Jet fighters of the Second World War. Little-known aircraft of the Third Reich. Jet aircraft of Germany. Could they change the course of the war? Long road to heaven

All countries that took an active part in the Second World War had a certain background in the development of jet aircraft before it began. During the war, efforts to create jet combat aircraft did not stop. But their achievements pale in comparison to the scale on which the Wehrmacht produced World War II weapons.

Pre-war groundwork

Jet propulsion has always attracted the attention of gunsmiths. The use of gunpowder rockets dates back to ancient times. The advent of aircraft capable of controlled flight immediately led to the desire to combine this innovation with the capabilities of jet propulsion. The desire to provide military capabilities at an advanced technological level was most clearly reflected in the scientific and technological policy of the Reich. The restrictions imposed deprived Germany of fifteen years of evolutionary improvement military equipment and forced to search for revolutionary solutions. Therefore, immediately after the Reich's abandonment of military restrictions and the creation of the Luftwaffe, the head of scientific programs Richthofen in 1934 was tasked with creating a German jet aircraft of the Second World War. By the time it began, only the British managed to make a technological breakthrough by creating a prototype of a turbojet engine. But they owe this not to technical foresight, but to the perseverance of the inventor F. Whittle, who invested his own money in it.

Prototypes and samples

The outbreak of war had different effects on jet aviation development programs. The British, realizing their vulnerability to the air threat, took the development of a new type of combat aircraft quite seriously. Based on the Whittle engine, they tested the prototype in April 1941, which began the British jet aircraft of the Second World War. having a weak technological base, having lost and evacuated part of its industry, it conducted rather sluggish experiments with rockets and low-power ones that were rather of educational interest. The Americans and Japanese, despite their great capabilities, have not advanced much from the same level. Their World War II jets were based on foreign designs. Already at the very beginning of the war, Germany began creating flying prototypes of production vehicles and testing the operation of real combat aircraft. In the spring of 1941, the Henkel He-178 jet took off, equipped with two HeS-8A turbojet engines that developed a thrust of up to six hundred kilograms. In the summer of 1942, the first German jet aircraft of World War II, the twin-engine Messerschmitt Me-262, flew, showing excellent controllability and reliability.

First episodes

The first serial jets to enter service were the English Gloster Meteor. There is a legend that the delay in the release of the Messerschmitt jet is due to the whims of Hitler, who wanted to see it as a fighter-bomber. Having started production of this machine, the Germans produced more than 450 aircraft in 1944. In 1945, production amounted to about 500 aircraft. The Germans also put into series and began mass production of the He-162, which the command considered as a mobilization fighter for the Volkssturm. The third type of jet fighter that took part in the war was the Arado Ar-234. Before the end of the war, 200 units were produced. The scope of the British was noticeably weaker. All military series"Gloucester" limited itself to 210 vehicles. Jet aircraft of the Second World War of the USA and Japan were developed on transferred technologies from England and Germany and were limited to experimental series.

Combat use

Only the Germans managed to gain combat experience in using jet aircraft. Their planes tried to solve the problem of defending the country from an enemy with overwhelming air superiority. British jet aircraft of the Second World War, although used over German territory and in the defense of England against German cruise missiles, had only a few combat episodes. They were mainly used as training ones. did not have time to create jet aircraft of the Second World War. The USSR actively developed captured reserves based on its own rich military experience.

Messerschmitt Me.262 “Schwalbe” (from German swallow) is a German jet fighter of the Second World War. It was used as a fighter (including a night one), bomber, and reconnaissance aircraft. This aircraft was the world's first production jet aircraft that took part in combat operations. In total, from 1944 to 1945, German industry managed to assemble and transfer to the troops 1,433 Me.262 fighters, which thus also became the most popular jet aircraft of the Second World War.

Very often in combat aviation such moments arose in which technical innovations at one certain moment almost completely negated the entire combat value of aircraft of previous generations. One of the most striking examples confirming these words was the German jet fighter Me.262. Technical advantage new car over Allied aviation was significant, but childhood illnesses (primarily the shortcomings and unreliability of engines), as well as the difficult military-political situation in Germany at the end of the war, indecision and hesitation in matters of programs for building new aircraft, led to the fact that the aircraft appeared in combat skies of Europe with a delay of at least 6 months and did not become the “miracle” that could return air supremacy to Germany.

Although the simplest explanation for these delays was the fact that the Junkers company simply could not bring its new turbojet engine into mass production until mid-1944. In any case, mass deliveries of the aircraft to combat units could not begin before September-October 1944. In addition, the rush to put the aircraft into service led to the fact that it was sent into battle even before the completion of all tests. The start of use of the vehicle was clearly premature and led to a large number of non-combat losses among Luftwaffe aircraft and pilots.

It is quite obvious that the possibility of accelerating the creation of such a radical aircraft as the Me.262 had its limits, even though the aircraft and its engines were given the highest priority, it was already too late for the successful implementation of the project. At the same time, comprehensive support for the creation of the machine in the early stages of work also could not seriously affect the time of its development. The aircraft, which first flew in 1941 with a conventional piston engine, was simply too late for this war.

Despite this, one thing was certain: the Me.262 became the very first combat aircraft with a turbojet engine to take part in combat operations, ahead of the British Meteor in this regard. Regardless of the results of combat use, the Me.262 will forever go down in history as the aircraft that discovered new page in the chronicle of air battles.

Description of design

The Me.262 aircraft was a cantilever all-metal monoplane, which had a low wing with two turbojet engines (TRD). The aircraft's wing was single-spar and had slats located along its entire length. The flaps were installed between the aileron and the center section of the wing. The fighter had a vertical single-fin tail and a retractable landing gear with a nose gear. The pilot's cabin was covered with a transparent canopy that could be opened to the right. The possibility of completely sealing the pilot's cabin and the possibility of installing an ejection seat were also provided.

The fuselage of the fighter was all-metal and consisted of 3 sections, had a triangular cross-section and had a large number of rounded edges. Its lining was smooth. The fuselage sections were represented by the nose, middle and tail with a power element for attaching the tail. A set of weapons and ammunition was mounted in the forward part of the fuselage. At the bottom there was a niche into which the front landing gear was retracted. The middle section housed the barrel-shaped pilot's cabin, as well as the fighter's fuel tanks. The recess under the pilot's seat served to attach the wing. The tail section of the fuselage formed a single structure together with the empennage.

The pilot's seat was unarmored and was installed on the rear wall of the cockpit; it could only be adjusted in height. There was a battery behind the pilot's seat. The canopy included 3 sections: the front (cabin canopy) had armored glass and was non-removable, the middle and rear sections could be dismantled. There was a small hinged window on the left side of the cabin canopy. The middle part of the canopy tilted to the right and served as an exit from the pilot’s cockpit. In front, the ammunition, pilot and main instruments were covered with armor plates.

The landing gear of the aircraft was retractable and when retracted, all parts of the landing gear were securely covered with closing flaps. The landing gear was retracted and released using hydraulics. All three wheels of the aircraft had a braking system. The nose wheel was braked using the pump lever, which was located in the pilot's cabin to the left of it, and the main wheels were braked using the brake pedal. The chassis condition could be monitored using 6 visual alarm devices.

The main fuel tanks were located in front and behind the cockpit (with a capacity of 900 liters). An additional fuel tank with a capacity of 200 liters was located under the cockpit. The total fuel supply was 2000 liters. The aircraft's tanks were protected. Fuel was supplied to the engines using a pair of electric pumps, which were installed on each of the main tanks. The fuel supply control system was automatic and was activated when there were less than 250 liters of fuel in each tank.

The main armament of the aircraft were four 30-mm MK-108 automatic cannons. Due to the fact that the guns were installed in the bow next to each other, they provided very dense and concentrated fire. The guns were installed in pairs one above the other. The lower pair had 100 rounds of ammunition per barrel, the lower pair had 80 rounds each. One of the modifications of the fighter was also equipped with a 50-mm BK-5 cannon. Unguided R-4M missiles could be used to combat daylight bombers.

