Oddball, Experimental, or One-off

[red750]

The Dassault Mirage G, also known as the Mirage IIIG, is a variant of the French Dassault Mirage series of supersonic warplanes, but with a variable-sweep wing. Three prototypes were flown; one single-engined G and two twin-engined G8 examples (which had begun construction as the G4). Various roles, equipment fits and other variants were proposed, but none entered production., 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[red750]

41 minutes ago, facthunter said:

In regard to the Landing  air cushion, Is THAT Successful? I can't see how you'd stop or steer it in a x wind.  Nev

Apparently not. Only one research model converted.

[skippydiesel]

6 minutes ago, red750 said:

Apparently not. Only one research model converted.

I imagine it would have similar handling characteristics to landing on water. You would always land/TO into wind. Stopping may involve reverse thrust and /or reducing the aircushion height to increase drag/friction with the ground.

 

While the idea does not seem to have found favour, I can see how it may be helpful for freight landings/TO on unconsolidated (soft) surfaces😈. The extra weight of the inflation system, would likly reduce payload considerably.😈

[facthunter]

 A float Plane has a Keel.   On land you can't always land into wind  and stopping would be very chancy from Normal touchdown speeds. Reverse thrust is Most effective early .   Nev

[red750]

The CAC CA-31 (also known as the Sparrowhawk) was a supersonic lead-in fighter-trainer and light attack aircraft designed by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) in the 1960s to bridge the gap between subsonic trainers and the supersonic Dassault Mirage III for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). 

 

Although a full-scale mockup was constructed and the design was refined to include a Rolls-Royce RB.172 Adour turbojet engine capable of Mach 1.5 speeds, the project was cancelled in 1970 after the RAAF decided to procure the two-seat Mirage trainer variant instead. 

 

[red750]

The Airmaster H2-B1 is a British two-seat ultralight helicopter built by Airmaster Helicopters of Camberley, Surrey.

 

The H2-B1 was designed with the co-operation of the builders of the American Helicom helicopter. Construction of the prototype, registered G-AYNS, was started in September 1970 and it was first flown from Redhill Aerodrome on 12 September 1972. It was intended that an improved H2-B2 variant would enter production but only the prototype H2-B1 was built.

 

The H2-B1 is a two-seat ultralight helicopter with a single two-bladed main rotor and a two-bladed tail rotor. The fuselage is a welded tubular structure skinned with aluminium and had two side-by-side configuration seats for the pilot and a passenger, it is also fitted with a skid landing gear, small wheels are fitted to allow the helicopter to be moved on the ground. The engine is a 100 hp (75 kW) Rolls-Royce Continental O-200-A air-cooled engine driving the main and tail rotors through a simple gearbox.

 

[onetrack]

Red, you already posted the above article, last Saturday at 11:39AM.

[red750]

The McDonnell XF-88 Voodoo was a long-range, twinjet fighter aircraft designed for the United States Air Force. Although it never entered production, its design was adapted for the subsequent supersonic F-101 Voodoo.

 

The XF-88 originated from a 1946 United States Army Air Forces requirement for a long-range "penetration fighter" to escort bombers to their targets. It was to be essentially a jet-powered replacement for the wartime North American P-51 Mustang that had escorted Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers over Germany. It was to have a combat radius of 900 mi (1,450 km) and high performance. McDonnell began work on the aircraft, dubbed Model 36, on 1 April 1946. On 20 June the company was given a contract for two prototypes designated XP-88. Dave Lewis was Chief of Aerodynamics on this project.

 

The initial design was intended to have straight wings and a V-shaped tail, but wind tunnel tests indicated aerodynamic problems that led to a conventional tailplane being substituted and the wings being swept. The USAAF confirmed the order for the two prototypes on 14 February 1947, while a change in designation schemes led to the unflown prototypes being re-designated XF-88 on 1 July 1948, with the type gaining the nickname "Voodoo".

 

The Voodoo had a low/mid-mounted wing, swept to 35°. The two engines, specified as Westinghouse J34 turbojets were in the lower fuselage, fed by air intakes in the wing roots and jetpipes beneath the rear fuselage. This made room in the long fuselage for the fuel tanks required for the required long range. The Voodoo's short nose had no radar, being intended to house an armament of six 20 mm (.79 in) M39 cannon, while the fighter's single pilot sat in a pressurized cockpit and was provided with an ejection seat.

 

[red750]

5 minutes ago, onetrack said:

Red, you already posted the above article, last Saturday at 11:39AM.

Oops. Forgot to add it to the index spreadsheet. With about 275 One-offs, it's hard to remember which ones have been done.

[pmccarthy]

10 hours ago, red750 said:

The McDonnell XF-88 Voodoo was a long-range, twinjet fighter aircraft designed for the United States Air Force. Although it never entered production, its design was adapted for the subsequent supersonic F-101 Voodoo.

 

The XF-88 originated from a 1946 United States Army Air Forces requirement for a long-range "penetration fighter" to escort bombers to their targets. It was to be essentially a jet-powered replacement for the wartime North American P-51 Mustang that had escorted Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers over Germany. It was to have a combat radius of 900 mi (1,450 km) and high performance. McDonnell began work on the aircraft, dubbed Model 36, on 1 April 1946. On 20 June the company was given a contract for two prototypes designated XP-88. Dave Lewis was Chief of Aerodynamics on this project.

 

The initial design was intended to have straight wings and a V-shaped tail, but wind tunnel tests indicated aerodynamic problems that led to a conventional tailplane being substituted and the wings being swept. The USAAF confirmed the order for the two prototypes on 14 February 1947, while a change in designation schemes led to the unflown prototypes being re-designated XF-88 on 1 July 1948, with the type gaining the nickname "Voodoo".

