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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 2235.PDF
SEPTEMBER 25TH, 1941. FLIGHT 193 FIGHTER PHILOSOPHY Russian and American Opinions on Design of Fighters OME Russian ideas on fighterdesign are expressed in M. Stroyeu's article, of which thejollowing is an abstract:— The science of tactics depends onthe quality of men and machines. Technical development is never static,and at any moment has possibilities of progress. It is the business oftactical science to examine these possibilities and incorporate theirfulfilment in the design of new weapons, in the present case, fighteraircraft. The first essential for formulatingthe tactical requirements of fighters is an exact and concise definition of theduties to be performed. The current definition of theseduties is: the destruction of the enemy's air forces, in the air or onthe ground. This, however, is insuffi- ciently precise, and compliance withthe requirement may lead in the direction of the '' all-purpose'' ma-chine which is such a common and undesirable feature of peacetimedesign development. Actually, the two requirements of aerial combatand ground attack are contradictory in their demands on armament andperformance, and their combination results in a compromise type inade-quate for either purpose. Aerial combat should remain theparamount duty of the fighter air- craft. THE FIGHTER COMMAND of the Royal Air Force has been conspicuously success- ful in accomplishing the tasks which have fallen to its lot in the first two years of the war. The quality of the men, machines and organisation which compose it has been shown to bs of a high order; higher, we think, than that of any other fighter force in the world. But nothing stands still and, in addition to trying out our new ideas, it is always instructive to discover what other people are thinking. We pub- lish in this article Russian and American opinions on fighter design, the former having been written by M. P. Stroyeu and published in the Russian journal "Aero- nautical Engineering." The translation is published by courtesy of R.T.P. of the Ministry of Aircraft Production. The second part of our article is written by Lawrence D. Bell and was originally published in "Aviation." Mr. Bell is president and general manager of the Bell Aircraft Corporation, designers and manufacturers of that revolutionary single-seater fighter, the Bell Airacobra. and in the case of France, un-doubtedly treachery and defeatism played a part. When faced by aresolute adversary, willing to fight aggressively, the Germans adoptedjust the method of aerial combat which is now recommended, as is shown bythe Battle of Britain. Having failed to shake the morale of the R.A.F. inaerial combat, despite the great dis- LAST OF THE BIPLANES : The Gloster Gladiator has achieved a reputation farand wide for its manoeuvrability. Destruction of enemy aircraft onthe ground can be performed equally well, or better, by bombers or"attack bombers." Furthermore, aerial combat still remains the mostpowerful and effective means of securing mastery in the air. Apparently contradictory, success-ful German practice in the present war does not, however, refute this con-tention. The Poles were unready, HAWKER HURRICANE : A wonder-ful example of a manoeuvrable mono- plane capable of using second-rateaerodromes. parity in numbers, the Germans wereobliged, if only temporarily, to aban- don plans of further aggression, andrevert to orthodox methods of night and day bombing. It aerial combat is to be the pre-dominant role of fighter aircraft, all features of design should be directedto this end, leaving such things as bomb loads and reconnaissance equip-ment in a subordinate position. This leaves the following fighter types tobe considered: — A. Ordinary single-seater fighters: (a) Manoeuvrable: 1. Biplanes and sesquiplanes;2. Monoplanes; (b) High speed:3. Monoplanes of usual type (trac- tor airscrew, engine in front). B. New types of single-seater fighters: 4. Tractor airscrew, engine be-hind ; 5. Pusher airscrew single-seaters; 6. Tandem twin-engined single-seaters ; 7. Ditto with separated engines.C. Two- and three-seaters: 8. Single-engined two-seaters; 9. Twin-engined dual-purpose air-craft ; 10. Twin-engined exclusively fighteraircraft. D. Multi-seaters: 11. Multi-purpose aircraft; and ajgo12. Night fighters; 13. High-altitude fighters.Dealing with the differentiation be- • tween '' manoeuvrable '' and '' high-speed " fighters, it must be said that there is absolutely no reason to givepreference to one or the other. Manoeuvrability, leaving aside for themoment considerations of relative control surfaces and aerodynamicqualities, is principally a-function of the wing-loading in relation to stabilityat low speeds, the manoeuvrability of an aircraft in the horizontal planebeing' limited by the physiological effects on the pilot. The mostmanoeuvrable aircraft will therefore be that with the lowest wing loading andthe lowest flying speed. The tendency to increase wing
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