Disadvantages and combat use

During the battles on all fighter modifications of the Messerschmitt Me.262, German pilots shot down 150 enemy aircraft, while losing about 100 of their own aircraft. This bleak picture is primarily explained by the low level of training of the bulk of the pilots, as well as the insufficient reliability of the Jumo-004 engines and their rather low survivability in combat conditions, interruptions in the supply of Luftwaffe fighter units against the backdrop of general chaos in the defeated Third Reich. The effectiveness of using the vehicle as a bomber was so low that their activities in this status were not mentioned even in combat reports.

Like any fundamentally new, innovative development, the Me.262 fighter was not without its shortcomings, which in the case of this aircraft mainly related to its engines. The most serious deficiencies identified are:

A significant takeoff run (a concrete runway with a length of at least 1.5 km was required), which made it impossible to use the aircraft without the use of special boosters from field airfields;
- significant mileage during landing;
- Very high requirements to the quality of the runway, which were associated with the suction of objects into low-lying air intakes, as well as insufficient engine thrust;
- very high vulnerability of the machine during takeoff and landing;
- pulling the fighter into a tailspin when exceeding the speed of Mach 0.8;
- unreliability of aircraft engines, failures of which led to a large number of non-combat losses; landing an aircraft with one working engine often led to the death of the aircraft;
- the engine was very vulnerable - during a sharp climb it could catch fire;
- the engine had a very short service life - only 25 flight hours;
- high demands placed on technical personnel, which was not acceptable for Germany in the conditions of combat operations at the final stage of the war.

Performance characteristics of the Messerschmitt Me.262 A1-1a

Dimensions: wingspan - 12.5 m, length - 10.6 m, height - 3.8 m.
Wing area – 21.8 sq. m.
Aircraft weight, kg
- empty – 3,800
- normal takeoff – 6,400
- maximum take-off – 7 140
Engine type - two Junkers Jumo 004B-1 turbojet engines with a thrust of 900 kgf each
Maximum speed at altitude – 855 km/h
Combat radius - 1040 km.

Practical ceiling – 11,000 m.
Crew – 1 person
Cannon armament: 4x30-mm MK-108 cannon, 12 unguided R-4M RS can be installed

Sources used:
www.airwar.ru/enc/fww2/me262a.html
www.pro-samolet.ru/samolety-germany-ww2/reaktiv/211-me-262?start=7
Materials from the free Internet encyclopedia "Wikipedia".

In the early 1940s, aircraft with piston engines and propellers have reached the limit of their development. Further increase in power supply and improvement of aerodynamics was becoming increasingly difficult and bringing less and less effect. An increase in the power of power plants by hundreds of horsepower led to a very slight increase in flight performance, since at the same time the weight and dimensions of the machine increased, and the efficiency of the propeller decreased at high speeds and altitudes. A way out of this impasse was promised by a radical change in the principle of generating thrust - the transition from propeller-driven power plants to jet ones.

At that time, several types of aircraft jet engines were already known - turbojet (TRJ), ramjet (ramjet), pulsed air-jet (PJRE) and liquid propellant rocket engine (LPRE). Turbojet engines were considered the most promising (they are the engines that power all modern jet aircraft), but they are also the most complex.

Ramjet engines and ramjet engines, on the contrary, are very simple, but have a small thrust range, relatively low efficiency, and most importantly, due to their design features, they require strong air pressure to turn on. Therefore, an independent takeoff of an aircraft with such an engine is impossible; it needs either an external carrier or a launch accelerator.

The rocket engine is light, quite simple, it can provide very high thrust, so an aircraft with such an engine has exceptional speed and rate of climb, but it also has a serious drawback - huge fuel consumption, due to which the flight time of rocket planes is limited to just a few minutes. In addition, liquid rocket engine fuel is two-component - it consists of a fuel and an oxidizer, which is an extremely aggressive and toxic liquid.

However, on the eve of World War II, the leadership of the Soviet Air Force believed that there was a class of combat aircraft for which the disadvantages of liquid propellant engines were not critical. This class is fighter-interceptors. According to the military's plan, when enemy bombers appeared in the sky, such a fighter was supposed to take off with lightning speed, gain altitude and attack, and then land with the engine not running, like a glider. Due to its great advantage in speed and rate of climb, its chances of catching up and destroying the enemy were estimated to be much higher than those of conventional piston interceptors. An additional argument in favor of liquid propellant engines was that by the end of the 1930s, several samples of such power plants were successfully tested in the USSR. The engine developed under the leadership of L.A. was considered the most suitable of them. Dushkina under the designation D-1-A-1100.

The only Allied aircraft with a turbojet engine to take part in World War II, the Gloucester Meteor, designed by George Carter.

In World War II, aviation was one of the main branches of the military and played a very important role during the fighting. It is no coincidence that each of the warring parties sought to ensure a constant increase in the combat effectiveness of their aviation by increasing the production of aircraft and their continuous improvement and renewal. As never before, scientific and engineering potential was widely involved in the military sphere; many research institutes and laboratories, design bureaus and testing centers operated, through whose efforts the latest military equipment was created. It was a time of unusually rapid progress in aircraft manufacturing. At the same time, the era of evolution of aircraft with piston engines, which had reigned supreme in aviation since its inception, seemed to be ending. The combat aircraft of the end of the Second World War were the most advanced examples of aviation technology created on the basis of piston engines.

During the war years, a large number of aircraft were created in England, the USSR, the USA, Germany and Japan, which played a significant role in the armed struggle. Among them there are many outstanding examples. A comparison of these machines is of interest, as is a comparison of the engineering and scientific ideas that were used in their creation. Of course, among the numerous types of aircraft that took part in the war and represented different schools of aircraft construction, it is difficult to single out the undeniably best. Therefore, the choice of cars is to some extent conditional.

Fighters were the main means of gaining air superiority in the fight against the enemy. The success of combat operations of ground troops and other types of aviation and the safety of rear facilities largely depended on the effectiveness of their actions. It is no coincidence that it was the fighter class that developed most intensively. The best of them are traditionally called the Yak-3 and La-7 (USSR), North American P-51 Mustang (Mustang, USA), Supermarine Spitfire (England) and Messerschmitt Bf 109 ( Germany). Among the many modifications of Western fighters, the P-51D, Spitfire XIV and Bf 109G-10 and K-4 were selected for comparison, that is, those aircraft that were mass-produced and entered service with the military. air force at the final stage of the war. All of them were created in 1943 - early 1944. These vehicles reflected the wealth of combat experience already accumulated by that time by the warring countries. They became, as it were, symbols of military aviation equipment of their time.

The situation is different with German fighters. They were intended for air combat on both the Eastern and Western fronts. Therefore, they can quite reasonably be compared with all Allied fighters.

The most unusual in terms of the concept of creation were, perhaps, the Spitfire and the Mustang.

When creating the Spitfire in the mid-30s, the designers tried to combine seemingly incompatible things: high speed, characteristic of the high-speed monoplane fighters that were coming into use at that time, with excellent maneuverability, altitude and takeoff and landing characteristics inherent in biplanes. The goal was largely achieved. Like many other high-speed fighters, the Spitfire had a cantilever monoplane design with well-streamlined shapes. But this was only an external resemblance. For its weight, the Spitfire had a relatively large wing, which gave a small load per unit of bearing surface, much less than that of other monoplane fighters. Hence, excellent maneuverability in the horizontal plane, high ceiling and good takeoff and landing properties. This approach was not something exceptional: Japanese designers, for example, did the same. But the creators of the Spitfire went further. Due to the high aerodynamic drag of a wing of such significant size, it was impossible to count on achieving a high maximum flight speed - one of the most important indicators of the quality of fighter aircraft of those years. To reduce drag, they used profiles with a much smaller relative thickness than other fighters and gave the wing an elliptical planform. This further reduced aerodynamic drag when flying at high altitude and in maneuver modes.

