Boran Pivcic

Rare Aircraft – Messerschmitt Bf.108

February 2, 2010September 21, 2012Posted in Rare AircraftTagged Bf 108, Me-208, Noralpha, Nord 1002, Nord Pingouin, Taifun10 Comments

By me

TEMPORARY NOTICE: I’ve noticed today (16 September ’10) that EADS have apparently redesigned their Company History webpages and removed some of the photos I’ve linked to in this post (which now show up blank). I will try to and dig up where have they been moved to, but it may take awhile…

NOTICE NO.2: Due to my two-year-long failure to finally address the above (it really did take awhile as it turns out 😀 ) – and the new friendlier visual format of this blog – I’ve decided to outright rewrite and refresh the entire post, adding a bit of new information and photos, and correcting the odd mistake. This new & improved version – posted as of 21 September ’12 – can be seen here :).

When the first Bf.109s faced their German rivals in mock dogfights in the mid-30s, few observers – in any country – were left in any doubt about the potential of Messerschmitt’s first complete fighter design. International flying competitions in the years preceding WW2 had further underlined these impressions, while an all-up production run of almost 35,000 examples, spanning more than a decade in one form or another, and an impressive – though in the later stages of the war a bit diluted – combat record removed any doubt remaining.

A very advanced design by contemporary standards, the Bf.109 was not really ground-breaking per se; when all was said and done, it had not really introduced anything completely new into the rapidly advancing world of interwar aviation. What it had done however was combine all the cutting-edge technologies of the time into one airframe – the monoplane configuration with high wing loading; the powerful liquid-cooled V engine and its variable-pitch prop; retractable gear; the enclosed cockpit…

Two more of its immediately apparent trademark features were the automatic leading edge slats and – for a combat aircraft – very low weight, courtesy of a clever design philosophy that made the aircraft simple and cheap to build and quick & easy to service and maintain – not to mention making it tough, durable and reliable out in the real world. And while the big engines and retractable gear could easily be traced to some of the eminent combat aircraft of the time, these two were inherited from a far more unfighterish source – the Bf.108 tourer…

The Messerschmitt Stiftung’s beautiful Bf.108B-1 in some accurate historical colors (photo from: commons.wikimedia.org)

1. When I grow up I want to be a fighter!

The aircraft that would (among other things) lend most of its technical solutions and complete tail unit to the early Bf.109 started out in life as the four-seat* M.37 tourer of 1934. Designed by the young Willy Messerschmitt, Bayerische Flugzeugwerke‘s chief designer, the M.37 was intended to compete in the 4th Challenge de Tourisme Internationale being held that same year. This interesting general aviation competition – wish they held something like this today! – included categories such as “Short Takeoff”, “Short Landing”, “Fuel Consumption”, “Minimum Speed”, “Maximum Speed” and “Technical Trial”, as well as a 9500 km race across Europe and Northern Africa (that had also stopped in Zagreb! :D).

*though intended as a four-seater, the M.37s and the early 108s were operated as two-seaters, with the rear seats permanently removed to provide some storage space (with virtually all pre-Bf.108B versions having been used for races and flying competitions), giving the impression that they were outright designed for just two

Based partly on Messerschmitt’s previous M.29 – designed in a similar vein for the 1933 competition, but never taking part due to a spate of crashes – and the M.35 aerobatic trainer prototype, the M.37 was a sleek low-wing stressed-skin all metal monoplane with retractable gear, an enclosed cockpit, full-length flaps with roll control provided by roll spoilers (!) and a variable-pitch prop – just enough to make it that less inconspicuous among the wood and fabric biplane crowd :). The unorthodoxy continued under the skin as well: the wing was made around only one spar, a design that was made to work by Messerschmitt’s extensive glider building experience gained in the Versailles Treaty-limited post-WW1 period. The famous mechanical leading edge slats could be manually extended to greatly improve the airflow over the outer wing sections – which were likely to stall first – reducing the stall speed to just 61 km/h (33 kt). This in turn significantly shortened the take-off and landing rolls – not quite to STOL levels, but very close – and increased low-speed maneuverability and handling at high angles of attack.

