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Aviation History
1947
1947 - 0562.PDF
334 FLIGHT APRIL 17TH, 1947 FLYINC-WINC DEVELOPMENT nated N-gM. Like the modified N-iM, they had straight wing-tips, but, had sweep-back on their trailing edges as well as the leading edges. Fixed wing-tip slots were also fitted experi- mentally to the N-yM, and it was found that these considerably improved the machine's slow-flying characteristics. An interesting feature of this aircraft was that the propellers were driven through a hydraulic coupling. As a result, when the engines were started up the pusher propellers did not begin to turn imme- diately. Instead, they gradually picked up speed as the hydraulic' gear filled with oil, which gave a very strange effect. The N-iM and N-QM were both very interest- ing experimental types, but were not serious fighters. On the other hand, the XP-56 of 1943 was a fast and aggressive little interceptor with a high-powered engine. It was not a true all-wing aircraft, as its cockpit and engine were housed in a small nacelle, but it incorporated a number of very interesting features. For instance, it was built entirely of magnesium, welded throughout by the patented North- rop " Heliarc " process. Its air-cooled engine was com- pletely buried in the fuselage, and it was the first pusher aircraft to have a contra-rotating propeller. The wing-tips were swept-down like those of the original N-iM and, in addition, fixed vertical fins were fitted above and below the nacelle. While the XP-56 was being developed an even more Perhaps the most unusual fighter prototype of the war years was theNorthrop XP-56 with its contra-rotating propeller and no horizontal- tail surfaces. A four-wheel undercarriage, prone pilot and twin Westinghouse turbinejets characterized the XP-79 fighter. interesting aircraft was taking shape in the company's experimental shop. Veiled in secrecy, this " Project 12," or MX-324, was America's first military rocket aircraft. It had a span of less than 30 ft and a fixed '' trousered '' undercarriage, and was built chiefly to test the practic- ability of rocket-power lor aircraft "and a prone position for the pilot. The MX-324 was conceived as a rocket aircraft in September, 1942. An A.A.F. contract for its construction was issued early in 1943, and the first ex- tended flight as a glider was made by John Myers, now Northrop's vice president in charge of sales, on October 2nd, 1943. By then the Aerojet Engineering Corporation of Azusa, California, had made considerable progress with their XCAL-200 rocket motor, and it was decided to use this in the MX-324. The engine weighed 427 lb, and was housed neatly inside the squat wing, complete with four pressure tanks, two propellent tanks, and the hydraulic and electric controls. The only outward and visible signs of the metamorphosis from a glider to a powered aircraft was the rocket tail-pipe which projected beyond the trailing edge. The fuel used was monoethylaniline, and the oxidizer was red fuming nitric acid. Rocket-powered Flight The completed aircraft was taken to Harper Dry Lake, in California, in the early summer of 1944. Ground runs of the rocket motor began on June 20 : two days later it was run at full power, and on the 23rd Northrop's test pilot, Ham- Crosby, made the first taxying trials. The pilot lay prone in the rocket-powered MX-324. Note the offset nose wheel. Like the main wheels this retractable. ' was non-
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