HycoSpeed, on February 10th, 2013
It seems safe to say that around these parts many of us enjoy and appreciate the unique features of the Convair B-58. One such interesting feature was the development of a survivable supersonic ejection seat. The early versions of the plane had standard ejection seats, but there were many questions as to whether an aircrew member would live through an ejection at supersonic speeds, especially at very high altitudes. Convair worked with the Stanley Aircraft Corporation to develop ejection pods that would jettison the crew in completely self contained pods.
 
A high speed sled was built for seat testing, as well as ground test launches, but how better to test the survival pods at the edges of their rated limits than to simply test them in flight? Of course, then the problem becomes, who do you put into the seat to ensure you get viable data? The answer–bears.
Continue reading Bears in the Air
Fodder, on January 25th, 2013
 Saunders Roe SR.53 [image credit - airliners.net]
The merging of jet engines and rocket engines reached a zenith with the British SR.53. It be the last interceptor designed with the point defense role in mind. It would also be the last native British fighter designed before the decision to move to surface to air missiles for defense.
Continue reading Point Defense – The Last Of The Point Defense Fighters
Fodder, on January 24th, 2013
 Republic XF-91
The Republic F-84 would see many modifications to its basic airframe. One would lead to the parasite aircraft we looked at before. Another would lead to a propeller plane best known for its ability to make ground crew sick. This time the F-84 would see several unusual modifications made in the name of point defense.
Continue reading Point Defense – Mixed Power Done Right
Fodder, on January 23rd, 2013
 Focke Wulf Triebfluegel
Desperation can lead to creativity. When you have nothing else to lose you will look into every option possible. This led to one of the more interesting designs in the wars waning days with that in mind we look at our next point defense aircraft.
Continue reading Point Defense – When All Else Fails Be Really Different
engineerd™, on January 22nd, 2013
 Necessity is the mother of awesome. A while back, skitter wrote quite a post on the Boeing B-47 Stratojet. A huge monster of a Cold War bomber. One of the more unusual things about the B-47 was the Air Force’s insistance on trying to improve its take-off performance with JATO. They also had systems on the B-47′s JATO that would inject water into the rocket exhaust to create a sort of “smokescreen” or, more technically, a steamscreen. Hit the jumps for a video of a B-47 taking off with JATO and steamscreen.
Continue reading Up In Smoke
Fodder, on January 22nd, 2013
 Mig I-270 [image credit aviastar.org]
The Russian’s had found that the rocket engine could provide great performance in aircraft at almost the same time as the Germans and Americans. Unlike the American’s who believed in the pilots safety and the German need for high tech. The Russian’s installed went down the path of brute force.
Continue reading Point Defense – Not Designed By Yakov Smirnoff
Fodder, on January 21st, 2013
 ME-163 Getting Jumped By A P-47 Thunderbolt
The job of defending the airfield has fallen to some of the most dangerous aircraft the world has ever seen. Today we start with the German answer to this need. Like its namesake it would arrive on the scene quickly, burn bright and disappear just as quickly.
Continue reading Point Defense – The Fast Burning Komet
HycoSpeed, on January 20th, 2013
 
You may remember the Beriev Be-200 from such Atomic Toasters posts as skitter‘s Meanwhile, in the Ukraine, where it made a brief appearance. This plane is a multipurpose amphibious aircraft and was designed by Beriev Aircraft and is assembled at the Irkutsk Aviation Plant of the Russian-based Irkut company. The first test aircraft flew in September of 1998, and the first production aircraft was delivered in 2003.
The Be-200 mission variants include fire-fighting, search and rescue, freighter, passenger aircraft and ambulance. The fire-fighting variant has a crew of two members, and is fitted with fire extinguishing fluid and water tanks. The aircraft can drop 270t of water on the fire area without refuelling. Water capacity is 12,000 kg (26,450 lb).
The search and rescue (SAR) variant can perform operations within an area of 200 miles for 6.5 hours. The aircraft is equipped with an inflatable rubber dinghy, thermal-imaging and optical search aids and first-aid kit. The SAR variant can be configured to carry 45 passengers.
The transport variant is fitted with floor-mounted cargo-handling equipment to transport loose cargoes, as well as cargoes loaded in standard containers and pallets. The aircraft has the capacity to carry 6.5t payload.
The passenger variant, designated as Be-210, can carry 72 passengers. It has the maximum range of 1,850km.
The BE-200 ambulance version can accommodate ten medical staff as well as 30 injured persons on stretchers. The aircraft feature emergency diagnostics and intensive care facilities. (naval-technology.com)
The firefighting system was developed specifically for this aircraft, and is capable of scooping water while skimming the water surface at 90-95% of takeoff speed. The engines are two D-346TP high-bypass ratio engines. These turbofan engines deliver a higher performance at hot-and-high conditions compared with turboprop engines installed on similar types of fire-fighting aircraft (according to Beriev’s promo material anyhow).
Now that we all know a little about this big flying boat, let’s get to the good stuff–video! And since the only thing better than video of one interesting post-Soviet Russian amphibious aircraft is video of two interesting post-Soviet Russian amphibious aircraft, check out the sweet two ship formation flying!
Continue reading Бериев Бе-200
Fodder, on January 11th, 2013
 Tip Tow Above The Tulips
The next stop on our little tour of how to build a long range escort is to take the lessons learned from the past and go to the next illogical step.
Continue reading FICON – Bringing The Fight With You
Fodder, on January 10th, 2013
 McDonnell XF-85 on the trapeze
Finding solutions to the need for a long range escort fighter led to some very unusual concepts. The McDonnell XF-85 Goblin may go down as one of the more abnormal ways to protect the bomber streams.
Continue reading McDonnell’s Little Goblin
|
|