The leading edge slats on the Bf.109. Interestingly though, these were a British innovation, patented by Handley-Page several years before. To be able to use them, Messerschmitt had traded the build rights to his own patented design, the aforementioned single-spar wing (photo from: German Bundesarchiv via Wikipedia)

As with the wing, the whole design philosophy was to make the aircraft as simple as possible, with the fewest realistic number of parts used to create a light and durable airframe. Functional minimalism. And it had worked – compared to other (later) metal aircraft of similar design, the M.37 was indeed among the lightest and best performing. Official flight testing prior to the competition was marked by the general enthusiasm of all the pilots that had flown it, prompting the German aviation ministry – the Reichsluftfahrtministerium, RLM – to give the aircraft a tentative green light as the Bf.108. Of note here is the oft-confused designation: “Bf” obviously stood for the initials of Bayerische Flugzeugwerke; however, when the company was renamed into Messerschmitt Flugzeugwerke in 1938, all subsequent designs were given the “Me” prefix. The designs that had been produced prior to the name change kept their old prefixes – so there never really was an “Me-108” as can be found in some Internet sources.

However, despite all its qualities, one aspect of the aircraft raised doubts among some test pilots – the roll spoilers. With the full length of the trailing edge taken up by the flaps – increasing the wing area by a whopping 8% when extended – there was no space for any ailerons; roll control was then provided by spoilers on each wing that would create a difference in lift between the wings. For example, if you had wanted to turn left, the roll spoiler on the left wing would extend, disrupting the airflow over it and reducing lift. The right wing would now be producing more lift and sort of tip the aircraft around its center of gravity, causing the aircraft to roll to the left. This was fine in theory – and is used on a number of civil and military aircraft today – but back then it was eyed with suspicion and more than its fair share of antagonism. This came to a head when test pilot von Dungern was killed in a 108 while testing the spoilers, presumably somewhere near the edge of the envelope.

With the RLM’s well documented dislike of Messerschmitt threatening to ground the 108 – like it had the M.29 a year before – there was no other option but to revert to a conventional aileron arrangement. “Conventional” should be taken with a grain of salt though, because the resulting arrangement still managed to raise an equal number of eyebrows…

You can see that Messerschmitt was adamant with his high-lift devices: shortening the flaps a bit, he managed to just squeeze in two small 30-cm wide ailerons, lengthened to make up for their lack of span :). Note also the upper tailplane bracing that would be removed on later versions. The aircraft pictured was one of the four intended for the race – and one of three actually competing – and is to that end coded “11” (photo from: http://www.network54.com/forum)

In this form the aircraft became known as the Bf.108A, the designation under which it would be entered in the competition. It’s beautiful handling and avantgarde features did not help its case there though, when the far lighter, nimbler and simpler wooden aircraft wiped the floor with it for most of the competition…

Yet, the Bf.108A did notch up several wins, all of which would steer its later development into the tourer we know today. The top three aircraft in the “Fuel Consumption” category for example were all 108s – with the winner notching up an impressive 10 kg (14 l)/100 km. This number, in many cases exceeded by today’s SUVs, was made even more impressive by the fact that the 108A was not powered by some microscopic fuel-sipping engine, but a 220 HP Hirth HM 8U inverted V8 (how’s that for a GA engine? :D). This had also helped in the “Maximum Speed” event, where the 108s again took the first three places, with the slowest – at 283 km/h – being 30 km/h faster than the next contender. The trans-Europe race was less of a success, with one 108A, flown by Theo Osterkamp, placing fifth – but the result was due more to external influences (weather and navigation) and the scoring system (points being based on the total average cruise speed, including stationary periods, which meant a weather delay for example would cause a decrease in the average) than the aircraft itself. Indeed, when everything fell into place, the 108s had regularly posted the highest flying average speeds – including the leg to and from Zagreb :).

In total, when the competition tally was done, the three 108s were ranked 5th, 6th and 10th (out of 19). But more importantly, their demonstrated low fuel consumption, high speed and beautiful handling – and comfy leather seats! – had lent them well to cross-country touring. A clean, aerodynamic airframe able to go fast on not much power – sounds very much like the Lancairs, Cirruses and Diamonds of today, doesn’t it? 🙂

Another quarter view of “11”. The early pre-series production 108s were the only members of the family to sport VDM three-bladed props (photo from: http://www.eads.net)

This did not slip past the then cash-strapped BFW, where Messerschmitt had decided to capitalize on the type’s success by adapting it for series production. To this end, a batch of pre-production Bf.108B-0 models was made (though they were still commonly known as the Bf.108A) with each successive aircraft representing a slight move toward the production standard.

In 1935, these had also started making a name for themselves – quite literally. The fastest light tourer in the sky, it was chosen by famous German aviatrix Elly Beinhorn for her record-breaking flight from Berlin to Constantinopole (now Istanbul, Turkey) and back. Her little 108B-0 had more than lived up to its Taifun nickname, taking just 13 and a half hours to cover the 3,470 km trip, flying along at a respectable average groundspeed of 257 km/h (139 knots).

