test centers were operating, through the efforts of which the latest military equipment was created. It was a time of unusually rapid progress in aircraft construction. At the same time, the era of the evolution of aircraft with piston engines, which had reigned supreme in aviation since its inception, seemed to be ending. Combat aircraft of the end of the Second World War were the most advanced examples of aviation equipment created on the basis of piston engines.
The essential difference between the peaceful and war periods of the development of combat aviation was that during the war the effectiveness of technology was determined directly by experience. If in peacetime military specialists and aircraft designers, when ordering and creating new types of aircraft, relied only on speculative ideas about the nature of a future war or were guided by the limited experience of local conflicts, then large-scale military operations dramatically changed the situation. The practice of air combat became not only a powerful catalyst in accelerating the progress of aviation, but also the only criterion for comparing the quality of aircraft and choosing the main directions for further development. Each side improved its aircraft based on its own experience of warfare, the availability of resources, the capabilities of technology and the aviation industry as a whole.
During the war years in England, the USSR, the USA, Germany and Japan, a large number of aircraft were created, which played a significant role in the course of the armed struggle. Among them are many outstanding examples. Of interest is the comparison of these machines, as well as the comparison of those engineering and scientific ideas that were used in their creation. Of course, among the numerous types of aircraft that took part in the war and represented different schools of aircraft construction, it is difficult to single out the indisputably best ones. Therefore, the choice of machines to some extent is conditional.
Fighters were the main means of gaining air supremacy in the fight against the enemy. The success of the combat operations of the ground forces and other branches of aviation, the security of rear facilities largely depended on the effectiveness of their actions. It is no coincidence that it was the class of fighters that developed most intensively. The best of them are traditionally called the Yak-3 and La-7 aircraft (USSR), the North American R-51 Mustang (Mustang, USA), the Supermarine Spitfire (Spitfire, England) and the Messerschmitt Bf 109 ( Germany). Among the many modifications of Western fighters, the R-51D, Spitfire XIV and Bf 109G-10 and K-4 were selected for comparison, that is, those aircraft that were mass-produced and entered service with the military air force at the end of the war. All of them were created in 1943 - early 1944. These machines reflected the richest combat experience already accumulated by that time by the warring countries. They became, as it were, symbols of the military aviation equipment of their time.
Before comparing different types of fighters, it is worth saying a little about the basic principles of comparison. The main thing here is to keep in mind the conditions of combat use under which they were created. The war in the East showed that in the presence of a front line where ground forces were the main force of the armed struggle, relatively low flight altitudes were required from aviation. The experience of air battles on the Soviet-German front shows that the vast majority of them were fought at altitudes up to 4.5 km, regardless of the altitude of the aircraft. Soviet designers, improving fighters and engines for them, could not ignore this circumstance. At the same time, the British Spitfires and the American Mustangs were distinguished by their higher altitude, since the nature of the actions for which they were counting was completely different. In addition, the P-51D had a much longer range needed to escort heavy bombers and was therefore significantly heavier than Spitfires, German Bf 109s and Soviet fighters. Thus, since the British, American and Soviet fighters were created for different combat conditions, the question of which of the machines as a whole was the most effective loses its meaning. It is advisable to compare only the main technical solutions and features of machines.
The situation is different with the German fighters. They were intended for combat in the air both on the East and on Western fronts. Therefore, they can reasonably be compared with all Allied fighters.
So what stood out the best fighters of the Second World War? What was their fundamental difference from each other? Let's start with the main thing - with the technical ideology laid down by the designers in the projects of these aircraft.
The most unusual in terms of the concept of creation were, perhaps, the Spitfire and Mustang.
“This is not just a good plane, this is a Spitfire!” - such an assessment by the English test pilot G. Powell undoubtedly applies to one of the last fighter variants of this family - the Spitfire XIV, the best fighter of the British Air Force during the war. It was on the Spitfire XIV that a German Me 262 jet fighter was shot down in an air battle.
Creating the Spitfire in the mid-1930s, the designers tried to combine seemingly incompatible things: the high speed inherent in the then high-speed monoplane fighters, with the excellent maneuverability, altitude and takeoff and landing characteristics inherent in biplanes. The goal was basically achieved. Like many other high-speed fighters, the Spitfire had a well-streamlined cantilever monoplane design. But this was only a superficial resemblance. For its weight, the Spitfire had a relatively large wing, which gave a small load per unit of bearing surface, much less than other monoplane fighters. Hence, excellent maneuverability in the horizontal plane, high ceiling and good takeoff and landing properties. This approach was not something exceptional: Japanese designers, for example, did the same. But the creators of Spitfire went further. Due to the high aerodynamic drag of such a large wing, it was impossible to count on achieving a high maximum flight speed - one of the most important indicators of the quality of fighters of those years. To reduce drag, they used profiles of a much thinner relative thickness than other fighters, and gave the wing an elliptical shape in plan. This further reduced aerodynamic drag when flying at high altitude and in maneuver modes.
The company managed to create an outstanding combat aircraft. This does not mean that the Spitfire was devoid of any shortcomings. They were. For example, due to the low load on the wing, it was inferior to many fighters in terms of accelerating properties in a dive. Slower than German, American, and even more so Soviet fighters, it reacted to the actions of the pilot in a roll. However, these shortcomings were not of a fundamental nature, and in general, the Spitfire was undoubtedly one of the strongest air combat fighters, which demonstrated excellent qualities in action.
Among the many variants of the Mustang fighter, the greatest success fell on aircraft equipped with English Merlin engines. These were the R-51B, C and, of course, the R-51D - the best and most famous American fighter of World War II. Since 1944, it was these aircraft that ensured the safety of heavy American B-17 and B-24 bombers from attacks by German fighters and demonstrated their superiority in battle.
