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Aviation History
1952
1952 - 0866.PDF
3&o FLIGHT INTERCEPTION, escort, and battle-area action against air and terrestrial targets are the primary duties devolving upon the fighters now in service, and to a surprising extent these nominally specialized functions are flexible, the soi-disant inter-cepter of one year frequently masquerading as the army-support fighter/bomber of the next. The truth of the matter is that most fighters now in use are "all-rounders" and as often as not their employment is dictated by their shortcomings rather than by their merits. It is not possible to picture the future and culmination of fighter development with any great degree of confidence or precision, so many and varied are the circumstances and require ments bearing upon it; but what can be foretold with tolerable certainty is that all fighters will henceforth be propelled by turbojets, rockets and/or ramjets. The turboprop and ducted fan hold greater promise as applied to attack, bomber and intruder aircraft, for in such machines long endurance—perhaps at ground level—is mandatory. So far is is known, there are no fighters in general service which use rocket or ramjet propulsion as a primary, or even secondary, source of power, and, apart from a seemingly insoluble residue of piston-engined Spitfires, Mustangs and early Yaks, to which the appellation "fighter" is allowed more from sentiment than from fitness, the vast majority of fighters today are propelled by one or two turbojets. On some the wings and tail surfaces are straight; on others, moderately swept. Some are single-seaters; others— designed for night and/or bad-weather operation—carry a crew of two. A few have radar; the rest are still dependent for success on the pilot's acumen, skill and fortitude, aided in some degree by direction from the ground. All carry multiple automatic guns as their primary armament. It is the more important of these machines (irrespective of whether they be land- or ship-based) which are listed in the table herewith and which will be considered—solely as fighting aircraft —before later prototypes and future possibilities are discussed. Of the machines listed, the Vampire, Venom, Meteor and F-94 and Thunderjet date in design from the war, though radical modifications have been introduced to augment per formance; thus, the Venom and the newest F-94 employ a wing of thinner section than formerly. But notwithstanding their dated design, these are the fighters, together with the somewhat later F-86 Sabre, which would have to bear the brunt of any large-scale air fighting during the next two or three years. Each is therefore deserving of evaluation, particularly in regard to performance, armament and equipment; and the only worth while yardstick is the Russian Mig-15. General Vandenberg, Chief of Staff, U.S.A.F., has judged that D.H. Vampire F.B.5 (Goblin 2). (Mow) Supermarme Swift (R.-R. Avon). Saunters-Roe S.R./A1—still the only flying-boat fighter extant. the Mig-15 and tne F-86 are "roughly in the same general area of technical develop ment," which appears to be a fair assess ment. Major Jabara, a Sabre pilot with six Migs to his credit, stoutly maintains that the Sabre is in every way superior, except that at heights above 35,000ft or so, the Mig is somewhat faster. The prototype of the Mig-15 is believed to have flown on July 2nd, 1947 (the first F-86 took the air on October 1st, 1947) and it was shortly afterwards destroyed in a crash. At the outset the landing speed was unconscionably high and control was lost at the lower end of the speed range; but a change in incidence seems to have alleviated the difficulty. Later, leading-edge slots and boundary-layer fences were affixed to the wings—reducing the landing speed to about no m.p.h.—and the struc ture was stiffened. Spring tabs were installed pending perfection of a power- operated control system. Both water/ methanol and afterburning were tried with the Nene-type turbojet, and a liquid-fuel rocket was fitted experimentally. As on certain American fighters, the rear portion of the fuselage was made detachable to allow access to the power plant. Initially
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