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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0066.PDF
34 FLIGHT JANUARY IITH, 1945 Asymmetrj^Again Suggested Fighter for a Qlobca^Aar Force By ROGER TENNANT SOME years ago a Royal Air Force officer suggested that asymmetricjTaircrafdfnight have advantages. Shortly afterwards we published a German design based on a pateHkspecificatia^Tandq^lm.le later the actual machine made its appearance in the war. Mr. T. P. Weight sent us a cop* of a paumt tajptfout before the German by the Wright Corporation, which seemed to establish hh.claim to having xentj^^rtfio appreciate the possibilities of a lopsided layout. To the best of our knowledge lln nun li|i!i.,..mi> *iW0fi\ limllj built The present author advocates this arrangement for a long-range fighter, and gives his reasons for believing it to be the best for this particular purpose THE development of the Superfortress has created anew conception of air strategy—the "global airforce," designed to make air-power independent of outposts on land. This is a strategy developed, in the first case, solely to meet the exceptional conditions of the war against Japan, for which extreme bomber ranges are necessary. But even when the menace of Japan is removed, it is a conception particularly attractive to the United States, for the development of such a " global air force " on a large scale would give America the chance to police the world, if necessary, with- out being dependent on overseas possessions gvallies.- Nor can Eng- land afford to neglect the building of such a force. The cost?—Well, we must accept that as the necessary insurance premium for our own security and that of our Empire. The value of bombers with effec- tive ranges of 4,000 miles or more will depend to a large extent on the. ability to produce fighters capable of escorting them. Constant changes in the relative armament and tactics of bombers and fighters make it im possible to say that any type of bomber will always be capable of fending for itself, even though it may at the outset show that it can. Construction of a fighter with an effective range of, say, 4,000 miles Length - - - 37ft. Span 75ft. Wing area - 500 sq. ft. Aspect ratio - - - 11 Take-off power 5,000 h. p. Max. speed 450 m.p.h. at 20,000ft. which, after flying half that distance, ca/J fight on some- thing like equal terms with the short-range fighters of the enemy, is no simple task. The notes which follow suggest, roughly, the form that such a fighter might take, and the opinions that have led the author to this conclusion. The possibilities of jet propulsion have not been considered in this instance, because it seems very unlikely that a sufficiently economical jet engine will be available in the immediate future. Assuming that a range of more than 4,000 miles is to be provided, we can start with the following basic assumptions: — (1) Two engines will be needed to give fighter speed to such a neces-v sarily large aircraft. (2) Eflrf maximum economy it must be possible to cruise on one engine only. (3) To keep the size and weight to a minimum, the fuel for the outward journey should be carried in a con- tainer that can be jettisoned when empty. (4) For cruising economy a high- aspect-ratio wing is essential. (5) Navigation problems and long endurance make a crew of two essen • tial and three desirable. (6) For fighting manoeuvrability, weights must be concentrated as near the e.g. as possible. J*-
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