The main distinguishing feature of the Mustang in terms of aerodynamics was a laminar wing, for the first time in the world practice of aircraft industry, installed on a combat aircraft. About this "highlight" of the aircraft, born in the laboratory of the American research center NASA on the eve of the war, it should be said especially. The fact is that the opinion of experts on the advisability of using a laminar wing on fighters of that period is ambiguous. If before the war high hopes were placed on laminar wings, since under certain conditions they had less aerodynamic resistance compared to conventional ones, then the experience with the Mustang reduced the initial optimism. It turned out that in real operation such a wing is not effective enough. The reason was that in order to implement a laminar flow on a part of such a wing, a very careful surface finish and high accuracy in maintaining the profile were required. Due to the roughness that occurs during application protective coloring on the aircraft, and even a small inaccuracy in the profiling, which inevitably appeared in serial production (small wave-like thin metal skin), the effect of laminarization on the R-51 wing was greatly reduced. In terms of their load-bearing properties, laminar airfoils were inferior to conventional airfoils, which caused difficulties in ensuring good maneuverability and takeoff and landing properties.
At low angles of attack, laminar wing profiles (sometimes called laminated wing profiles) have less aerodynamic drag than conventional type profiles.
In addition to reduced resistance, laminar profiles had better speed qualities - with an equal relative thickness, the effects of air compressibility (wave crisis) manifested themselves at higher speeds than on conventional type profiles. This already had to be reckoned with. In dives, especially at high altitudes, where the speed of sound is much lower than near the ground, aircraft began to reach speeds at which the features associated with approaching the speed of sound were already manifested. It was possible to increase the so-called critical speed either by using faster profiles, which turned out to be laminar, or by reducing the relative thickness of the profile, while putting up with the inevitable increase in the weight of the structure and reducing the volume of the wing, often used (including on the P-51D) for placement of gas tanks and. Interestingly, due to the much smaller relative thickness of the airfoils, the wave crisis on the wing of the Spitfire occurred at a higher speed than on the wing of the Mustang.
Research at the British Aviation Research Center RAE showed that due to the significantly smaller relative thickness of the wing profiles, the Spitfire fighter at high speeds had a lower drag coefficient than the Mustang. This was due to the later manifestation of the wave flow crisis and its more “soft” character.
If air battles were fought at relatively low altitudes, the crisis phenomena of air compressibility almost did not manifest themselves, so the need for a special high-speed wing was not acutely felt.
The way of creating the Soviet aircraft Yak-3 and La-7 turned out to be very unusual. In essence, they were deep modifications of the Yak-1 and LaGG-3 fighters, developed in 1940 and mass-produced.
In the Soviet Air Force at the final stage of the war there was no fighter more popular than the Yak-3. At that time it was the lightest fighter. The French pilots of the Normandie-Niemen regiment, who fought on the Yak-3, spoke of its combat capabilities in the following way: “The Yak-3 gives you complete superiority over the Germans. On the Yak-3, two can fight against four, and four against sixteen!
A radical revision of the Yak design was undertaken in 1943 in order to dramatically improve flight performance with a very modest power plant. The decisive direction in this work was the lightening of the aircraft (including by reducing the wing area) and a significant improvement in its aerodynamics. Perhaps this was the only opportunity to qualitatively promote the aircraft, since the Soviet industry had not yet mass-produced new, more powerful engines suitable for installation on the Yak-1.
Such an exceptionally difficult path for the development of aviation technology was extraordinary. The usual way to improve the aircraft flight data complex was then to improve aerodynamics without noticeable changes in the dimensions of the airframe, as well as to install more powerful engines. This was almost always accompanied by a marked increase in weight.
The designers of the Yak-3 coped brilliantly with this difficult task. It is unlikely that in the aviation of the period of the Second World War one can find another example of a similar and so effectively performed work.
The Yak-3 compared to the Yak-1 was much lighter, had a smaller relative profile thickness and wing area, and had excellent aerodynamic properties. The power-to-weight ratio of the aircraft has increased significantly, which has dramatically improved its rate of climb, acceleration characteristics and vertical maneuverability. At the same time, such an important parameter for horizontal maneuverability, takeoff and landing as the specific load on the wing has changed little. During the war, the Yak-3 turned out to be one of the easiest fighters to fly.
Of course, in tactical terms, the Yak-3 by no means replaced aircraft that were distinguished by stronger weapons and longer combat flight duration, but perfectly complemented them, embodying the idea of a light, high-speed and maneuverable air combat vehicle, designed primarily to fight fighters. enemy.
One of the few, if not the only air-cooled fighter, which can rightly be attributed to the best air combat fighters of the Second World War. On the La-7, the famous Soviet ace I.N. Kozhedub shot down 17 German aircraft (including the Me-262 jet fighter) out of 62 destroyed by him on La fighters.
The history of the creation of La-7 is also unusual. At the beginning of 1942, on the basis of the LaGG-3 fighter, which turned out to be a rather mediocre combat vehicle, the La-5 fighter was developed, which differed from its predecessor only in the power plant (the liquid-cooled motor was replaced with a much more powerful two-row “star”). In the course of further development of the La-5, the designers focused on its aerodynamic improvement. During the period 1942-1943. fighters of the La brand were the most frequent "guests" in full-scale wind tunnels of the leading Soviet aviation research center TsAGI. The main purpose of such tests was to identify the main sources of aerodynamic losses and to determine design measures that help reduce aerodynamic drag. An important feature of this work was that the proposed design changes did not require major alterations to the aircraft and changes in the production process and could be relatively easily carried out by serial factories. It was a truly "jewelry" work, when, it would seem, a rather impressive result was obtained from mere trifles.