The company managed to create an outstanding combat aircraft. This does not mean that the Spitfire was without any shortcomings. They were. For example, due to the low wing load, it was inferior to many fighters in terms of acceleration properties during a dive. It responded more slowly in roll to the pilot’s actions than German, American, and especially Soviet fighters. However, these shortcomings were not fundamental, and in general the Spitfire was undoubtedly one of the strongest air combat fighters, which demonstrated excellent qualities in action.

Among the many variants of the Mustang fighter, the greatest success fell on the planes equipped with English Merlin engines. These were the P-51B, C and, of course, the P-51D - the best and most famous American fighter of the Second World War. Since 1944, it was these aircraft that ensured the safety of heavy American B-17 and B-24 bombers from attacks by German fighters and demonstrated their superiority in battle.

Home distinctive feature In terms of aerodynamics, the Mustang had a laminar wing, which was the first in world aircraft manufacturing to be installed on a combat aircraft. Special mention should be made about this “highlight” of the aircraft, born in the laboratory of the American NASA research center on the eve of the war. The fact is that the opinion of experts regarding the advisability of using a laminar wing on fighters of that period is ambiguous. If before the war high hopes were placed on laminar wings, since under certain conditions they had less aerodynamic drag compared to conventional ones, then the experience with the Mustang diminished the initial optimism. It turned out that in real operation such a wing is not effective enough. The reason was that to implement laminar flow on part of such a wing, very careful surface finishing and high precision in maintaining the profile were required. Due to the roughness that arose when applying protective paint to the aircraft, and even slight inaccuracies in the profiling that inevitably appeared in mass production (slight undulations of thin metal skin), the effect of laminarization on the P-51 wing was greatly reduced. In terms of their load-bearing properties, laminar profiles were inferior to conventional ones, which caused difficulties in ensuring good maneuverability and takeoff and landing properties.

In addition to reduced resistance, laminar profiles had better speed properties - with equal relative thickness, the effects of air compressibility (wave crisis) appeared in them at higher speeds than on conventional profiles. This had to be taken into account even then. When diving, especially at high altitudes, where the speed of sound is significantly less than that of the ground, aircraft began to reach speeds at which features associated with approaching the speed of sound already appeared. It was possible to increase the so-called critical speed either by using higher speed profiles, which turned out to be laminar, or by reducing the relative thickness of the profile, while putting up with the inevitable increase in the weight of the structure and a reduction in wing volumes, often used (including on the P-51D) for placement of gas tanks and. Interestingly, due to the much smaller relative thickness of the profiles, the wave crisis on the Spitfire wing occurred at a higher speed than on the Mustang wing.

If air battles were fought at relatively low altitudes, the crisis phenomena of air compressibility almost did not manifest themselves, so the need for a special high-speed wing was not acutely felt.

The way of creation turned out to be very unusual Soviet aircraft Yak-3 and La-7. Essentially, they were deep modifications of the Yak-1 and LaGG-3 fighters, developed in 1940 and mass-produced.

A radical redesign of the Yak design was undertaken in 1943 with the goal of dramatically improving flight characteristics with a very modest power plant power. The decisive direction in this work was to lighten the aircraft (including by reducing the wing area) and significantly improve its aerodynamics. Perhaps this was the only opportunity to qualitatively promote the aircraft, since the Soviet industry had not yet mass-produced new, more powerful engines suitable for installation on the Yak-1.

Such a path of development of aviation technology, extremely difficult to implement, was extraordinary. Normal way improvement of the complex of aircraft flight data then consisted of improving aerodynamics without noticeable changes in the dimensions of the airframe, as well as installing more powerful engines. This was almost always accompanied by a noticeable weight gain.

The designers of the Yak-3 coped with this difficult task brilliantly. It is unlikely that in aviation during the Second World War one can find another example of similar and so effectively completed work.

The Yak-3, compared to the Yak-1, was much lighter, had a smaller relative profile thickness and wing area, and had excellent aerodynamic properties. The aircraft's power supply has increased significantly, which has dramatically improved its rate of climb, acceleration characteristics and vertical maneuverability. At the same time, such an important parameter for horizontal maneuverability, takeoff and landing as the specific wing load has changed little. During the war, the Yak-3 turned out to be one of the easiest fighters to pilot.

Of course, in tactical terms, the Yak-3 did not at all replace aircraft that were distinguished by stronger weapons and a longer combat flight duration, but perfectly complemented them, embodying the idea of ​​a light, high-speed and maneuverable air combat vehicle, designed primarily to combat fighters enemy.

One of the few, if not the only fighter with an air-cooled engine, which can rightfully be considered one of the best air combat fighters of the Second World War. Using the La-7, the famous Soviet ace I.N. Kozhedub shot down 17 German aircraft (including the Me-262 jet fighter) out of 62 he destroyed on La fighters.

The history of the La-7 is also unusual. At the beginning of 1942, on the basis of the LaGG-3 fighter, which turned out to be a rather mediocre combat vehicle, the La-5 fighter was developed, which differed from its predecessor only in the power plant (the liquid-cooled engine was replaced with a much more powerful two-row “star”). During the further development of the La-5, the designers focused on its aerodynamic improvement. During the period 1942-1943. La brand fighters were the most frequent “guests” in the full-scale wind tunnels of the leading Soviet aviation research center TsAGI. The main purpose of such tests was to identify the main sources of aerodynamic losses and determine design measures that help reduce aerodynamic drag. An important feature of this work was that the proposed design changes did not require major alterations to the aircraft or changes in the production process and could be carried out relatively easily by serial factories. It was truly “jewelry” work, when seemingly mere trifles produced a rather impressive result.

The fruit of this work was the La-5FN, which appeared at the beginning of 1943 - one of the strongest Soviet fighters of that time, and then the La-7 - an aircraft that rightfully took its place among the best fighters Second World War. If, during the transition from the La-5 to the La-5FN, an increase in flight performance was achieved not only due to better aerodynamics, but also thanks to a more powerful engine, then the improvement in the characteristics of the La-7 was achieved solely by means of aerodynamics and a reduction in the weight of the structure. This plane had a speed of 80 km/h more than the La-5, of which 75% (that is, 60 km/h) was due to aerodynamics. Such an increase in speed is equivalent to an increase in engine power by more than a third, without increasing the weight and dimensions of the aircraft.

The best features of an air combat fighter were embodied in the La-7: high speed, excellent maneuverability and rate of climb. In addition, compared to other fighters discussed here we're talking about, it had greater survivability, since only this aircraft had an air-cooled engine. As is known, such motors are not only more viable than liquid-cooled engines, but also serve as a kind of protection for the pilot from fire from the front hemisphere, since they have large cross-sectional dimensions.

The German fighter Messerschmitt Bf 109 was created around the same time as the Spitfire. Like the English aircraft, the Bf 109 became one of the most successful examples of a combat vehicle during the war and went through a long path of evolution: it was equipped with more and more powerful engines, improved aerodynamics, operational and aerobatic characteristics. In terms of aerodynamics, the most significant changes were last made in 1941, when the Bf 109F appeared. Further improvement of flight data was achieved mainly through the installation of new engines. Externally, the latest modifications of this fighter - the Bf 109G-10 and K-4 - differed little from the much earlier Bf 109F, although they had a number of aerodynamic improvements.

Like their English colleagues, the designers of the Bf 109 tried to combine a high maximum speed with good maneuverability and takeoff and landing qualities. But they solved this problem in a completely different way: unlike the Spitfire, the Bf 109 had a large specific wing load, which made it possible to achieve high speed, and to improve maneuverability they used not only the well-known slats, but also flaps, which at the right time the battle could be deviated by the pilot at a small angle. The use of controlled flaps was a new and original solution. To improve takeoff and landing characteristics, in addition to automatic slats and controlled flaps, hovering ailerons were used, which worked as additional sections of flaps; A controlled stabilizer was also used. In short, the Bf 109 had a unique system of direct lift control, largely characteristic of modern aircraft with their inherent automation. However, in practice, many of the designers' decisions did not take root. Due to the complexity, it was necessary to abandon the controlled stabilizer, hovering ailerons, and flap release system in combat. As a result, in terms of its maneuverability, the Bf 109 was not very different from other fighters, both Soviet and American, although it was inferior to the best domestic aircraft. The takeoff and landing characteristics turned out to be similar.

