FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1946
1946 - 0053.PDF
JANUARY IOTH, I946 FLIGHT Unlike Twin* Novel American and Unconventional Qerman Designs : The Ryan FR~1 Fireball and the Blohm and Voss P-194 01 : Jet and Piston Engines Of similar ^ception, the " five - engined"Lancaster univer- sal test bed (illus-trated in Flight of December20th, 1945) is ALTHOUGH a combination of piston and jet engineshas been used to drive a single aircraft on several• occasions in the past, the arrangement of Cyclone and I-16 engines in the Ryan Fireball is unique. A more unconventional combination characterises the German de- sign, the Blohm and Voss P-194 OI- Earliest suggestions. for the combined use of two dis- similar power units came from Campini, of the Italian »Caproni Company, although in this case the small radial virtually a Lan- piston engine, driving an air compressor, was an essential caster with four component of the combination jet power unit. A later project using this principle, the Caproni-Campirri C.C.2, flew in 1940. More recently a modified '' three-engined '' Wellington will be remembered. In this example a normal Wellington with two conventional Bristol radials was relieved of its rear turret, in place of which a W.2B jet engine was in- stalled for flight tests. All three engines were, of course, self-contained units. RYAN FIREBALL General Electric I 16 gas turbine. 1,350 h.p. Wri|ht Cycloneengine. Rolls-Royce Mer-lin engines but with an Arm-strong Siddeley ASX jet enginein the modified bomb bay. Another possible • combination of jet and airscrew pro-pulsion is exemplified by the Rolls-Royce Trent and Bristol Theseus engines, in which the major partof the available power is absorbed by a large- capacity gas turbine which then drives a tractorairscrew in addition to the air compressor. The surplus heat energy from the turbine produces athermal jet at the rear to augment the airscrew thrust. This particular type of combination powerunit is in a comparatively early stage, but will undoubtedly enjoy a very important future. The arrangement of the two separate enginesof the Ryan Fireball is creditably clean, as will be seen from the illustrations. The 1,350 h.p.Cyclone 1820-72 is closely cowled and smoothly merged with th« fuselage, whilst the General Elec-tric I-16 engine is totally enclosed in the tail and its presence is undetectable but for the jet dis-charge nozzle. U.S. Naval Requirements The U.S. Navy and the Ryan Company com-bined to produce in the F.R-i a carrier-based fighter with first-class performance and combatcharacteristics together with economical cruising for duration and range. Stability and good visionfor landing and simple handling on the deck were further requirements. The Fireball can fly and land on either enginesingly and, of course, gives its best performance using both in unison. The speed curve using bothengines does not vary much from sea level to 25,000ft., so there would be no need to selectfavourable heights at which to tackle an enemy. For cruising at all normal altitudes, the nine-cylinder Cyclone engine would be used alone. This particular mark of engine was chosen foreconomy and reliability and its compactness and close cowling, together with the distribution ofengine weights, allows the pilot to be placed for- ward of the leading edge. In this way better forward visibility is obtainedthan if the entire power output was taken in the more normalAmerican manner from a single large radial engine. Flying on the front enginealone, the maximum speed of the Fireball is said to be ashigh as 320 m.p.h. and at a speed of 207 m.p.h. the FEATHEREDCLIMB: The Fireball turns toreveal the loca- tion of the four0.5 in. calibre guns and theBrit ish - type rockets.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