The fruit of this work was the La-5FN, which appeared at the beginning of 1943, one of the strongest Soviet fighters of that time, and then the La-7, an aircraft that rightfully took its place among the best fighters of the Second World War. If during the transition from La-5 to La-5FN the increase in flight data was achieved not only due to better aerodynamics, but also due to a more powerful engine, then the improvement in the performance of La-7 was achieved solely by means of aerodynamics and a reduction in the weight of the structure. This aircraft had a speed of 80 km / h more than the La-5, of which 75% (that is, 60 km / h) was given by aerodynamics. Such an increase in speed is equivalent to an increase in engine power by more than a third, and without increasing the weight and dimensions of the aircraft.
The best features of an air combat fighter were embodied in the La-7: high speed, excellent maneuverability and rate of climb. In addition, compared with the rest of the fighters discussed here, it had greater survivability, since only this aircraft had an air-cooled engine. As you know, such motors are not only more viable than liquid-cooled engines, but also serve as a kind of protection for the pilot from fire from the front hemisphere, since they have large cross-sectional dimensions.
The German fighter Messerschmitt Bf 109 was created around the same time as the Spitfire. Like the English aircraft, the Bf 109 became one of the most successful examples of a combat vehicle during the war and went through a long evolutionary path: it was equipped with more and more powerful engines, improved aerodynamics, operational and flight characteristics. In terms of aerodynamics, the biggest changes last time were implemented in 1941, when the Bf 109F appeared. Further improvement of flight data was mainly due to the installation of new motors. Externally, the latest modifications of this fighter - Bf 109G-10 and K-4 differed little from the much earlier Bf 109F, although they had a number of aerodynamic improvements.
This aircraft was the best representative of the light and maneuverable combat vehicle of the Nazi Luftwaffe. Throughout almost the entire second world war, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters were among the best examples of aircraft in their class, and only towards the end of the war did they begin to lose their positions. It turned out to be impossible to combine the qualities inherent in the best Western fighters, designed for a relatively high combat altitude, with the qualities inherent in the best Soviet "medium-altitude" fighters.
Like their British counterparts, the designers of the Bf 109 tried to combine a high top speed with good maneuverability and takeoff and landing qualities. But they solved this problem in a completely different way: unlike the Spitfire, the Bf 109 had a large specific load on the wing, which made it possible to obtain high speed, and to improve maneuverability, not only well-known slats were used, but also flaps, which at the right time battles could be deflected by the pilot at a small angle. The use of controlled flaps was a new and original solution. To improve takeoff and landing characteristics, in addition to automatic slats and controlled flaps, hovering ailerons were used, which worked as additional sections of the flaps; a controlled stabilizer was also used. In a word, the Bf 109 had a unique system of direct lift control, largely characteristic of modern aircraft with their inherent automation. However, in practice, many of the designers' decisions did not take root. Due to the complexity, it was necessary to abandon the controlled stabilizer, hanging ailerons, and the flap release system in battle. As a result, in terms of its maneuverability, the Bf 109 did not differ much from other fighters, both Soviet and American, although it was inferior to the best domestic aircraft. Takeoff and landing characteristics were similar.
The experience of aircraft construction shows that the gradual improvement of a combat aircraft is almost always accompanied by an increase in its weight. This is due to the installation of more powerful, and therefore heavier engines, an increase in the supply of fuel, an increase in the power of weapons, the necessary structural reinforcements and other related measures. In the end, there comes a time when the reserves of this design are exhausted. One of the limitations is the specific load on the wing. This, of course, is not the only parameter, but one of the most important and common to all aircraft. So, as the Spitfire fighters were modified from version 1A to XIV and Bf 109 from B-2 to G-10 and K-4, their specific wing load increased by about a third! Already in the Bf 109G-2 (1942) it was 185 kg/m2, while the Spitfire IX, which was also released in 1942, had about 150 kg/m2. For the Bf 109G-2, this wing loading was close to the limit. With its further growth, the aerobatic, maneuvering and takeoff and landing characteristics of the aircraft deteriorated sharply, despite the very effective mechanization of the wing (slats and flaps).
Since 1942, German designers have been improving their best air combat fighter under very strict weight restrictions, which greatly narrowed the possibilities for qualitative improvement of the aircraft. And the creators of the Spitfire still had sufficient reserves and continued to increase the power of the installed engines and strengthen the weapons, not particularly considering the increase in weight.
The quality of their mass production has a great influence on the aerodynamic properties of aircraft. Careless manufacturing can negate all the efforts of designers and scientists. This doesn't happen very often. Judging by the captured documents, in Germany, conducting a comparative study of the aerodynamics of German, American and British fighters at the end of the war, they came to the conclusion that the Bf 109G had the worst quality of production, and, in particular, for this reason, its aerodynamics turned out to be the worst, which with a high probability can be extended to the Bf 109K-4.
From the foregoing, it can be seen that in terms of the technical concept of creation and the aerodynamic features of the layout, each of the compared aircraft is quite original. But they also have many common features: well-streamlined shapes, careful engine cowling, well-developed local aerodynamics and aerodynamics of cooling devices.