Aircraft manufacturing experience shows that gradual improvement combat aircraft almost always accompanied by an increase in his weight. This is due to the installation of more powerful and therefore heavier engines, an increase in fuel reserves, an increase in the power of weapons, the necessary structural reinforcements and other related measures. Eventually there comes a time when the reserves of a given design are exhausted. One of the limitations is the specific wing load. This, of course, is not the only parameter, but one of the most important and common to all aircraft. Thus, as Spitfire fighters were modified from variant 1A to XIV and Bf 109 from B-2 to G-10 and K-4, their specific wing load increased by about a third! Already the Bf 109G-2 (1942) had 185 kg/m2, while the Spitfire IX, which was also released in 1942, had about 150 kg/m2. For the Bf 109G-2, this wing load was close to the limit. With its further growth, the flight, maneuverability and takeoff and landing characteristics of the aircraft sharply deteriorated, despite the very effective mechanization of the wing (slats and flaps).

Since 1942, German designers have been improving their best air combat fighter under very strict weight restrictions, which greatly limited the possibilities for qualitative improvement of the aircraft. But the creators of the Spitfire still had sufficient reserves and continued to increase the power of the installed engines and strengthen the weapons, without particularly taking into account the increase in weight.

The quality of their mass production has a great influence on the aerodynamic properties of aircraft. Careless manufacturing can negate all the efforts of designers and scientists. This doesn't happen very rarely. Judging by captured documents, in Germany, conducting a comparative study of the aerodynamics of German, American and British fighters at the end of the war, they came to the conclusion that the Bf 109G had worst quality production performance, and, in particular, for this reason its aerodynamics turned out to be the worst, which can most likely be extended to the Bf 109K-4.

From the above it is clear that in terms of the technical concept of creation and aerodynamic design features, each of the compared aircraft is completely original. But they also have a lot common features: well-streamlined shapes, careful engine bonneting, well-developed local aerodynamics and aerodynamics of cooling devices.

As for the design, Soviet fighters were much simpler and cheaper to produce than British, German and, especially, American aircraft. Scarce materials were used in very limited quantities. Thanks to this, the USSR managed to ensure a high rate of aircraft production in conditions of severe material restrictions and a lack of qualified personnel. work force. It must be said that our country finds itself in the most difficult situation. From 1941 to 1944 inclusively, a significant part of the industrial zone, where many metallurgical enterprises were located, was occupied by the Nazis. Some factories were evacuated inland and production was set up in new locations. But a significant part of the production potential was still irretrievably lost. In addition, a large number of skilled workers and specialists went to the front. They were replaced at the machines by women and children who could not work at the appropriate level. And yet, the aircraft industry of the USSR, although not immediately, was able to meet the needs of the front for aircraft.

Unlike the all-metal Western fighters, Soviet aircraft made extensive use of wood. However, metal was used in many of the power elements, which actually determined the weight of the structure. That is why, in terms of weight perfection, the Yak-3 and La-7 were practically no different from foreign fighters.

In terms of technological sophistication, ease of access to individual units and ease of maintenance in general, the Bf 109 and Mustang looked somewhat preferable. However, Spitfires and Soviet fighters were also well adapted to combat conditions. But according to these very important characteristics, both the quality of equipment and the level of automation, the Yak-3 and La-7 were inferior to Western fighters, the best of which in terms of the degree of automation were German aircraft (not only the Bf 109, but also others).

The most important indicator of an aircraft’s high flight performance and its combat effectiveness as a whole is the power plant. It is in aircraft engine building that the latest achievements in the field of technology, materials, control systems and automation are primarily implemented. Motor industry is one of the most knowledge-intensive industries aviation industry. Compared to an airplane, the process of creating and fine-tuning new engines takes much longer and requires more effort.

During the Second World War, England occupied a leading position in aircraft engine building. It was the Rolls-Royce engines that equipped the Spitfires and best options"Mustangs" (P-51B, C and D). It can be said without exaggeration that it was the installation of the English Merlin engine, which was produced in the USA under license by Packard, that made it possible to realize the great capabilities of the Mustang and brought it into the category of elite fighters. Before this, the P-51, although original, was a rather mediocre aircraft in terms of combat capabilities.

The peculiarity of English engines, which largely determined their excellent characteristics, was the use of high-grade gasoline, conditionally octane number which reached 100-150. This made it possible to apply a greater degree of air pressurization (more precisely, the working mixture) into the cylinders and thereby obtain greater power. The USSR and Germany could not meet the aviation needs for such high-quality and expensive fuel. Typically, gasoline with an octane rating of 87-100 was used.

A characteristic feature that united all the engines that were installed on the compared fighters was the use of two-speed drive centrifugal superchargers (MCP), providing the required altitude. But the difference between Rolls-Royce engines was that their superchargers had not one, as usual, but two successive compression stages, and even with intermediate cooling of the working mixture in a special radiator. Despite the complexity of such systems, their use turned out to be completely justified for high-altitude motors, since it significantly reduced the loss of power spent by the motor on pumping. This was a very important factor.

The original was the injection system of the DB-605 engines, driven through a turbo coupling, which, when automatic control smoothly adjusted the gear ratio from the engine to the supercharger impeller. Unlike the two-speed drive superchargers found on Soviet and British engines, the turbo coupling made it possible to reduce the drop in power that occurred between pumping speeds.

An important advantage of German engines (DB-605 and others) was the use of direct fuel injection into the cylinders. Compared to a conventional carburetor system, this increased reliability and efficiency power plant. Of the other engines, only the Soviet ASh-82FN, which was installed on the La-7, had a similar direct injection system.

A significant factor in increasing the flight performance of the Mustang and Spitfire was that their engines had relatively short-term operating modes at high power. In combat, the pilots of these fighters could for some time use, in addition to the long-term, that is, nominal, either combat (5-15 minutes), or in emergency cases, emergency (1-5 minutes) modes. Combat, or, as it was also called, military mode, became the main mode for engine operation in air combat. The engines of Soviet fighters did not have high-power modes at altitude, which limited the possibility of further improving their flight characteristics.

Most versions of the Mustangs and Spitfires were designed for high combat altitudes, characteristic of aviation operations in the West. Therefore, their engines had sufficient altitude. German engine builders were forced to solve a complex technical problem. Given the relatively high design altitude of the engine required for air combat in the West, it was important to provide the necessary power at low and medium altitudes required for combat operations in the East. As is known, a simple increase in altitude usually leads to increasing power losses at low altitudes. Therefore, the designers showed a lot of ingenuity and used a number of extraordinary technical solutions In terms of its height, the DB-605 motor occupied an intermediate position between English and Soviet motors. To increase power at altitudes below the design one, the injection of a water-alcohol mixture (MW-50 system) was used, which made it possible, despite the relatively low octane number of the fuel, to significantly increase the boost, and, consequently, the power without causing detonation. The result was a kind of maximum mode, which, like the emergency mode, could usually be used for up to three minutes.

At altitudes above the calculated one, the injection of nitrous oxide (GM-1 system) could be used, which, being a powerful oxidizer, seemed to compensate for the lack of oxygen in a rarefied atmosphere and made it possible to temporarily increase the altitude of the engine and bring its characteristics closer to those of Rolls engines. Royce. True, these systems increased the weight of the aircraft (by 60-120 kg) and significantly complicated the power plant and its operation. For these reasons, they were used separately and were not used on all Bf 109G and K.

A fighter's weaponry has a significant impact on its combat effectiveness. The aircraft in question differed greatly in the composition and arrangement of weapons. If the Soviet Yak-3 and La-7 and the German Bf 109G and K had a central location of weapons (cannons and machine guns in the forward part of the fuselage), then the Spitfires and Mustangs had them located in the wing outside the area swept by the propeller. In addition, the Mustang had only large-caliber machine gun armament, while other fighters also had cannons, and the La-7 and Bf 109K-4 had only cannon armament. In the Western Theater of Operations, the P-51D was intended primarily to combat enemy fighters. For this purpose, the power of his six machine guns turned out to be quite sufficient. Unlike the Mustang, the British Spitfires and the Soviet Yak-3 and La-7 fought against aircraft of any purpose, including bombers, which naturally required more powerful weapons.

