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Aviation History
1949
1949 - 0846.PDF
MAY I2TH, 1949 FLIGHT 551 tubby Satan Studies Further j\otes from the Grand Palais on French ' - Aircraft Power Units 'HE preliminary survey of the 18th Paris Aeronautical Salon appearing in the pre- ceding issue can now be supplemented by a more intimate study of selected exhibits. Among the French machines, the jet- propelled military and research aircraft and avions legers have come in for the closest scrutiny by British visitors. Two new fighters —the Marcel Dassault M.D. 450 Ouragan and Sud-Ouest S.O. 6020 Espadon—are positioned (whether by design or accident was not ad- mitted) adjacent to each other on opposite sides of a gangway, and are generally referred to as the one" and "long, pointed one" respectively. With other military and research types these are discussed below. Marcel Dassault M.D. 450 Ouragan Fighter.—Conversa- tion with M. Dassault and Colonel Rozanoff supplemented the somewhat. sketchy information hitherto available on this intercepter. The first prototype, flown by the Colonel, has attained 595 m.p.h. in level flight and has climbed to 26,250ft in five minutes. Initial rate of climb is quoted as 7,8ooft/min. Ten hours' flying have sufficed for pre- liminary trials and the machine will now be delivered to Bretigny—the French Farnborough—for official tests. With tip tanks and full wing-tankage, the range should be more than 1,100 miles, sufficient for a Mediterranean crossing and return. Four 20 mm guns (French or British are interchangeable) with 120 r.p.g. fire through ports low in the nose. Pending the perfection of a French ejector seat, a Martin Baker is installed. In its present form, the Ouragan can use full thrust only on the climb. ; ThAjuier' wings, raked at 30 deg, are foreseen. -'-. Colonel Rozanofi reports good handling qualities and has' had no trouble from the narrow-track undercarriage.,. '•• ••••••-•• Tested at Farnkorougfh " °J Sud-O-uest S.O. 6020 Espadon Fighter.—Design studies ior the Espadon were started by M. Servanty in 1945, and M. Rastel, chief pilot of Sud-Ouest, made the first flight on November 12th last year. Twenty flights, total- ling 12 hours, have been completed. A wind-tunnel model, displayed with the second prototype, was tested at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Earn borough. The unusually large fuselage and cockpit of the .Espadon have led many Salon visitors to believe that the type is a two-seater; it is, in fact, inonoplace, but the fuselage is capacious enough to house a very heavy armament of feix 20 mm guns, the unusually large main wheels, and 473 gall of fuel. No external tanks will be carried but a recon- naissance version can have two supplementary fuselage tanks of 175 gallons each. The belt boxes for the guns are approximately over the e.g. and are mounted fore-and- aft, so that the belts must be twisted for feeding to the guns. Above and below each gun-port, in the nose of the fuselage, is a small slot through which the muzzle blast can escape to provide a muzzle-brake effect. An unusually high cockpit enclosure results from a French Air Ministry decision to fit an ejector-seat parachute, causing the roof to be raised si i inches. The ventral location of the intake for the single Nene may permit ingress of unduly large The Fokker display, with the S.I I and S. 12 trainers, lies in the fore- front of the general view above. Three Vickers models—the Varsity, Seagull and 510—are grouped below. On the 510, the large-area ailerons and leading-edge slats will be noted.
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