As for the design, Soviet fighters were much simpler and cheaper to manufacture than British, German and, especially, American aircraft. Scarce materials were used in them in very limited quantities. Thanks to this, the USSR managed to ensure a high rate of aircraft production in the face of the most severe material restrictions and a lack of skilled labor. I must say that our country is in the most difficult situation. From 1941 to 1944 inclusive, a significant part of the industrial zone, where many metallurgical enterprises were located, was occupied by the Nazis. Some factories managed to be evacuated inland and set up production in new places. But a significant part of the production potential was still irretrievably lost. In addition, a large number of skilled workers and specialists went to the front. At the machines they were replaced by women and children who could not work at the appropriate level. Nevertheless, the aircraft industry of the USSR, although not immediately, was able to meet the needs of the front in aircraft.
Unlike all-metal Western fighters, wood was widely used in Soviet aircraft. However, in many power elements, which actually determined the weight of the structure, metal was used. That is why, in terms of weight perfection, the Yak-3 and La-7 practically did not differ from foreign fighters.
In terms of technological sophistication, ease of access to individual units and ease of maintenance in general, the Bf 109 and Mustang looked somewhat preferable. However, Spitfires and Soviet fighters were also well adapted to the conditions of combat operation. But in terms of such very important characteristics as the quality of equipment and the level of automation, the Yak-3 and La-7 were inferior to Western fighters, the best of which were German aircraft (not only Bf 109, but others) in terms of automation.
The most important indicator of high flight performance of the aircraft and its overall combat capability is the power plant. It is in the aircraft engine industry that the latest achievements in technology, materials, control and automation systems are first of all embodied. Engine building is one of the most science-intensive branches of the aircraft industry. Compared to an aircraft, the process of creating and fine-tuning new engines takes much more time and requires a lot of effort.
During the Second World War, England occupied a leading position in aircraft engine building. It was the Rolls-Royce engines that equipped the Spitfires and the best versions of the Mustangs (P-51B, C and D). It can be said without exaggeration that just the installation of the English Merlin engine, which was produced in the USA under license by Packard, made it possible to realize the great capabilities of the Mustang and brought it into the category of elite fighters. Prior to this, the R-51, although original, was a rather mediocre aircraft in terms of combat capabilities.
The peculiarity of English engines, which largely determined their excellent performance, was the use of high-grade gasoline, the conditional octane number of which reached 100-150. This made it possible to apply a large degree of air pressure (more precisely, the working mixture) into the cylinders and thereby obtain high power. The USSR and Germany could not meet the needs of aviation in such high-quality and expensive fuel. Typically, gasoline with an octane rating of 87-100 was used.
A characteristic feature that united all the engines that were on the compared fighters was the use of two-speed drive centrifugal superchargers (PTsN), providing the required altitude. But the difference between Rolls-Royce engines was that their superchargers had not one, as usual, but two successive compression stages, and even with intermediate cooling of the working mixture in a special radiator. Despite the complexity of such systems, their use turned out to be fully justified for high-altitude motors, since it significantly reduced the power losses spent by the motor for pumping. This was a very important factor.
The original was the DB-605 motor injection system, driven through a turbo coupling, which, with automatic control, smoothly adjusted the gear ratio from the motor to the blower impeller. In contrast to the two-speed drive superchargers that were on Soviet and British engines, the turbo coupling made it possible to reduce the power drop that occurred between the injection speeds.
An important advantage of German engines (DB-605 and others) was the use of direct fuel injection into the cylinders. Compared to a conventional carburetor system, this increased the reliability and efficiency of the power plant. Of the other engines, only the Soviet ASh-82FN, which was on the La-7, had a similar direct injection system.
A significant factor in improving the flight performance of the Mustang and Spitfire was that their motors had relatively short-term modes of operation at high power. In combat, the pilots of these fighters could for some time use, in addition to long-term, that is, nominal, either combat (5-15 minutes), or in emergency cases, emergency (1-5 minutes) modes. The combat, or, as it was also called, the military regime became the main one for the operation of the engine in air combat. The engines of Soviet fighters did not have high power modes at altitude, which limited the possibility of further improving their flight characteristics.
Most variants of the Mustangs and Spitfires were designed for high combat altitude, which is typical for aviation operations in the West. Therefore, their motors had sufficient altitude. German motor builders were forced to solve a complex technical problem. With the relatively high design height of the engine required for air combat in the West, it was important to provide the necessary power at low and medium altitudes required for combat operations in the East. As is known, a simple increase in altitude usually leads to increasing power losses at low altitudes. Therefore, the designers showed a lot of ingenuity and applied a number of extraordinary technical solutions. In terms of its altitude, the DB-605 engine occupied, as it were, an intermediate position between English and Soviet engines. To increase power at altitudes below the calculated one, an injection of a water-alcohol mixture was used (MW-50 system), which made it possible, despite the relatively low octane number of fuel, to significantly increase boost, and, consequently, power without detonation. It turned out a kind of maximum mode, which, like the emergency one, could usually be used for up to three minutes.
At altitudes above the calculated one, nitrous oxide injection (GM-1 system) could be used, which, being a powerful oxidizing agent, seemed to compensate for the lack of oxygen in a rarefied atmosphere and made it possible for some time to increase the altitude of the motor and bring its characteristics closer to those of Rolls-motors. Royce. True, these systems increased the weight of the aircraft (by 60-120 kg), significantly complicated the power plant and its operation. For these reasons, they were used separately and were not used on all Bf 109G and K.