Bf108GermanynrD-IBUMsvlmetEllyBeinh — Ms. Beinhorn and “Taifun” posing after their long flight. Easily seen here is the A/B-0 model’s “bathtub” cowling for the Hirth engine (photo from: http://www.luftarchiv.de)

Success like this had opened the floodgates and the 108’s already considerable popularity skyrocketed (as much as it could have in the general aviation scene of the 30s). The full potential of the design had immediately become obvious at the BFW works, where Messerschmitt set about turning the 108B-0 into the definite four-seater, a true cross-country airplane. The result was the Bf.108B-1, now adopting Taifun as its official name :).

Ms. Beinhorn posing in a production Bf.108B-1, sporting the type’s distinctive “Messerschmitt Taifun” logo (photo from: http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au)

The idea behind this version was to make the aircraft more production- and consumer-friendly, so first to go was the A model’s powerplant. The expensive and hard-to-come-by VDM variable pitch propeller was replaced with a simpler and cheaper two-blade fixed pitch prop (though an Me P7 two-blade variable-pitch unit was offered as an option), while the HM 8U engine was swapped for the readily available 240 HP Argus Ar 10C inverted V8. The wing too was made a bit duller by the reversion to a fully conventional aileron/flap arrangement – though it had also gained a wing folding mechanism (at the root) for easier transport by road or rail. The slats were now made automatic, extending at a certain speed by air pressure. Additional minor changes included the removal of the upper tailplane bracing mentioned previously, the replacement of the next-to-useless tailskid with a tailwheel, and the shortening of the glazed canopy over the rear seats.

In this role and form, the 108B-1 had continued to participate in international competitions, rallies and fairs – most notably the 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin – but this time under the increasingly ominous banner of Nazi propaganda. Indeed, even before WW2, the fast-growing Luftwaffe had been eying the 108 as a liaison and communications aircraft to replace the obsolete and lumbering biplanes then being used.

A later Bf.108B-2 in a pre-war civil scheme, showing off some of the changes from the A model. Note the shallower and more oval cowling, the less-extensively glazed canopy and the tall tailwheel (photo from: http://www.network54.com/forum)

However, the 108’s biggest contribution to the Wermarcht’s war effort was as the basis – the parts donor if you will – for the amazing Bf.109. In a fascinating display of lateral thinking, in 1934 Messerschmitt simply took the plans for the 108A and modified them into a single-seater with a narrower fuselage, a big V12 up front – a Rolls-Royce Kestrel for the first prototype, proving that irony was alive and well back then – and some boom booms in the slightly modified wings. Apart from the changes needed to fit all of these together, the rest was all 108 :).

The fourth prototype of the Bf.109, the Bf.109V4 (which served as the model for the first production B series). When you remove the deeper and narrower fuselage, you can see many elements of the 108’s design – including the tail unit. Even the pilot’s seat was in the same place as the rear seats on the 108 (photo from: http://www.tgplanes.com)

A production Bf.109B of the Legion Condor during the Spanish Civil War. The early versions’ radiator was – as is visible here – mounted below the nose as opposed under the wings in E and later models, giving this version a clearer Bf.108 lineage (photo from: http://www.hrvatski-vojnik.hr)

While the wildly differing roles of these two aircraft may have raised some doubts, the 108’s base design turned out to be just the thing for the new fighter. It’s simple construction meant the 109 was light and maneuverable – and we all know how that turned out in the early stages of the war – and it’s relatively low parts count meant it was simple to maintain and repair out in the field with facilities and tools at hand. Lacking complicated whizz-bang construction elements meant it was far more tolerant of combat damage and the chances of a disastrous “lucky” shot disabling the entire aircraft were greatly reduced. At the same time, the clean airframe did not want for performance, so the 109 could do with less power than a similar aircraft – quite a welcome feature given its notoriously short range.

2. Oh, the irony!

Having had the (mis)fortune of being the most advanced light aircraft in the world during a period of turbulent political changes, the 108B-1 had quickly accumulated its fair share of odd operators. Apart from the “usual” ones such as Bulgaria, China and Japan, there were a couple of… unexpected ones to say the least, including the Royal Yugoslav Air Force. The dozen or so examples bought in 1939 were part of a larger batch that had also included approximately 60 Bf.109Es and quantities of spare parts – all paid for not with actual money, but in strategic materials such as iron, aluminium, copper and coal, materials abundant in the lands of former Yugoslavia, but scarce and badly needed for the war buildup in Germany. While the 108s were to lead relatively uneventful lives in the training and communications roles, the 109s would enter the history books during the German invasion of 1941 as the only time Bf.109s would ever face Bf.109s in outright aerial combat :).

