Talons Over Cordoba 1934

Scooby-Doo

Wednesday, April 4th 2007, 12:15pm

The quartermaster corps would certainly be happy (not to mention Heinkel) if both services chose the same aircraft. Parts would be cheaper, more available, than if the services were buying in dribs and drabs, etc.

Heh, the Luftwaffe can sympathize: it just re-formed a few years ago and now the planes it reformed with are suitable for little more than advanced trainers. Even in Peru they've been put in reserve!

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CanisD

Professional

Posts: 1,464

22

Monday, April 9th 2007, 8:16am

United States entry

The United States entry will consist of two XP-35 pursuit craft developed by Howard Hughes from his H-1 Racer. The major changes involve the addition of twin .30 Machine Guns in the cowl and a slightly raised cockpit and canopy to improve visibility. (Basically its a militarized version of the H-1 Long Wing version.)

Hughes XP-35
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 27 ft 0 in (8.23 m)
Wingspan: 31 ft 9 in (9.67 m)
Wing area: 138 ft² (12.8 m²)
Empty weight: 3,565 lb (1,620 kg)
Loaded weight: 5,492 lb (2,496 kg)
Powerplant: 1× Pratt & Whitney R-1535[3] radial engine, 700 hp (521 kW)
Armament: 2x 0.30 Machine Guns
Performance
Maximum speed: 352 mph (566 km/h)
Wing loading: 40 lb/ft² (195 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.13 hp/lb (210 W/kg)

Pilots are Major Doolittle and Lt. Bart Hawk, both of the Army Air Corps. Both aircraft and their support crews will be carried to the meet aboard the airship Macon, which will sail down the Atlantic coast of South America to Argentina. The aircraft will not be equipped with skyhooks.

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Hrolf Hakonson

Scooby-Doo

Posts: 6,178

23

Monday, April 9th 2007, 12:13pm

Interesting, so the USAAC is going with the Hughes design instead of the Curtiss?

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Swamphen

Mr. Dynamite

Posts: 4,191

24

Monday, April 9th 2007, 4:05pm

Macon is invited to call at the Rio Aero-Port along her voyage to Cordoba.

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CanisD

Professional

Posts: 1,464

25

Monday, April 9th 2007, 7:11pm

Well, the Hughes design is ready first, so it gets to go to Cordoba, plus its a bit higher performance than the XP-36 which will still go into production. The Hughes replaces the Seversky P-35 in the grand scheme of things and will probably see more changes after Cordoba. I'm no expert in aerodynamics though so any suggestions would be helpful.

The US welcomes the Brazilian invitation and will heartily accept.

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Red Admiral

Italian Stallion

Posts: 7,019

26

Tuesday, April 10th 2007, 12:34pm

The H-1 isn't the best design to use as fighter as it is a specialised racing plane. It would be difficult to finish production machines to the same surface finish and the cockpit needs to be raised for visibility. This'll probably take the max speed down to around 330mph. The wing loading is extremely high for the period which'll result in high take off and landing speeds, and poor maneuverability. Range would be excellent of course but the fuel tanks restrict room for weapons and before self-sealing tanks and armour theres going to be serious safety issues.

On aerodynamics, I'd blend the canopy section into the tail or move to a bubble canopy.

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Hrolf Hakonson

Scooby-Doo

Posts: 6,178

27

Tuesday, April 10th 2007, 2:03pm

Bubble canopies are doable at this period (see the He-112), but difficult and not nearly as good as they will be because the plexiglass blowing capability isn't there yet to allow for large shapes without leads. So a in-period bubble canopy ends up looking like the canopy on the He-112: lots of panes of glass connected by leads to one another.

Manueverability in a fighter can be overrated, though the H-1s high wing loading will make it quite a hot ride for a pilot used to a P-26, and learning how to use it's strengths and minimize it's weaknesses will take time and training.

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Earl822

King of the Nords

Posts: 1,351

28

Tuesday, April 10th 2007, 2:16pm

Nordmark will send a pair of Sopwith Odin Mk 4's fresh from the production lines, same pilots as last year.

Specs to follow.

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Hood

Ugly Aircraft, Inc

Posts: 8,155

29

Tuesday, April 10th 2007, 2:38pm

At 34 entries this years Tlaons is the biggest ever!

Might have to rearrange the points scoring system so everyone gets something.

The XP-35 is no fighter but given the lack of success with the P-26 I think the USA would send a 'hot ship' to bring back some silverware. Even if it fails in service and ends up being short-lived at least it might spur on further developments. The high wing loading made me wince, might have to script in a landing prang, but given the speed (I'm assuming no armour on the Talons verison anyway) it equal most of the fighters here if not surpass most of them.

PS. Great drawing Canis!

This post has been edited 1 times, last edit by "Hood" (Apr 10th 2007, 2:38pm)

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Hrolf Hakonson

Scooby-Doo

Posts: 6,178

30

Tuesday, April 10th 2007, 2:47pm

Takeoffs and landings with the H-1s (and other racer-derived planes) will be "interesting", with their terrible forward-and-down visibility. Once they're up and flying, they'll be fine, but the taxiing, takeoff, and landing processes will be something to watch from a safe distance.

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thesmilingassassin

The Chosen One

Posts: 13,513

31

Tuesday, April 10th 2007, 3:04pm

Atlantean entry

Captain Tyrus "Bulldog" Hadrian will be flying the Ripon Bloch RB 134 with the Ripon R-1000-010A engine.
Lt. Layne "Slider" Cassius will be flying his Spartan Sp. 20 "Corsair" fighter with a supercharged 1,000hp V-12 engine.

I might also send an airship to entertain the spectators.

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Hood

Ugly Aircraft, Inc

Posts: 8,155

32

Saturday, April 21st 2007, 12:40pm

Ok guys the entry deadline has closed, no more entries.

The report is written all I need now are;

RAF pilot names

SAE pilot names

Odin Mk4 stats (for now I've used the Mk.2 and added a bit of speed)