A fighter's armament has a significant impact on the combat capability of a fighter. In terms of the composition and location of weapons, the aircraft in question differed very much. If the Soviet Yak-3 and La-7 and the German Bf 109G and K had a central location of weapons (cannons and machine guns in the forward fuselage), then the Spitfires and Mustangs had them located in the wing outside the area swept by the propeller. In addition, the Mustang had only heavy machine gun armament, while other fighters also had guns, and the La-7 and Bf 109K-4 had only gun armament. In the Western theater of operations, the P-51D was intended primarily to fight enemy fighters. For this purpose, the power of his six machine guns was quite sufficient. Unlike the Mustang, the British Spitfires and the Soviet Yak-3s and La-7s fought against aircraft of any purpose, including bombers, which naturally required more powerful weapons.
Comparing the wing and central installation of weapons, it is difficult to answer which of these schemes was the most effective. But still, Soviet front-line pilots and aviation specialists, like the German ones, preferred the central one, which ensured the greatest accuracy of fire. Such an arrangement turns out to be more advantageous when an attack by an enemy aircraft is carried out from extremely short distances. Namely, this is how Soviet and German pilots usually tried to act on the Eastern Front. In the West, air battles were fought mainly at high altitude, where the maneuverability of fighters deteriorated significantly. It became much more difficult to approach the enemy at close range, and it was also very dangerous with bombers, since it was difficult for a fighter to evade the fire of air gunners due to sluggish maneuvers. For this reason, they opened fire from a long distance and the wing installation of weapons, designed for a given range of destruction, turned out to be quite comparable with the central one. In addition, the rate of fire of weapons with a wing scheme was higher than that of weapons synchronized for firing through a propeller (guns on the La-7, machine guns on the Yak-3 and Bf 109G), the armament turned out to be near the center of gravity and the consumption of ammunition had practically no effect on it. position. But one drawback was still organically inherent in the wing scheme - this is an increased moment of inertia relative to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft, which worsened the fighter's roll response to the pilot's actions.
Among the many criteria that determined the combat capability of an aircraft, the combination of its flight data was the most important for a fighter. Of course, they are not important on their own, but in combination with a number of other quantitative and qualitative indicators, such as, for example, stability, aerobatic properties, ease of operation, visibility, etc. For some classes of aircraft, training, for example, these indicators are of paramount importance. But for combat vehicles of the past war, flight characteristics and armament, which are the main technical components of the combat effectiveness of fighters and bombers, are decisive. Therefore, the designers sought, first of all, to achieve priority in flight data, or rather, in those that played a paramount role.
It is worth clarifying that the words “flight data” mean a whole range of important indicators, the main of which for fighters were maximum speed, rate of climb, range or time of a sortie, maneuverability, the ability to quickly pick up speed, sometimes a practical ceiling. Experience has shown that the technical excellence of fighters cannot be reduced to any one criterion, which would be expressed by a number, a formula, or even an algorithm designed for implementation on a computer. The question of comparing fighters, as well as the search for the optimal combination of basic flight characteristics, is still one of the most difficult. How, for example, to determine in advance what was more important - superiority in maneuverability and practical ceiling, or some advantage in maximum speed? As a rule, priority in one is obtained at the expense of the other. Where is the "golden mean" that gives the best fighting qualities? Obviously, much depends on the tactics and nature of air warfare as a whole.
It is known that the maximum speed and rate of climb significantly depend on the mode of operation of the motor. One thing is a long or nominal mode, and quite another is an emergency afterburner. This is clearly seen from a comparison of the maximum speeds of the best fighters of the final period of the war. The presence of high power modes significantly improves flight performance, but only for a short time, otherwise damage to the motor may occur. For this reason, a very short-term emergency operation of the engine, which gave the greatest power, was not considered at that time the main one for the operation of the power plant in air combat. It was intended for use only in the most urgent, deadly situations for the pilot. This position is well confirmed by the analysis of the flight data of one of the last German piston fighters - the Messerschmitt Bf 109K-4.
The main characteristics of the Bf 109K-4 are given in a rather extensive report prepared at the end of 1944 for the German Chancellor. The report covered the state and prospects of the German aircraft industry and was prepared with the participation of the German aviation research center DVL and leading aviation firms such as Messerschmitt, Arado, Junkers. In this document, which there is every reason to consider quite serious, when analyzing the capabilities of the Bf 109K-4, all its data correspond only to the continuous operation of the power plant, and the characteristics at maximum power are not considered or even mentioned. And this is not surprising. Due to thermal overloads of the engine, the pilot of this fighter, when climbing with maximum takeoff weight, could not even use the nominal mode for a long time and was forced to reduce speed and, accordingly, power after 5.2 minutes after takeoff. When taking off with less weight, the situation did not improve much. Therefore, it is simply not necessary to talk about any real increase in the rate of climb due to the use of an emergency mode, including the injection of a water-alcohol mixture (MW-50 system).
On the above graph of the vertical rate of climb (in fact, this is the rate of climb characteristic), it is clearly visible what increase the use of maximum power could give. However, such an increase is rather formal in nature, since it was impossible to climb in this mode. Only at certain moments of the flight could the pilot turn on the MW-50 system, i.e. extreme power boost, and even then, when the cooling systems had the necessary reserves for heat removal. Thus, although the MW-50 boost system was useful, it was not vital for the Bf 109K-4 and therefore it was not installed on all fighters of this type. Meanwhile, the Bf 109K-4 data is published in the press, corresponding precisely to the emergency regime using the MW-50, which is completely uncharacteristic of this aircraft.