Š-08 (“Š” for “školski”, literally meaning “schooling type”) at a field that could even be Borongaj 🙂 (photo from: http://www.network54.com/forum)

Yugoslav 108s were well known for their interesting paint schemes, with camouflage ones like the above behing the most prevalent (picture from: http://www.network54.com/forum)

Next on the scale of improbable is the – the US military :D. While it wasn’t uncommon for the USAAF to fly and test captured Axis aircraft, the single Bf.108B-1 – bought by the US Military attaché to Berlin in 1939 – had never left Germany and was used as a high-speed staff transport. Designated the XC-44, this aircraft was flown all the way until 1941 when it was repossessed by the German government following the US’ formal declaration of war on the Axis powers following Pearl Harbor.

Quite possibly one the rarest paint job ever to be applied to a Messerschmitt 🙂 (picture from: http://www.network54.com/forum)

But by far the most interesting 108s were the Messerschmitt Aldons, the designation of four examples impounded by the RAF at the beginning of WW2. Used in the communications role, the 108 had proved to be the fastest type for that purpose in the UK, though its close semblance to the Bf.109 was to cause some worrying “identification problems” among defending RAF fighters…

(and for those of you who think “How can the 108 possibly be mistaken for a 109?”: the first of the long-nose RR Griffon-engined Spitfires – the Mk XIIs – were delivered with clipped wingtips, intended to improve roll rate and increase speed at low altitudes, a feature well known and seen on a number of previous marks. On the ground, the Spitfire’s famous elliptic wing planform was still more than obvious in spite of the change. Up in the air however, on their first few sorties, only their new-found speed advantage kept them from being shot out of the sky by patrolling Hawker Typhoons which had mistaken them for attacking 109s… and these are Spitfires, well removed – on the ground – in shape, form and color from any version of the 109).

One of the four Aldons painted in standard RAF camo colors (photo from: Wikipedia)

I must say, the 108 looks quite handsome in this scheme :). But despite the big RAF roundel, they were sometimes mistaken for 109s in the confusion or air combat (picture from: http://www.network54.com/forum)

Another catchy scheme, which again didn’t help in matters of identification… (picture from: http://www.network54.com/forum)

The post-war period too saw its share of odd 108 operators, including Czechoslovakia (where the type was known as the K-70), Poland and the Soviet Union, all of which had flown a few aircraft captured during the final days of WW2. For the full photo history of the 108’s civilian and military service around the world, you can visit these two excellent pages, a goldmine from which I’ve linked many of the above photos:

3. Western promises:

Unlike its armed cousin, the 108 did not go through new versions like pairs of socks. Apart from the Bs, there was only one other major production version; and aside from that there were curiously few experimental models as well. But what they lacked in quantity they had certainly made up in quality…

By far and away the most normal of these was the C-1, an ungainly looking 1936 modification that had seen the standard B airframe fitted with a Siemens Sh 14A-4 7 cylinder radial, churning out just 160 HP. Combined with the radial’s large cross-section – which necessitates more power to overcome drag – and 80 HP (33%!) less power than the Argus engine, you can imagine why this was a one-of model…

Used solely for propaganda purposes during the 1936 Olympic Games, the C-1 had managed to clock up 21.600 km without incident, shuttling film rolls of the games between Berlin and Stockholm. Abysmally underpowered, it was later re-engined back to the standard Argus V8 (photo from: http://www.network54.com/forum)

At the other end of the spectrum was a never-built version that some sources also label as a C-1 (it could entirely be possible that the designation was re-used). Diametrically opposed to the Siemens model, this C-1 was to have been a high-speed version, fitted with a Hirth HM 512 inverted V12 that would have developed a whopping 400 HP on takeoff! 🙂 Ground testing in 1938 had shown that the airframe started experiencing noticeable vibration above 325 km/h, which progressively became so severe that it had threatened to tear the airframe apart. Given the scope of engineering changes that would have been necessary to make this work, the project was quietly dropped…

That the only way was up – literally – was demonstrated in 1939 by a specially modified high-altitude 108B-1, built to capture the altitude record for its class. Fitted with a turbocharged Hirth HM 508 inverted V8 producing 270 HP (and also providing bleed to a pressurized cabin), it had reached an impressive 9,125 m (29,930 ft) of altitude in the hands of Hirth’s boss, Hermann Illg.