Comparing the wing and central weapons installations, it is difficult to answer which of these schemes was the most effective. But still, Soviet front-line pilots and aviation specialists, like the German ones, preferred the central one, which ensured the greatest accuracy of fire. This arrangement turns out to be more advantageous when an enemy aircraft is attacked from extremely short distances. And this is exactly how Soviet and German pilots usually tried to act on the Eastern Front. In the West, air battles were fought mainly at high altitudes, where the maneuverability of fighters deteriorated significantly. Getting close to the enemy became much more difficult, and with bombers it was also very dangerous, since the fighter’s sluggish maneuver made it difficult to evade the fire of air gunners. For this reason, they opened fire from a long distance and the wing-mounted weapon, designed for a given range of destruction, turned out to be quite comparable to the central one. In addition, the rate of fire of weapons with a wing configuration was higher than that of weapons synchronized for firing through a propeller (cannons on the La-7, machine guns on the Yak-3 and Bf 109G), the weapons were close to the center of gravity and ammunition consumption had virtually no effect on its position. But one drawback was still organically inherent in the wing design - an increased moment of inertia relative to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft, which caused the fighter's roll response to the pilot's actions to deteriorate.

Among the many criteria that determined the combat effectiveness of an aircraft, the most important for a fighter was the combination of its flight data. Of course, they are important not on their own, but in combination with a number of other quantitative and qualitative indicators, such as stability, flight properties, ease of operation, visibility, etc. For some classes of aircraft, training, for example, these indicators are of paramount importance. But for combat vehicles of the last war, it was the flight characteristics and weapons that were decisive, representing the main technical components of the combat effectiveness of fighters and bombers. Therefore, the designers sought first of all to achieve priority in flight data, or rather in those of them that played a primary role.

It is worth clarifying that the words “flight data” mean the whole complex the most important indicators, the main of which for fighters were maximum speed, rate of climb, range or sortie time, maneuverability, ability to quickly gain speed, sometimes a practical ceiling. Experience has shown that the technical perfection of fighter aircraft cannot be reduced to any one criterion, which would be expressed in a number, formula, or even an algorithm designed for implementation on a computer. The question of comparing fighters, as well as finding the optimal combination of basic flight characteristics, still remains one of the most difficult. How, for example, can you determine in advance what was more important - superiority in maneuverability and practical ceiling, or some advantage in maximum speed? As a rule, priority in one comes at the expense of the other. Where is the “golden mean” that gives the best fighting qualities? Obviously, much depends on the tactics and nature of the air war as a whole.

It is known that the maximum speed and rate of climb significantly depend on the operating mode of the engine. Long-term or nominal mode is one thing, and extreme afterburner is quite another. This is clearly seen from a comparison of the maximum speeds of the best fighters in the final period of the war. The presence of high-power modes significantly improves flight characteristics, but only for a short time, since otherwise the motor may be destroyed. For this reason, a very short-term emergency mode of operation of the engine, which provided the greatest power, was not considered at that time the main one for the operation of the power plant in air combat. It was intended for use only in the most emergency, deadly situations for the pilot. This position is well confirmed by an analysis of the flight data of one of the last German piston fighters - the Messerschmitt Bf 109K-4.

The main characteristics of the Bf 109K-4 are given in a fairly extensive report prepared at the end of 1944 for the German Chancellor. The report covered the state and prospects of German aircraft manufacturing and was prepared with the participation of the German aviation research center DVL and leading aviation companies such as Messerschmitt, Arado, Junkers. In this document, which there is every reason to consider quite serious, when analyzing the capabilities of the Bf 109K-4, all its data provided correspond only to the continuous operation of the power plant, and the characteristics at maximum power are not considered or even mentioned. And this is not surprising. Due to thermal overloads of the engine, the pilot of this fighter, when climbing at maximum take-off weight, could not use even the nominal mode for a long time and was forced to reduce speed and, accordingly, power within 5.2 minutes after take-off. When taking off with less weight the situation did not improve much. Therefore, it is simply not possible to talk about any real increase in the rate of climb due to the use of an emergency mode, including the injection of a water-alcohol mixture (MW-50 system).

The above is well confirmed by combat practice at the final stage of the war. Thus, the Western press often talks about the superiority of Mustangs and Spitfires over German fighters in the Western theater of operations. On the Eastern Front, where air battles took place at low and medium altitudes, the Yak-3 and La-7 were beyond competition, which was repeatedly noted by pilots of the Soviet Air Force. And here is the opinion of the German combat pilot W. Wolfrum:

The best fighters I encountered in combat were the North American Mustang P-51 and the Russian Yak-9U. Both fighters had a clear performance advantage over the Me-109, regardless of modification, including the Me-109K-4

* – calculated values

Tests of the world's first rocket aircraft, the He-176, in the summer of 1939 showed the fundamental possibility of flight using a liquid-propellant rocket engine, but the maximum speed that this aircraft reached after 50 seconds of engine operation was only 345 km/h. Believing that one of the reasons for this was the conservative “classical” design of the Heinkel aircraft, the leaders of the Research Department of the Ministry of Aviation proposed using a “tailless” rocket engine. At their order, the German aircraft designer A. Lippisch, who had previously been designing flying-wing type aircraft, in 1940 built an experimental tailless aircraft DFS-I94 with the same Walter R1-203 liquid-propellant rocket engine. Due to the low engine thrust (400 kg) and the short duration of its operation (1 min.), the speed of the aircraft was no greater than that of propeller-driven aircraft. However, the Walter R2-203 liquid-propellant rocket engine was soon created, capable of developing a thrust of 750 kg. Having secured the support of the Messerschmitt company, Lippisch released a new rocket aircraft, the Me-163L, with an R2-203 engine. October 1941 X. Dittmar, after lifting the aircraft in tow to a height of 4000 m, started the engine, and after a few minutes of flight at full thrust reached an unprecedented speed - 1003 km/h. It would seem that this would be immediately followed by an order for mass production of the aircraft as a combat vehicle. But the German military command was in no hurry. At that time, the situation in the war was in Germany's favor, and the Nazi leaders were confident of an early victory with the help of the weapons they had.

However, by 1943 the situation became different. German aviation quickly lost its leading position, and the situation on the fronts worsened. Enemy aircraft appeared more and more often over German territory, and bomb attacks on German military and industrial facilities became more and more powerful. This made us think seriously about strengthening fighter aircraft, and the idea of ​​​​creating a high-speed missile interceptor fighter became extremely tempting. In addition, progress was made in the development of liquid propellant engines - the new Walter HWK 109-509A engine with an increased fuel combustion temperature could develop a thrust of up to 1700 kg. The aircraft with this engine was designated Me-163B. Unlike the experimental Me-163A, it had cannon armament (2x30 mm) and pilot armor protection, i.e. was a combat aircraft.

Due to the fact that the development of the HWK 109-509A was delayed, the first production Me-163B took off only on February 21, 1944, and a total of 279 such aircraft were built before the end of the war. Since May 1944, they took part in combat operations as fighter-interceptors on the Western Front. Since the range of the Me-163 was small - only about 100 km, it was planned to create a whole network of special interception groups located at a distance of about 150 km from each other and protecting Germany from the northern and western directions.

The Me-163 was a “tailless” aircraft with a swept wing (Fig. 4.65). The fuselage had a metal structure, the wing - wooden. The wing's sweep, combined with aerodynamic twist, was used to longitudinally balance an aircraft without a horizontal tail. At the same time, as it turned out later, the use of a swept wing made it possible to reduce wave drag at transonic flight speeds.

