WesWorld

I'll try to work up a sim of the historic 1936 D.XXI, which I believe was unarmored and radial powered, and another go at the F.K.58- I think I have engine specs for that. That should give us another couple of data points.

DB605 at 650kg dry and 800kg all-up weight including oil + coolant.

Its probably not good to base from one single data point, especially as IIRC the radiators were copper not ally and about had about 4 times the area needed. - I'll check.

While I've generally failed to persue simming lots of radial engine planes, one frustration is that there was a transition going on, and so finding all-metal, retractable gear, non-armored, non-self sealing tank radial engine aircraft is tough. I think one reason is I was looking at fighters, I need to try bombers as well.

However, the Zero fits the bill. The only fall down is that they used a special aluminium alloy, and lightening holes.. so the frame weight is likely to high by a little. Then there's the question of what top speed it was stressed for... still this came out dang close.


PLANEBUILDER - Aircraft Specification Sim: Beta v. 1.4

Aircraft Type or Name:

A6M3 Zero

General Type:
Airplane = 1
Airship = 2
Orbiter = 3
1

Year of First Flight: 1937

Description

Carrier or Rough Field
Monoplane
Conventional Fuselage

Testbed. Engine wieght from web reference. Used design year (1937) instead of first flight (1939), for fabric/streamlining. Gunweights from Tony Williams. Rated bombload 132lbs + 2x 66lbs = 264lbs. Speed perfect, weight perfect.




Characteristics:

Weight (maximum) 6,331 lbs
Weight (empty) 4,925 lbs

Length 29.75 ft
Wingspan 36 ft
Wing Area 232 sq ft
Sweep 2 degrees

Engines 1
Nakajima Sakae 21
Piston

1,050 hp
at 17,000 ft


Crew 1


Typical cost $0.027 million in 1936
Total number procured 128


Performance:

Top Speed 304 kts = 350 mph
at 17,000 ft
Mach N/A

Operational Ceiling 37,000 ft

Range 864 nm = 995 miles
with 244 lbs payload
264 lbs released at halfway point

Climb 2,253 fpm

Cruise 200 kts = 230 mph
at 26,000 ft

Corner Speed 225 KIAS =
293 kts at 17,000 ft
Mach N/A
Turning Rate 23.1 deg/sec
Radius 2,456 ft



Internal Data:

Intake / Fan Diameter 10.2 ft

Bypass Ratio 97.7

Engine Weight 1175 lbs
Overall Efficiency 20 percent

Structural Factor 0.90

Number of Wings 1
Number of Fuselages 1

Limiting Airspeed 310 kts
Wing Ultimate g Load 10.00 g
Wing Taper 0.3
Wing Thickness at Root 0.67 ft

Tail / Canard Factor 0.4

Number of Nacelles 0
Length 23 ft
Diameter 3.4 ft
Fullness 0.4

Fuselage Diameter 3.8 ft
Fuselage Fullness 0.4

Pressurized Volume 0 percent
Cargo Decks 0

Cleanness 72 percent
Unstreamlined section 2.6 sq ft

User equipment 697 lbs