WesWorld

August 29,. 1939 - Marienehe

First flight of the turbojet engine-propelled He-178, with Erich Warsitz at the controls.

Rather a low-key news post for what is a major world first.

And so a new era is dawning...

Well, it's not taking place with lots of fanfare: Ernst Heinkel wants to see it work before he announces it to the RLM and the world. Especially given the bird strike that will keep the plane in the shop until November, when it will be demonstrated to a wider audience.

In 1940, ENAER would like to have the two von Ahrens and Eduardo Wolff, on their educational tour in Europe, drop in to talk shop with Mr. Heinkel and his designers to chat about their work.

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Originally posted by Brockpaine
In 1940, ENAER would like to have the two von Ahrens and Eduardo Wolff, on their educational tour in Europe, drop in to talk shop with Mr. Heinkel and his designers to chat about their work.

In that case, they might be in time to see the V2, with the longer straight wings, and to talk with Heinkel and von Ohain.

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Originally posted by Hrolf Hakonson

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Originally posted by Brockpaine
In 1940, ENAER would like to have the two von Ahrens and Eduardo Wolff, on their educational tour in Europe, drop in to talk shop with Mr. Heinkel and his designers to chat about their work.

In that case, they might be in time to see the V2, with the longer straight wings, and to talk with Heinkel and von Ohain.

When'll that be? Both Fernando Pernet-Sharpe (Austral's engine-designer) and Eduardo Wolff (ENAER's junior designer) will be quite interested in seeing the work and talking with the various designers involved, and would like to schedule their trips appropriately. (Pernet-Sharpe's got less than a month free, unfortunately, as he's spending mos of his time with Jendrassik to discuss turboprops).

May 1940 would probably be good, before Heinkel, von Ohain, & company get too busy with the He-280 project (no, I'm not going to be pushing that design out the door early in WW, the HeS-8 just isn't going to end up working well enough to use and the HeS-30 won't be ready until after the Jumo-004 is).

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Well, it's not taking place with lots of fanfare: Ernst Heinkel wants to see it work before he announces it to the RLM and the world. Especially given the bird strike that will keep the plane in the shop until November, when it will be demonstrated to a wider audience.

It doesn't help that the He 178 is also a bit crap. It just about flies, at fairly low speeds, and for very short periods of time. It's hardly an advertisement to spend loads of money on jet aircraft. The limited power of Heinkel's engines rather limits aircraft performance.

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Pernet-Sharpe's got less than a month free, unfortunately, as he's spending mos of his time with Jendrassik to discuss turboprops).

Supposedly Jendrassik is (was?) in Persia for some reason.

The key to making early jet engines work was in trying not to be too complicated and achieve too much. Also needs time and basic research into a few areas (combustion most important) to get something reliable.

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Originally posted by Red Admiral

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Pernet-Sharpe's got less than a month free, unfortunately, as he's spending mos of his time with Jendrassik to discuss turboprops).

Supposedly Jendrassik is (was?) in Persia for some reason.

A British/Canadian operation gave him a ticket out of Tehran when the region exploded a while back.

September 6, 1939 - Grafenwohr

The two competitors for the 7.5cm anti-tank gun competition, plus a surprise competitor that's not of 7.5cm bore, began testing today. The Krupp entry in the 7.5cm competition is a straightforward 7.5cm gun, very comparable to the 7.5cm L/48 tank gun being installed into the latest Panzer IVs. It is a L/46 gun, using a different cartridge case, but it's performance is very comparable. The Rheinmetall entry is very different, being based on it's rejected proposal for the 7.5cm tank gun, a 7.5cm/5.5cm L/58 squeeze bore Both are mounted in low, twin-trail carriages, though the Rheinmetall entry is rather unusual in that the shield is an integral, structural part of the carriage's design rather than being a bolted-on afterthought, as is usual.

The third gun, an 8.8cm from Krupp, is a derivation of the work both Krupp and Rheinmetall have been doing to increase the rate of fire and the altitude performance of the current 8.8cm guns. It uses the long, 71 caliber, tube of the Krupp AA gun design, installed into a new low, limited elevation cruciform carriage.

[Ie, the PaK 40, the PaK 41, and the PaK 43 have, in prototype forms at least, made an appearance on the stage.]

September 11, 1939 - Dessau

First flight of the Junkers Ju-187, a possible replacement for the Ju-87. Powered by the BMW-801 radial, the single-seat aircraft is capable of carrying it's bombload internally, and the cleaner lines and additional power of the aircraft mean that it is a good deal faster than it's predecessor.

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Originally posted by Hrolf Hakonson
September 11, 1939 - Dessau

First flight of the Junkers Ju-187, a possible replacement for the Ju-87. Powered by the BMW-801 radial, the single-seat aircraft is capable of carrying it's bombload internally, and the cleaner lines and additional power of the aircraft mean that it is a good deal faster than it's predecessor.

Italy has been considering similar style ground attack aircraft but still isn't really sure which way to go. The biggest problems are survivability. The Ju-187 (and similar types) may be faster than the aircraft they replace but they probably aren't fast enough to evade flak or fighters at low altitude.

I was having a look at a variant of the G.55, which definitely is fast enough at low altitude. Decided to go with a second crewman for better navigation, which is another issue at low altitude. Still don't get a great deal of load carrying capability. Firepower is limited by inaccuracy of unguided rockets and bombs. I think Italy will likely just go with an adaption of the G.55 as a fighter-bomber and simply use numbers.

The Ju-187 here though is much different beast from the one we know.

The two-seat G.55 looks interesting but I'm not sure a second crewman in worth it if he olny navigates. Really that is like a land-based Fulmar, not really worth it unless he's guarding the rear. Interesting concept though.

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Originally posted by Hood
The Ju-187 here though is much different beast from the one we know.

Performance isn't that much different from the historical Ju-187. It just boils down to whether or not you need a second crewman.

Giving the extra crewman an effective weapon adds a lot of weight (around 2000lb really). If he's just there, you've still got an extra pair to eyes to look out for things, and leave the pilot to concentrate more on flying at low level.