Due to the high engine thrust, the Me-163 was superior in speed to other jet aircraft of the Second World War period and had an unprecedented rate of climb - 80 m/sec. However, its combat effectiveness was greatly reduced by its very short flight duration. Due to the high specific consumption of fuel and oxidizer by the liquid-propellant rocket engine (5 kg/sec), their reserve was only sufficient for 6 minutes of operation of the liquid-propellant rocket engine at full thrust. After gaining an altitude of 9-10 km, the pilot had time for only one short attack. Take-off and landing were also very difficult due to the unusual landing gear in the form of a retractable trolley (landing was carried out on a ski pulled out from the fuselage). Frequent cases of engine shutdown, high landing speed, instability during take-off and rollover, high probability of explosion rocket fuel upon impact - all this, according to an eyewitness to the events, was the cause of many disasters.

Technical deficiencies were exacerbated by rocket fuel shortages and a shortage of pilots late in the war. As a result, only a quarter of the Me-163B built took part in combat operations. The plane did not have any noticeable effect on the course of the war. According to the foreign press, only one unit was actually combat-ready, which accounted for 9 downed bombers with its own losses of 14 aircraft.

At the end of 1944, the Germans made an attempt to improve the aircraft. To increase the flight duration, the engine was equipped with an auxiliary combustion chamber for cruising flight with reduced thrust, the fuel supply was increased, and a conventional wheeled chassis was installed instead of a detachable bogie. Until the end of the war, only one model was built and tested, designated Me-263.

In 1944-1945 Japan tried to organize the production of Me-163 type aircraft to combat B-29 high-altitude bombers. A license was purchased, but one of two German submarines, sent from Germany to Japan to deliver documents and technical samples, were sunk, and the Japanese received only an incomplete set of drawings. Nevertheless, Mitsubishi managed to build both the aircraft and the engine. The aircraft was given the name J8M1. On its first flight on July 7, 1945, it crashed due to engine failure while climbing.

The incentive to create rocket aircraft was the desire to find a means of counteraction in the conditions of the dominance of enemy aviation. Therefore, in the USSR, work on a fighter with a rocket engine, in contrast to Germany and Japan, was carried out in the initial stage of the war, when German aviation ruled the skies of our country. In the summer of 1941, V. F. Bolkhovitinov turned to the government with a project for a fighter-interceptor BI with a liquid-propellant engine, developed by engineers A. Ya. Bereznyak and A. M. Isaev.

Fig.4.65. Messerschmitt Me-163B

Fig.4.66. Fighter BI

Unlike the Me-163, the BI aircraft had a conventional design with a non-swept wing, tail unit and retractable wheeled landing gear (Fig. 4.66). The structure was made of wood and differed small in size, the wing area was only 7 m^2. The D-1A-1100 liquid-propellant rocket engine located in the rear fuselage developed a maximum thrust of 1100 kg. The military situation was difficult, so already on the first prototype, weapons were installed (2 cannons of 20 mm caliber) and armor protection for the pilot.

Flight tests of the aircraft were delayed by forced evacuation to the Urals. The first flight took place on May 15, 1942, pilot G. Ya. Bakhchivandzhi). It lasted just over three minutes, but nevertheless went down in history as the first flight of a combat aircraft with a rocket engine. () After replacing the aircraft's airframe, caused by damage to its structure by steam nitric acid, used as an oxidizer, test flights continued in 1943. On March 27, 1943, a disaster occurred: due to a violation of stability and controllability due to the occurrence of shock waves on high speed(they didn’t even suspect this danger then) the plane spontaneously went into a dive and crashed, Bakhchivandzhi died.

Even during testing, a series of BI fighters was laid down. After the disaster, several dozen unfinished aircraft were destroyed, recognizing them as dangerous to fly. In addition, as tests have shown, a reserve of 705 kg of fuel and oxidizer is enough for less than two minutes of engine operation, which cast doubt on the very possibility practical application airplane.

There was another, external reason: by 1943, it was possible to establish large-scale production of propeller-driven combat aircraft, which were not inferior in characteristics to German aircraft, and there was no longer an urgent need to introduce new, little-studied and therefore dangerous equipment into production.

The most unusual of the rocket-powered aircraft built during the war was the German Ba-349A Natter vertical take-off interceptor. It was designed as an alternative to the Me-163, designed for mass production. The Va-349A was an extremely cheap and technologically advanced aircraft, constructed from the most affordable types of wood and metal. The wing did not have ailerons; lateral control was carried out by differential deflection of the elevators. The launch took place along a vertical guide about 9 m long. The aircraft was accelerated using four powder accelerators installed on the sides of the rear fuselage (Fig. 4.67). At an altitude of 150 m, the spent rockets were dropped and the flight continued due to the operation of the main engine - the Walter 109-509A liquid rocket engine. At first, the interceptor was aimed at enemy bombers automatically, using radio signals, and when the pilot saw the target, he took control. Approaching the target, the pilot fired a salvo of twenty-four 73-mm rockets mounted under the fairing in the nose of the aircraft. Then he had to separate the front part of the fuselage and parachute to the ground. The engine also had to be parachuted out so it could be reused. It's obvious that this project was ahead of the technical capabilities of the German industry, and it is not surprising that flight tests at the beginning of 1945 ended in disaster - in the mode vertical take-off the plane lost stability and crashed, killing the pilot.

46* The Me-163L flew as an experimental one, without weapons.

Fig.4.67. Launch of the Va-349A aircraft

Not only were they used as a power plant for “disposable” aircraft rocket engines. In 1944, German designers experimented with a projectile aircraft equipped with a pulsating air-jet engine (Pvrjet) and intended for operations against sea targets. This aircraft was a manned version of the Fieseler Fi-103 (V-1) winged projectile, which was used to bombard England. Due to the fact that when operating on the ground the thrust of the thruster is negligible, the aircraft could not take off on its own and was delivered to the target area on a carrier aircraft. The Fi-103 did not have a landing gear. After separating from the carrier, the pilot had to take aim and dive onto the target. Despite the fact that there was a parachute in the cockpit, the Fi-103 was essentially a weapon for suicide pilots: there was extremely little chance of safely leaving the plane with a parachute during a dive at a speed of about 800 km/h. Until the end of the war, 175 missiles were converted into manned projectile aircraft, but due to numerous disasters, they were not used during testing in combat.

The Juncker company tried to convert unclaimed aircraft into Ju-126 attack aircraft, installing landing gear and cannon armament on them. Takeoff was to be carried out from a catapult or using rocket boosters. The construction and testing of this machine took place after the war, according to an order issued by the USSR to German aircraft designers.

The Me-328 was to be another manned projectile with a jet engine. Its tests took place in mid-1944. Excessive vibration associated with the operation of pulsating air-jet engines led to the destruction of the aircraft and interrupted further work in this direction.

Truly efficient jet aircraft were created on the basis of turbojet engines, which appeared after the problem of heat resistance of structural materials for turbine blades and combustion chambers was solved. This type of engine, compared to a ramjet or a ramjet, ensured take-off autonomy and caused less vibration, and compared to a liquid-propellant rocket engine, it compared favorably with 10-15 times lower specific fuel consumption, no need for an oxidizer, and greater operational safety.

The first fighter with a turbojet engine was the German Heinkel He-280. Design of the machine began in 1939, shortly after testing the experimental He-178 jet aircraft. Under the wings were 2 HeS-8A turbojet engines with a thrust of 600 kg each. The designer explained the choice of a twin-engine scheme as follows: “Experience in working on a single-engine jet aircraft has shown that the fuselage of such an aircraft is limited by the length of the air intake and the nozzle part of the power plant. With such an engine installation scheme, it was very difficult to install weapons, without which the turbojet aircraft was of no interest militarily. I saw only one way out of this situation: the creation of a fighter with two engines under the wing."

Otherwise, the aircraft was a conventional design: a metal monoplane with a non-swept wing, a wheeled landing gear with a nose gear and a twin-tail tail. At the beginning of the tests, there were no weapons on the aircraft; cannons (3x20mm) were installed only in the summer of 1942.

