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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0715.PDF
715FLl 8Ju Douglas F4D-1 Sky ray. MILITARY AIRCRAFT 19S6 Fighters SINGLE-SEAT, SHIP.BASED GREAT BRITAIN Folland Sea Gnat It was announced in April this year that the RoyalCanadian and United States Navies had expressed interest in a carrier- borne version of the Gnat, known as the Sea Gnat. In naval servicethis tiny fighter would have the advantage that fourteen could be stored in the space occupied by five "standard" naval fighters. Endur-ance with internal fuel only is an hour, or with auxiliary tanks, two hours. Hawker Sea Hawk. This Nene-powered fighter/bomber continues inservice with the Fleet Air Arm in its Mks. FB.3 and FGA.4 forms. Built-in armament is four 20 mm British-Hispano guns.Vickers-Supermarine N.113 This massive single-seater will suc- ceed the Sea Hawk as the standard fighter/bomber of the Fleet AirArm and production is already well advanced. In essentials the machine resembles its forerunner, the Type 525, but has a longer, pointed, noseand—apparently—intakes of increased area. The latter suggest that the two laterally disposed Rolls-Royce Avon turbojets are of higherthrust than formerly. There is no evidence of afterburning. Design features include a saw-tooth leading edge and an all-moving tail. Ofparticular interest is the "super-circulation" system whereby air ducted from the Avon compressors is blown over the upper -surfaces of theflaps to increase lift by local acceleration of the air-flow. It was disclosed in March this year that, although the first serviceversion of the N.113 was originally intended to be armed with guided weapons as well as with guns, it had not proved possible to accommo-date both types of armament without rendering the aircraft too heavy for carrier operation. In consequence, the first mark will be armedwith four 30 mm Aden guns. Investigations into the possibility of arming a later version with guided weapons as an alternative to theguns are proceeding. U.S.A. Convair XFY-1 Pogo Although development of the LockheedXFV-1 Salmon vertical take-off turboprop fighter has been abandoned, the generally similar Convair machine, designated XFY-1, is still thesubject of U.S. Navy experiments. For this reason the present section is headed "ship-based" rather than "carrier-borne," for such machinesas the Pogo (as the XFY-1 is named) could operate from the decks of comparatively small ships. Nevertheless, it appears improbable thatturboprop fighters of this type will ever see service, for the turbojet now bids fair to dominate the entire v.t.o. fighter field. The XFY-1 has an Allison YT40-A-14 turboprop driving a 16ftCurtiss-Wright contra-rotating airscrew. In consideration of the take- off and landing attitude the pilot's seat is gimbal-mounted.Douglas F4D-2N Skyray Although the F4D-1 day fighter version of the Skyray was built in small numbers, quantity production is at present concentrated on the F4D-2N, equipped with all-weather radarand fire control. The design principles of the Skyray (delta wing of low aspect ratio;rounded wing-tips and swept-back trailing edge; no horizontal tail surfaces) are already well known. Mounted on the trailing edge areelevon and trimmer surfaces, and air brakes—four in number—are paired on upper and lower surfaces. The outer wing sections of the33ft 6in wing fold upward for stowage. It would appear that the advanced design of the Skyray has broughtwith it peculiar problems, and carrier qualification trials undertaken last autumn are reported to have been unsuccessful. Lately, however,trials have been satisfactorily concluded. Built-in armament is four 20 mm guns, and for this the Aero 13Fintercepter fire-control system is being introduced. Further develop- ment will integrate an automatic flight control system into the firecontrol unit so that automatic tracking and firing will be possible, Supplementary under-wing armament can be six packages each con-taining seven 2Jin air-to-air rocket projectiles or four packages each with 19 projectiles. Alternatively, the wing strong-points can be occu-pied by two 150 U.S. gallon or two 300 U.S. gallon fuel tanks. The fully powered controls have two independent hydraulic systems Convair XFY-1 Pogo. Grumman F9F-8 Cougar.
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