The foregoing is well confirmed by the combat practice of the final stage of the war. Thus, the Western press often talks about the superiority of Mustangs and Spitfires over German fighters in the Western theater of operations. On the Eastern Front, where air battles took place at low and medium altitudes, the Yak-3 and La-7 were out of competition, which was repeatedly noted by the pilots of the Soviet Air Force. And here is the opinion of the German combat pilot V. Wolfrum:
The best fighters I have seen in combat have been the North American Mustang P-51 and the Russian Yak-9U. Both fighters had a clear performance advantage over the Me-109, regardless of modification, including the Me-109K-4
War creates a need never seen in peacetime. Countries compete to create the next most powerful weapon, and engineers sometimes resort to intricate methods for designing their killing machines. Nowhere else has this been shown more clearly than in the skies of World War II: daring aircraft designers have invented some of the strangest aircraft in human history.
At the start of World War II, the German Imperial Air Ministry stimulated the development of a tactical reconnaissance aircraft to provide information support for army operations. Two companies responded to the task. Focke-Wulf modeled a fairly standard twin-engine airplane, while Blohm & Voss miraculously came up with one of the most unusual aircraft at the time, the asymmetric BV 141.
Although at first glance it may seem that this model was dreamed of by engineers in delirium, it successfully served certain purposes. By removing the skin from the right side of the aircraft, the “BV 141” gained an incomparable field of view for the pilot and observers, especially to the right and front, as the pilots were no longer burdened by the huge engine and rotating propeller of the familiar single-engine aircraft.
The design was developed by Richard Vogt, who realized that the then aircraft already had, in fact, asymmetrical handling characteristics. With a heavy engine in the nose, the single-engine airplane experienced high torque, requiring constant attention and control. Vogt sought to compensate by introducing an ingenious asymmetric design, creating a stable reconnaissance platform that was easier to fly than most of her contemporary airliners.
Luftwaffe officer Ernst Udet praised the aircraft during a test flight at speeds up to 500 kilometers per hour. Unfortunately for Blohm & Voss, Allied bombing severely damaged one of Focke-Wulf's main factories, forcing the government to dedicate 80 percent of Blohm & Voss's production space to building Focke-Wulf aircraft. Since the already tiny staff of the company began to work for the benefit of the latter, work on the “BV 141” was stopped after the release of only 38 copies. All of them were destroyed during the war.
Another unusual Nazi project, "Horten Ho 229", was launched almost before the end of the war, after German scientists improved jet technology. By 1943, the Luftwaffe commanders realized that they had made a huge mistake by refusing to issue a long-range heavy bomber, like the American B-17 or the British Lancaster. To rectify the situation, the commander-in-chief of the German air force, Hermann Goering, put forward the demand "3x1000": to develop a bomber capable of transporting 1000 kilograms of bombs over a distance of 1000 kilometers at a speed of at least 1000 kilometers per hour.
Fulfilling the order, the Horten brothers set about designing a "flying wing" (a type of aircraft without a tail or fuselage, like later stealth bombers). In the 1930s, Walther and Raymar experimented with gliders of this type, which showed excellent handling characteristics. Using this experience, the brothers built a non-powered model to reinforce their bomber concept. The design impressed Göring, who handed over the project to the Gothaer Waggonfaebrik aircraft manufacturer for mass production. After some refinement, the Horten glider acquired a jet engine. It was also converted into a fighter aircraft for the needs of the Luftwaffe in 1945. They managed to create only one prototype, which, at the end of the war, was placed at the disposal of the allied forces.
At first, "Ho 229" was considered simply as an outlandish trophy. However, when the similarly designed B-2 stealth bomber entered service, aerospace experts became interested in the stealth performance of its German ancestor. In 2008, Northrop Grumman engineers recreated a copy of the Ho 229 based on a surviving prototype held by the Smithsonian. By emitting radar signals at frequencies used during World War II, experts discovered that the Nazi aircraft was in fact directly related to stealth technology: it had much less visibility in the radar range compared to its combat contemporaries. Quite by accident, the Horten brothers invented the first stealth fighter-bomber.
In the 1930s, Vought engineer Charles H. Zimmerman began experimenting with disc-shaped aircraft. The first flying model was the V-173, which took to the air in 1942. He had problems with the gearbox, but in general it was a durable, highly maneuverable aircraft. While his firm was churning out the famous "F4U Corsair", Zimmerman continued to work on the disk-shaped fighter that would eventually see the light of day as the "XF5U".
Military experts assumed that the new “fighter” would in many ways surpass other aircraft available at that time. Equipped with two huge Pratt & Whitney engines, the aircraft was expected to reach a high speed of about 885 kilometers per hour, decelerating to 32 kilometers per hour on landing. To give the airframe strength while keeping the weight as low as possible, the prototype was built from "metalite" - a material consisting of a thin sheet of balsa wood coated with aluminium. However, various problems with the engines gave Zimmerman a lot of trouble, and the Second World War completed before they could be eliminated.
Vought did not cancel the project, but by the time the fighter was ready for testing, the US Navy decided to focus on jet aircraft. The contract with the military expired, and Vought employees tried to dispose of the XF5U, but it turned out that the metalite structure was not so easy to destroy: the demolition ball that hit the airplane only bounced off the metal. Finally, after several new attempts, the body of the aircraft caved in, and blowtorches incinerated its remains.
Of all the aircraft presented in the article, the Boulton Paul Defiant has been in service longer than others. Unfortunately, this resulted in many deaths of young pilots. The airplane appeared as a result of the delusion of the 1930s regarding the further development of the situation on the air front. The British command believed that the enemy bombers would be unprotected and mostly without reinforcements. In theory, a fighter with a powerful turret could penetrate the attack formation and destroy it from the inside. Such an arrangement of weapons would free the pilot from the duties of a shooter, allowing him to concentrate on bringing the aircraft to the optimal firing position.