The first flight of the He-178 took place on April 2, 1941. A month later, a speed of 780 km/h was reached.

The He-178 was the world's first twin-engine jet aircraft. Another innovation was the use of a pilot ejection system. This was done to ensure rescue at high speeds, when a strong speed pressure would no longer allow the pilot to independently jump out of the cockpit with a parachute. The ejection seat was fired from the cockpit using compressed air, then the pilot himself had to disconnect the seat belts and open the parachute.

The ejection system came in handy just a few months after the start of testing of the He-280. On January 13, 1942, during a flight in bad weather conditions, the plane became icy and stopped obeying the controls. The catapult mechanism worked properly, and the pilot landed safely. This was the first practical use of a human ejection system in aviation history.

Since 1944, by order Technical department The German Ministry of Aviation ordered that experimental versions of all military aircraft have only ejection seats. The ejection system was also used on most production German jet aircraft. Until the end of the Second World War, there were about 60 cases of successful ejection of pilots in Germany.

At the initial stage of the war, Hitler’s military leadership did not show much interest in Heinkel’s new aircraft and did not raise the question of its mass production. Therefore, until 1943, the He-280 remained an experimental machine, and then the Me-262 appeared with better flight characteristics, and the Heinkel jet program was closed.

The first production aircraft with a turbojet engine was the Messerschmitt Me-262 fighter (Fig. 4.68). It was in service with the German Air Force and took part in combat operations.

Construction of the first prototype Me-262 began in 1940, and from 1941 its flight tests took place. Initially, the aircraft was flown with a combined installation of a propeller engine in the nose of the fuselage and 2 turbojet engines under the wing. The first flight with only jet engines took place on July 18, 1942. It lasted 12 minutes and was quite successful. Test pilot F. Wend el writes: “The turbojet engines worked like clockwork, and the handling of the machine was extremely pleasant. In fact, I have rarely felt such enthusiasm during the first flight of any aircraft as on the Me 262.”

Just like the He-280, the Me-262 was a single-seat all-metal cantilever monoplane with 2 turbojet engines in nacelles under the wing. The landing gear with a tail support was soon replaced, following the model of the He-280, with a three-wheeled one with a nose wheel; such a design was better suited to the high takeoff and landing speeds of a jet aircraft. The fuselage had a characteristic cross-sectional shape in the form of a downward expanding triangle with rounded corners. This made it possible to retract the wheels of the main landing gear into niches in the lower surface of the fuselage and ensured minimal interference resistance in the area of ​​the wing and fuselage joint. The wing is trapezoidal in shape with a sweep along the leading edge of 18°. The ailerons and landing flaps were located on the trailing straight edge. The Jumo-004 turbojet engines with a thrust of 900 kg were launched using a gasoline two-stroke starter engine. Thanks to the greater engine power than the He-280, the aircraft could continue to fly when one of them stopped. The maximum flight speed at an altitude of 6 km was 865 km/h.

Fig.4.68. Messerschmitt Me-262

In November 1943, the Messerschmitt jet was demonstrated to Hitler. This was followed by a decision to mass produce the aircraft, however, contrary to common sense, Hitler ordered it to be built not as a fighter, but as a high-speed bomber. Since the Me-262 did not have space for an internal bomb bay, the bombs had to be suspended under the wing, and due to the increased weight and aerodynamic drag, the aircraft lost its speed advantage over conventional propeller-driven fighter aircraft. Only almost a year later, the leader of the Third Reich abandoned his mistaken decision.

Another circumstance that delayed the serial production of jet aircraft was difficulties with the production of turbojet engines. These include design problems associated with frequent spontaneous stops of Jumo-004 during the raid, and technological difficulties due to the lack of nickel and chromium for the manufacture of heat-resistant turbine blades for Germany, blocked from land and sea, and production disruptions due to increasing bombing Anglo-American aviation and the resulting transfer of a significant part of the aircraft industry to special underground factories.

As a result, the first production Me-262s appeared only in the summer of 1944. In an effort to revive the Luftwaffe, the Germans rapidly increased the production of jet aircraft. By the end of 1444, 452 Me-262s were produced. in the first 2 months of 1945 - another 380 vehicles |52, p. 126 |. The aircraft were produced as a fighter with powerful weapons (four 30-mm cannons in the forward fuselage), a fighter-bomber with two bombs on pylons under the wing, and a photo reconnaissance aircraft. At the end of the war, the main aircraft factories were destroyed by bombing, and the production of aircraft and parts for them was carried out in small factories, hastily built in the wilderness to make them invisible to aviation. There were no airfields; the assembled Me-262s had to take off from a regular highway.

Due to the acute shortage aviation fuel and the pilots, most of the Me-262s built never took to the air. However, several jet combat units took part in the fighting. The first air battle between the Me-262 and an enemy aircraft occurred on July 26, 1944, when a German pilot attacked the high-altitude English reconnaissance aircraft Mosquito. Thanks to better maneuverability, the Mosquito was able to evade pursuit. Later, Me-262s were used in groups to intercept bombers. Sometimes there were skirmishes with escort fighters, and there were even cases when a conventional propeller-driven aircraft managed to shoot down a faster, but less maneuverable jet fighter. But this happened rarely. In general, the Me-262 demonstrated superiority over conventional aircraft, primarily as interceptors (Fig. 4.69).

In 1945, in Japan, which received from the Krupp company the technology for the production of heat-resistant steels for turbines, a Nakajima J8N1 "Kikka" jet aircraft with 2 Ne20 turbojet engines was designed based on the Me-262 model. The only flight-tested aircraft took off on August 7, the day after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. By the time Japan surrendered, there were 19 Kikka jet fighters on the assembly line.

The second German aircraft with turbojet engines used in combat was the multi-role twin-engine Arado Ar-234. It began to be designed in 1941 as a high-speed reconnaissance aircraft. Due to difficulties with fine-tuning the Jumo-004 engines, the first flight took place only in mid-1943, and mass production began in July 1944.

Fig.4.64. Altitude and speed characteristics of Spitfire XIV and Me-262 aircraft

The plane had an upper wing. This arrangement provided the necessary clearance between the ground and the engines installed under the wing during takeoff and landing, but, at the same time, created a problem with retracting the landing gear. At first they wanted to use a jettisonable wheeled trolley, like on the Me-163. But this deprived the pilot of the opportunity to take off again in case of landing outside the airfield. Therefore, in 1944, the aircraft was equipped with a conventional wheeled landing gear that retracted into the fuselage. To achieve this, it was necessary to increase the size of the fuselage and rearrange the fuel tanks (Ar-232B version).

Compared to the Me-262, the Ar-234 was larger in size and weight, and therefore its maximum speed with the same engines was lower - about 750 km/h. But the plane could carry three 500-kg bombs on external slings.(). Therefore, when in September 1944, the first combat unit of Arado jets was formed. they were used not only for reconnaissance, but also for bombing and ground support for troops. In particular, Ar-234B aircraft carried out bombing attacks on Anglo-American troops during the German counter-offensive in the Ardennes in the winter of 1944-1945.

In 1944, the four-engine version of the Ar-234С was tested (Fig. 4.70), a two-seat multi-purpose aircraft with reinforced cannon armament and increased flight speed. Due to a shortage of jet engines for German jet aviation, it was not built in series.

In total, about 200 Ar-234 were manufactured until May 1945. As in the case of the Me-262, due to an acute shortage of aviation fuel, by the end of the war about half of these aircraft did not participate in combat.

The oldest German aircraft manufacturing company Juncker also contributed to the development of jet aviation in Germany. In accordance with the traditional specialization of designing multi-engine aircraft, it was decided to create a heavy jet bomber, the Ju-287. Work began in 1943 on the initiative of engineer G. Vokks. By this time it was already known that to increase Mkrieg in flight, a swept wing should be used. Vox proposed an unusual solution - to install a forward-swept wing on the aircraft. The advantage of this arrangement was that stall at high angles of attack occurred first in the root parts of the wing, without loss of aileron functionality. True, scientists warned about the danger of severe aeroelastic deformations of the wing during forward sweep, but Voks and his like-minded people hoped that during the tests they would be able to solve strength problems.