 

The Voodoo had a low/mid-mounted wing, swept to 35°. The two engines, specified as Westinghouse J34 turbojets were in the lower fuselage, fed by air intakes in the wing roots and jetpipes beneath the rear fuselage. This made room in the long fuselage for the fuel tanks required for the required long range. The Voodoo's short nose had no radar, being intended to house an armament of six 20 mm (.79 in) M39 cannon, while the fighter's single pilot sat in a pressurized cockpit and was provided with an ejection seat.

 

So what’s with the propellor?

[onetrack]

McDonnell modified one to a hybrid to test out propeller technology up to around Mach 1.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_XF-88_Voodoo

 

 

[red750]

As the Wikipedia article states, they were looking for a replacement for the P-51 Mustang. There were two prototypes to assess the comparative performance - the XF-88A, a jet powered version, and the XF-88B, a turboprop version.

[red750]

The Margański & Mysłowski EM-10 Bielik (English: white-tailed eagle) is a low-cost Polish military training aircraft prototype, built by Margański & Mysłowski Zakłady Lotnicze, and first flown on 4 June 2003. The single-engine aircraft has a composite (mostly carbon fibre) fuselage with a light-alloy aft section, and the pressurized cockpit is fitted with ejection seats.

 

[red750]

The Bell XV-3 (Bell 200) is an American tiltrotor aircraft developed by Bell Helicopter for a joint research program between the United States Air Force and the United States Army in order to explore convertiplane technologies. The XV-3 featured an engine mounted in the fuselage with driveshafts transferring power to two-bladed rotor assemblies mounted on the wingtips. The wingtip rotor assemblies were mounted to tilt 90 degrees from vertical to horizontal, designed to allow the XV-3 to take off and land like a helicopter but fly at faster airspeeds, similar to a conventional fixed-wing aircraft.

 

The XV-3 was first flown on 11 August 1955. The first prototype use three blade rotors, and had issue with flutter crashing two months after its first flight. Tests were conducted on the second prototype with 2-blade rotors and flew successfully.

 

Although it was limited in performance compared to later types, the aircraft successfully demonstrated the tiltrotor concept, accomplishing 110 transitions from helicopter to airplane mode between December 1958 and July 1962. The XV-3 program ended when the remaining aircraft was severely damaged in a wind tunnel accident on 20 May 1966. The data and experience from the XV-3 program were key elements used to successfully develop the Bell XV-15, which later paved the way for the V-22 Osprey.

 

The remaining prototype survived to the 21st century when it was restored by Bell, with a two-year restoration that included engineers that worked on the XV-3 originally. It was then transferred to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, where it was put on display.

 

[facthunter]

Looks dangerous. Like the Cure is worse than the disease. Nev

[red750]

The Heinkel He 178 was an experimental aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Heinkel. It was the world's first aircraft to fly using the thrust from a turbojet engine.

 

The He 178 was developed to test the jet propulsion concept devised by the German engineer Hans von Ohain during the mid-1930s. Having secured the industrial support of Ernst Heinkel, von Ohain was able to demonstrate a working turbojet engine, the Heinkel HeS 1, in September 1937. Heinkel pursued development of the He 178 as a private venture, independent of the German authorities and the Luftwaffe, keeping the aircraft relatively secret for much of its development. Heinkel was keen not only to demonstrate the capabilities of aviation gas turbines, but had a separate emphasis on developing high-speed flight technologies.

 

On 27 August 1939, the He 178 V1, the first prototype, performed its maiden flight, piloted by Erich Warsitz. This flight, which only lasted for six minutes, had been preceded by a short hop by the same aircraft three days prior. Due to its performance limitations, such as a maximum speed of 598 kilometres per hour (372 mph) and its relatively small endurance, the aircraft failed to impress high-ranking Nazi officials such as Ernst Udet and Erhard Milch, who attended a demonstration flight. Heinkel subsequently developed a twin-engined jet-powered fighter aircraft, building on the lessons of the He 178, to produce the He 280. The He 178 provided valuable test data to guide the development of subsequent jet-powered aircraft. The He 178 V1 prototype itself went on static display in Berlin for a time before it was destroyed by an Allied air raid on the city in 1943.

 

 

[red750]

Tsunami was a purpose-built racing aircraft designed and built in the United States during the 1980s. After a short undistinguished career Tsunami crashed, killing its designer, John Sandberg, on 25 September 1991.

 

After six years of building, the aircraft was first flown 17 August 1986 by Steve Hinton. It was designed specifically to break the 3 km world speed record for propeller driven aircraft by a private pilot and to compete in the Unlimited class at the Reno Air Races.

 

The aircraft was designed by Bruce Boland, an aerospace engineer employed by Lockheed Martin, John R. Sandberg, owner of JRS Enterprises Inc (rebuilders of Allison and Rolls-Royce aircraft engines), Lockheed engineer Pete Law and builder Ray Poe. Tsunami, powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, designed and built by John R. Sandberg and the JRS Enterprise Inc. team, exceeded 500 mph (430 kn; 800 km/h).

 

Originally, it was designed as a light-weight racer with a single-staged supercharged Rolls-Royce Merlin. However, as speed increased in the Unlimited Racing Class, a higher powered two-stage supercharged Rolls-Royce Merlin was installed. An attempt was made in August 1989 to break the 3 km (1.9 mi) world speed record at Wendover Utah with a private pilot at the controls. Due to a landing gear collapse the aircraft was unable to beat the existing record.

 

Despite being very fast, in its racing career from 1986 to 1991 it only won one Unlimited Gold Race, in Sherman, Texas in 1990.