And the Defiant did an excellent job during its first sorties of operations, as many unsuspecting German fighter pilots mistook the aircraft for a similar-looking Hawker Hurricane, attacking it from above or from the rear - ideal points for a machine gunner Defiant. However, the Luftwaffe pilots quickly realized what was happening, and began to attack from below and in front. With no frontal weapons and low maneuverability due to the heavy turret, the Defiant aviators suffered huge losses during the Battle of Britain. The Air Force of Foggy Albion lost almost an entire fighter squadron, and the Defiant gunners were not able to leave the plane in emergency situations.
Although the pilots were able to come up with various temporary tactics, the Royal Air Force soon realized that the turret fighter was not designed for modern air combat. The Defiant was demoted to a night fighter, after which he gained some success sneaking up and destroying enemy bombers on night missions. The rugged hull of the British was also used as a target for practice shooting and in testing the first Martin-Baker ejection seats.
In the period between the First and Second World Wars in various states, there was growing concern about the issue of defense against strategic bombing during the next hostilities. Italian general Giulio Due believed that it was impossible to defend against massive air attacks, and British politician Stanley Baldwin coined the phrase "a bomber will always break through." In response, the major powers have invested huge amounts of money in the development of "bomber destroyers" - heavy fighters designed to intercept enemy formations in the sky. The English "Defiant" failed, while the German "BF-110" performed well in various roles. And finally, among them was the American "YFM-1 Airacuda".
This aircraft was Bell's first foray into the military aircraft industry and featured many unusual features. In order to give the Airacuda the highest chance of destroying the enemy, Bell equipped it with two 37mm M-4 guns, placing them in front of the sparse pusher engines and propellers located behind them. Each gun was assigned a separate shooter, whose main duty was to manually reload it. Initially, gunners also fired weapons directly. However, the results were a disaster, and the design of the aircraft was changed, putting the control levers of the guns in the hands of the pilot.
Military strategists believed that with additional machine guns in defensive positions - in the main fuselage to repel side attacks - the aircraft would be indestructible both when attacking enemy bombers and when escorting B-17s over enemy territories. All these structural elements gave the aircraft a rather voluminous appearance, making it look like a cute cartoon airplane. The Airacuda was a real death machine that looked like it was made to be hugged.
Despite optimistic forecasts, tests have revealed serious problems. The engines were prone to overheating and did not produce enough thrust. Therefore, in reality, Airacuda developed a lower maximum speed than the bombers it was supposed to intercept or protect. The original arrangement of the weapon only added to the complexity, since the gondolas in which it was placed were filled with smoke when fired, making it impossible for the machine gunners to work. On top of that, they couldn't get out of their cockpits in an emergency because the propellers were working right behind them, turning their attempt to escape into a meeting with death. As a result of these problems, the US Army Air Force only purchased 13 aircraft, none of which received a baptism of fire. The remaining gliders dispersed across the country to have the pilots add entries about the strange aircraft to their logbooks, and Bell continued to try (already more successfully) to develop a military aircraft.
Despite the arms race, military gliders were an important part of World War II aerial technology. They were lifted into the air in tow and detached near enemy territories, ensuring the rapid delivery of supplies and troops as part of airborne operations. Among all the gliders of that period, the "flying tank" "A-40" of Soviet production, of course, stood out for its design.
The countries participating in the war were looking for ways to quickly and efficiently transport tanks to the front. Transferring them with gliders seemed like a worthwhile idea, but engineers soon discovered that the tank was one of the most aerodynamically imperfect machines. After countless attempts to create a good system for delivering tanks by air, most states simply gave up. But not the USSR.
In fact, Soviet aviation had already achieved some success in landing tanks before they developed the A-40. Small vehicles like the T-27 were lifted aboard huge transport planes and dropped a few meters from the ground. With the gearbox in the neutral position, the tank landed and rolled by inertia to a stop. The problem was that the tank crew had to be delivered separately, which greatly reduced the combat effectiveness of the system.
Ideally, the tankers should have arrived in a tank and be ready for battle after a few minutes. To achieve these goals, Soviet planners turned to the ideas of American engineer John Walter Christie, who first developed the concept of a flying tank in the 1930s. Christie believed that, thanks to armored vehicles with fitted biplane wings, any war would be instantly over, since no one could defend against a flying tank.
Based on the work of John Christie, the Soviet Union crossed the T-60 with an aircraft and in 1942 made the first test flight with the brave pilot Sergei Anokhin at the helm. And although due to the aerodynamic drag of the tank, the glider had to be taken out of tow before reaching the planned height, Anokhin managed to land softly and even brought the tank back to base. Despite the enthusiastic report compiled by the pilot, the idea was rejected after the Soviet specialists realized that they did not have aircraft powerful enough to tow operational tanks (Anokhin flew with a lightweight machine - without most of the weapons and with a minimum supply of fuel). Unfortunately, the flying tank never left the ground again.
After Allied bombing began to undermine the German war effort, Luftwaffe commanders realized that their failure to develop heavy multi-engined bombers was a huge mistake. When the authorities finally established the corresponding orders, most of the German aircraft manufacturers seized on this opportunity. Among them were the Horten brothers (as noted above) and the Junkers, who already had experience in building bombers. Company engineer Hans Focke led the design of perhaps the most advanced German aircraft of World War II, the Ju-287.
In the 1930s, designers came to the conclusion that a straight-wing aircraft had a certain upper speed limit, but at that time it did not matter, since turboprop engines could not get close to these indicators anyway. However, with the development of jet technologies, everything has changed. German specialists used swept wings on early jet aircraft, such as the Me-262, which avoided the problems - air compression effects - inherent in a straight wing design. Focke took this one step further and proposed to release an aircraft with a reverse swept wing, which, he believed, would be able to defeat any air defense. The new type of wing had a number of advantages: increased maneuverability at high speeds and at high angles of attack, improved stalling characteristics and freed the fuselage from weapons and engines.
