Experimental German Aircraft

[Swordsman]

Anyone interested in German aircraft should look at this fantastic website. http://www.luft46.com

[bryson109]

Link does not work you need to get rid of the '.

http://www.luft46.com

[jaybond]

We all know that many of the German jet designs are very futuristic looking. Why was the flying wing-style aircraft never been adopted for military aircraft production by other nations until we saw the B-2 Spirit? Why wait until 1980s?

[Swordsman]

We all know that many of the German jet designs are very futuristic looking. Why was the flying wing-style aircraft never been adopted for military aircraft production by other nations until we saw the B-2 Spirit? Why wait until 1980s?

I don't know, good question, perhaps the Germans were so far ahead that it took a long time to catch up with them. Also what about the flying saucers that the Germans invented in the war, why aren't they in production?

[Davide Pastore]

We all know that many of the German jet designs are very futuristic looking. Why was the flying wing-style aircraft never been adopted

Flying wings are a bit older than that:
http://www.century-of-flight.freeola.co ... 0Wings.htm
http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/dunne.html

Additionally, the contemporary projects of other nations were not different from German ones. German ones are just better known !!!

See the warbird below: it's an artist's impression of a project dated 6 october 1942 (Boulton-Paul P.100) and I bet it's way ahead of anything German-designed at the same date.

Davide

[Kim Sung]

www.luft46.com

Interesting~!

[Topspeed]

is it a Libelulla II ?

Jack Northrop made those flying wing kites back in the 40ies too.

[Davide Pastore]

That Libellula seems a much-smaller kin of the huge Vickers Type C (december 1942 drawing) depicted in the cover below.
64m span, 29m length, 80-ton (including 25t of bombs) T/O weight, 6x turbocharged Centaurus, 615Kmh

Davide

[jaybond]

The German saucers are very obscure in its existence. But definitely , flying saucers are such a phenomena after the war. Many people linked it to the German saucer technology. But the thing is, even if the German saucer & its technology was real, why we never saw even a slightest piece of it after 60 years?(minus the Avrocar, not too radical\unconventional in concept) Not even on space programmes?!

[Topspeed]

Flying Pancake.

This caused notions for flying saucers from the US citizens.

This is the most successfull LUFT46 product..several models made as models..also flying. Different gear though.

http://www.luft46.com/heinkel/helerche.html

[Davide Pastore]

The German saucers are very obscure in its existence.

Have you read the thread about Foo-Fighters?
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 4&start=45

Davide

[Grzesio]

We all know that many of the German jet designs are very futuristic looking. Why was the flying wing-style aircraft never been adopted for military aircraft production by other nations until we saw the B-2 Spirit? Why wait until 1980s?

Because flying wing (and tailless aircraft to some degree) suffers from stability problems until it's equipped with fly-by-wire (i.e. artificial stability) system. It's particularly hard to control in yaw due to very close placement of the rudder(s) (if they are present at all; such an aircraft can also have too violent reaction to elevator and rudder movements, as theres no inertial 'dumping' normally caused by a long fuselage), then the pitch trim very significantly changes with changing speed of flight (what is caused by aerodynamical way of stabilizing tailles a/c in flight by using selfstabilizing wing profile or swept wings with twisted wingtips), what demands constant trim changes if we want the aircraft trimmed neutrally. Then, these non-computerized measures to stabilize the aircraft result in increased drag, what in turn lowers aerodynamical advantages of clean, low-drag flying wing airframe.

Regards

Grzesio

[JAJACEK]

is it a Libelulla II ?

No, it isn't. It's a Miles M.35. Libelulla was biggest, I think.

http://www.obliczahistorii.pl/samoloty/ ... art&art=24
http://www.miles-aircraft.com/Projects_ ... plane.html
or
http://www.aero51.plus.com/html/gallery/m39b.htm

[jaybond]

Topspeed, nice pictures you got there. But the original Lerche was supposed to take off vertically ?. So, the Flying Pancake is a working airplane , too bad it never saw action.It could be a worthy opponent to the Japanese Shinden .
Grzesio, good points ! Grazie Grzesio.

[Topspeed]

Pancake airborne by Giuseppe.