47* The entire internal volume of the fuselage was occupied by fuel tanks, because Turbojet engines were distinguished by higher fuel consumption compared to LANs.

Fig 4.70. Arado Ar-234С I

Fig.4.71. Ju-287 bomber prototype

To speed up the construction of the first sample, they used the fuselage from the He-177 aircraft, and the tail unit from the Ju-288. Four Jumo-004 turbojet engines were installed on the aircraft: 2 in nacelles under the wing and 2 on the sides of the forward fuselage (Fig. 4.71). To make takeoff easier, launch rocket boosters were added to the engines. Tests of the world's first jet bomber began on August 16, 1944. In general, they gave positive results. However, the maximum speed did not exceed 550 km/h, so they decided to install 6 BMW-003 engines with a thrust of 800 kg on the production bomber. According to calculations in this case, the aircraft was supposed to carry up to 4000 kg of bombs and have a flight speed of 865 km/h at an altitude of 5000 m. In the summer of 1945, the partially built bomber fell into the hands of the Soviet troops, was brought to flight condition by the hands of German engineers and sent to the USSR for testing.

In an effort to turn the tide of hostilities through the mass production of jet aircraft, the German military leadership in the fall of 1944 announced a competition to create a cheap fighter with a turbojet engine, unlike the Me-262, suitable for production from the simplest materials and without the use of skilled labor. Almost all the leading aviation design organizations took part in the competition - Arado, Blom and Voss, Heinkel, Fizlsr, Focke-Wulf, Juncker. The Heinkel-He-162 project was recognized as the best.

The He-162 aircraft (Fig. 4.72) was a single-seat, single-engine monoplane with a metal fuselage and a wooden wing. To simplify the assembly process, the BMW-003 engine was installed on the fuselage. The plane had to have the simplest flight equipment and a very limited resource. The armament consisted of two 20 mm cannons. According to the plans of the Ministry of Aviation, it was planned to produce 50 aircraft in January 1945, 100 in February, and then increase production to 1000 aircraft per month. The Non-162 was to become the main aircraft for the Volksturm militia created by order of the Fuhrer. The leadership of the youth organization Hitler Youth was instructed to as soon as possible train several thousand pilots for this aircraft.

The Ne-162 was designed, built and tested in just three months. The first flight took place on December 6, 1944, and already in January serial production of the vehicle began at skilled enterprises in the mountainous regions of Austria. But it was already a verse too late. Before the end of the war, only 50 aircraft were put into service, another 100 were prepared for testing, and about 800 Non-162s were at various stages of assembly. The plane did not participate in hostilities. This made it possible to save the lives of not only soldiers of the anti-Hitler coalition, but also hundreds of German youths: as tests of the He-162 in the USSR showed, the aircraft had poor stability, and the use of 15-16-year-old teenagers as pilots with virtually no flight training ( all the “training” consisted of several glider flights” would be tantamount to killing them.

Fig.4.72. Heinkel He-162

Most early jet aircraft had straight wings. Among production vehicles, the exception was the Me-163, but the sweep in this case was due to the need to ensure longitudinal balancing of the tailless aircraft and was too small to significantly influence the Mkrit.

The occurrence of shock waves at high speeds caused a number of disasters, and, unlike propeller-driven aircraft, the wave crisis did not occur during a dive, but in horizontal flight. The first of these tragic incidents was the death of G. Ya. Bakhchivandzhi. With the start of mass production of jet aircraft, these cases have become more frequent. This is how Messerschmitt test pilot L. Hoffmann describes them: “These disasters (according to credible witnesses) occurred as follows. The Me 262 aircraft, after reaching high speed in horizontal flight, spontaneously went into a dive, from which the pilot was no longer able to recover the aircraft succeeded. It was practically impossible to establish the causes of these disasters through investigation, since the pilots did not survive, and the planes completely crashed. As a result of these accidents, one Messerschmitt test pilot and a number of military pilots were killed."

Mysterious accidents limited the capabilities of jet aircraft. Thus, according to the instructions of the military leadership, the maximum permissible speeds of the Me-163 and Me-262 should not exceed 900 km/h.

When, towards the end of the war, scientists began to guess about the reasons for aircraft being pulled into a dive, the Germans remembered the recommendations of A. Busemann and A. Betz about the advantages of a swept wing at high speeds. The first aircraft in which the sweep of the lifting surface was chosen specifically to reduce wave drag was the Juncker Ju-287 described above. Shortly before the end of the war, on the initiative of the company's chief aerodynamicist Arado R. Kozin, work began on creating a version of the Ar-234 aircraft with a so-called sickle-shaped wing. The sweep at the root was 37°, decreasing to 25° towards the ends of the wing. At the same time, thanks to the variable wing sweep and special selection of profiles, it was intended to ensure the same Mcrit values ​​along the span. By April 1945, when the company's workshops were occupied by British troops, the modified Arado was almost ready. Later, the British used a similar wing on the Victor jet bomber.

The use of sweep made it possible to reduce aerodynamic drag, but at low speeds such a wing was more susceptible to stall and gave a lower Sumax compared to a straight one. As a result, the idea of ​​a wing with variable sweep in flight arose. Using the mechanism for turning the wing consoles, the minimum sweep had to be set during takeoff and landing, and the maximum at high speeds. The author of this idea was A. Lippisch

Fig.4.74. DM-1 at Langley Aerodynamic Laboratory, USA

Fig 4.75 Horten No-9

After preliminary aerodynamic studies, which showed the possibility of a noticeable “mitigation” of the wave crisis when using a low aspect ratio wing (Fig. 4.73), in 1944 Lippisch began creating a non-motorized analogue of the aircraft. The glider, named DM-1, in addition to the delta wing of low aspect ratio, was distinguished by an unusually large vertical fin (42% of the S wing). This was done to preserve directional stability and controllability at high angles of attack. Inside the keel was the pilot's cabin. To compensate for the redistribution of aerodynamic forces on the wing at transonic speed, which was to be achieved during a steep dive from a high altitude, a system was provided for pumping water ballast into the tail tank. By the time Germany surrendered, construction of the glider was almost completed. After the war, the DM-1 was transported to the USA for study in a wind tunnel (Fig. 4.74)).

Another interesting technical development that appeared in Germany at the end of the war was the Horten No-9 flying wing jet. As already noted, the “tailless” design was a very convenient arrangement of jet engines in the fuselage, and the swept wing and the absence of the fuselage and tail ensured low aerodynamic drag at transonic speeds. According to calculations, this aircraft with two Jumo-004B turbojet engines with a thrust of 900 kg should have had a V„n *c“945 km/h |39, p. 92 |. In January 1945, after the first successful flight of the Ho-9V-2 prototype (Fig. 4.75), the Gotha company was given an order for a trial series of 20 vehicles, the production of which was included in the German emergency defense program. But this order remained on paper - the German aviation industry was already inoperative by that time.

The political situation stimulated the development of jet aviation not only in Germany, but also in other countries, primarily in England, the main rival of the German Air Force in the early years of the war. This country already had the technical prerequisites for creating jet aircraft. aircraft: in the 1930s, engineer F. Whittle worked there on the design of a turbojet engine. The first operational samples of Whittle engines appeared at the turn of the 30s and 40s.

Unlike German engines, which had a multi-stage axial compressor, English turbojet engines used a single-stage centrifugal compressor, developed based on the design of centrifugal superchargers for piston engines. This type of compressor was lighter and simpler than an axial one, but had a noticeably larger diameter (Table 4.16).

48* It should be said that Lippisch was not the first to propose a low aspect ratio delta wing for high-speed aircraft. Before the war, such projects were put forward by A. S. Moskalev and R. L Bartini in the USSR. M Glukharev in the USA, etc. However, these proposals were of an intuitive nature. The merit of the German designer is that he was the first to scientifically substantiate the advantages of a delta wing for supersonic speeds.

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