First, Focke's invention passed aerodynamic tests using a special stand; many parts of other aircraft, including captured allied bombers, were taken to make the model. The Ju-287 proved to be excellent during test flights, confirming compliance with all the declared operational characteristics. Unfortunately for Focke, interest in jet bombers quickly waned, and his project was shelved until March 1945. By then, desperate Luftwaffe commanders were looking for any fresh ideas to inflict damage on the Allied forces - production of the Ju-287 was launched in record time, but two months later the war ended, after the construction of only a few prototypes. It took another 40 years for the popularity of the reverse swept wing to begin to revive, thanks to American and Russian aerospace engineers.
George Cornelius is a famous American engineer, the developer of a number of extravagant gliders and aircraft. During the 1930s and 1940s, he worked on new types of aircraft designs, among other things, experimenting with a swept back wing (like the Ju-287). His gliders had excellent stalling characteristics and could be towed at high speeds without much braking effect on the towing aircraft. When World War II broke out, Cornelius was brought in to develop the XFG-1, one of the most specialized aircraft ever built. In essence, the "XFG-1" was a flying fuel tank.
George's plans were to produce both manned and unmanned versions of his glider, both of which could be towed by the latest bombers at their cruising speed of 400 kilometers per hour, twice the speed of most other gliders. The idea of using the unmanned "XFG-1" was revolutionary. The B-29s were expected to tow the glider, pumping fuel from its tank through connected hoses. With a tank capacity of 764 gallons, the XFG-1 would have acted as a flying gas station. After emptying the fuel storage, the B-29 would detach the airframe and it would dive to the ground and crash. This scheme would significantly increase the range of the bombers, allowing raids on Tokyo and other Japanese cities. The manned "XFG-1" would have been used in a similar way, but more rationally, since the glider could be landed, and not just destroyed at the end of the fuel intake. Although it is worth considering what kind of pilot would dare to take on such a task as flying a fuel tank over a dangerous war zone.
During testing, one of the prototypes crashed, and Cornelius's plan was left without further attention when the allied forces captured the islands near the Japanese archipelago. With the new airbase layout, the need to refuel the B-29s to reach their mission goals was eliminated, taking the XFG-1 out of the game. After the war, George continued to pitch his idea to the US Air Force, but by then their interest had shifted to specialized refueling aircraft. And “XFG-1” has simply become an inconspicuous footnote in the history of military aviation.
The idea of creating a flying aircraft carrier first appeared during the First World War and was tested in the interwar period. In those years, engineers dreamed of a huge airship carrying small fighters capable of leaving the mother ship to protect it from enemy interceptors. British and American experiments ended in complete failure, and the idea was eventually abandoned, as the loss of tactical value by large rigid airships became apparent.
But while American and British specialists were curtailing their projects, the Soviet Air Force was just getting ready to enter the development arena. In 1931, aviation engineer Vladimir Vakhmistrov proposed using Tupolev's heavy bombers to lift smaller fighters into the air. This made it possible to significantly increase the range and bomb load of the latter in comparison with their usual capabilities as dive bombers. Without bombs, aircraft could also defend their carriers from enemy attacks. Throughout the 1930s, Vakhmistrov experimented with different configurations, only stopping when he attached as many as five fighters to one bomber. By the time the Second World War began, the aircraft designer revised his ideas and came up with a more practical scheme of two I-16 fighter-bombers suspended from the parent TB-3.
The Soviet High Command was impressed enough with this concept to try to put it into practice. The first raid on the Romanian oil storage facilities was successful, with both fighters detaching from the aircraft carrier and striking before returning to the Soviet forward base. After such a successful start, another 30 raids were made, the most famous of which was the destruction of the bridge near Chernovodsk in August 1941. The Red Army tried for months to no avail to destroy it, until they finally activated two of Vakhmistrov's monsters. The carrier planes released their fighters, which began to bomb the previously inaccessible bridge. Despite all these victories, a few months later, the Link project was closed, and the I-16 and TB-3 were discontinued in favor of more modern models. Thus ended the career of one of the strangest - but successful - offspring of aviation in the history of mankind.
Most people are familiar with Japanese kamikaze missions using old aircraft loaded with explosives as anti-ship weapons. They even developed the MXY-7 special-purpose rocket glider. Less widely known is Germany's attempt to build a similar weapon by turning the V-1 "cruise bombs" into manned "cruise missiles".
With the end of the war nearing, the Nazi high command was desperately looking for a way to interfere with Allied shipping across the English Channel. The V-1 shells had potential, but the need for extreme accuracy (which was never their advantage) led to the creation of a manned version. The German engineers managed to install a small cockpit with simple controls in the fuselage of the existing V-1, right in front of the jet engine.
Unlike ground-launched V-1 rockets, the Fi-103R manned bombs were supposed to be lifted into the air and launched from He-111 bombers. After that, the pilot needed to make out the target-ship, direct his plane at it, and then take off his feet.
German pilots did not follow the example of their Japanese colleagues and did not lock themselves in the cockpits of aircraft, but tried to escape. However, with the engine roaring just behind the cabin, the escape would probably be fatal anyway. These ghostly chances for the survival of the pilots spoiled the impression of the Luftwaffe commanders from the program, so not a single operational mission was destined to take place. However, 175 V-1 bombs were converted into Fi-103Rs, most of which ended up in Allied hands at the end of the war.