The series production models were less exciting however – and were suffering from an acute case of Cessna Skyhawk-itis as well :D. If you took 10 random Skyhawks of the same model and same production year and lined them up, I guarantee that you’d be able to find at least one unique feature or option on each of them… a double landing light here, the static port moved to there, an instrument layout just that little bit tweaked… The Bf.108 was no different, with options from one version sometimes being used on another, which made sorting them by model numbers a bit difficult – but after roving the Internet far and wide I think I managed to nail it (at least in general terms):

B-1 – the already described base model
B-2 – generally similar, but with the wing fold system removed and the variable pitch Me P7 prop fitted as standard. These versions could easily be recognized by the thinner metal prop blades connecting within the spinner hub
D-1 – produced from 1941, this was the first model intended outright for military use and featured a modified vertical stabilizer, improved fuel feed system, a more powerful electric system, vertical speed indicator, windscreen wiper and a constant speed propeller (whose crowned spinner became the model’s distinctive outside feature) being turned by an As 10R engine of the same output as the C model. It should be noted here that “variable pitch” and “constant speed” propellers are not quite the same thing: a constant speed propeller will automatically regulate the pitch of the propeller blades to maintain the same RPM regardless of throttle setting. The variable pitch system however will only change the pitch to a preset setting (sort of like shifting up a gear in a car), with the RPM still regulated by the throttle

A beautiful lineup of what I believe are B-1s. The source of the photo, http://www.eads.net, says these are D-1s, but the fixed pitch props (note how the props are single piece and go around the spinner) raise some doubts…

Despite the Bf.108 not being the best-looking tourer the world has ever seen, it does have an elegant and purposeful appearance (photo from: http://www.eads.net)

A Bf.108B-2 (by the looks of the prop) inflight. Though not as fast as today’s high-end piston singles, the 108 has much more class :). You’d attract far more looks with this than with any Cirrus… (photo from: http://www.eads.net)

The only photo of the original D-1 I could find… (photo from: http://www.preservedaxisaircraft.com, taken by: Alexander Hurrle)

For visual recognition: the same type of spinner as on the D-1 as seen on a Pilatus P2 (photo from: http://www.pilatus-p2.de)

The D-1 would also be the last Bf.108 version produced in Germany before production was transferred to France at the beginning of 1942. In a bid to free up domestic production capacity for badly needed Bf.109s, the Bf.108B-2 and D-1 were allotted to the Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautique du Nord, SNCAN, just outside Paris, where they would remain till the end of the war – with interesting consequences.

Following the liberation of France, SNCAN – having produced just 170 aircraft in two years, out of the original type’s total run of about 880 – was left with a significant number of uncompleted airframes and engines. Deciding it’d be a waste to throw them all away – and desperate to gain a foothold in the country’s recovering economy – the top brass at SNCAN had decided to restart production of the aircraft, but this time as the Nord Pingouin (what an insult – demoted from a typhoon to a cute polar animal :D). The base model, the Nord 1000, was virtually identical to the Bf.108B-2, using the same German engines and systems up till now standing around in the company’s warehouses.

Apart from French colors, there was very little to distinguish the 1000 from the Bf.108B-2 – except for the provision of the B-1’s wing fold mechanism (picture from: http://www.network54.com/forum)

Once these were exhausted, it was a relatively simple matter to remanufacture the aircraft from the original plans, the production tooling being already set up and waiting. However, the engines had proved to be a bigger problem, having been imported from Germany (where the Argus factory was leveled in the mean time). To get around this, SNCAN had decided for the easiest method – using a locally built engine of similar power. The only one available was the 233 HP Renault 6Q-11 6 cylinder inverted inline, giving the new Nord 1001 Pingouin I a significantly pointier nose than the Bf.108’s. A generally similar Nord 1002 Pingouin II – the most common variant – differed only in having a slightly more powerful (and right-turning) 240 HP 6Q-10 engine, bringing the power rating up to Bf.108 levels (not that the 7 HP mattered much). In total, 286 Pingouins were produced, bringing the overall 108 total to above 1,100 examples (unfortunately I could not find the year French production ended – but with the aircraft remaining in service till the early 60s, and their low production volume, I’d wager a guess that 1950 or thereabouts could be the year).

A Nord 1002 in early Bf.109A colors. Note the deeper and longer nose for the taller (but narrower) 6Q engine (photo from: http://www.airventure.de)

Nord 1002 @ Airliners.net (photo 1)

Nord 1002 @ Airliners.net (photo 2)

Nord 1002 @ Airliners.net (photo 3)

Note: some of the surviving aircraft had later been retrofitted with “normal” Lycoming and Continental piston engines and have a shorter, broader and more oval cowling. For the sake of simplicity, I decided to represent only the original Renault engine models here…

4. A (third) leg to stand on:

In the meantime, back during 1943, SNCAN – under guidance from Messerschmitt – was working on modifying the Bf.108B-2 with tricycle gear, which was coming into vogue at the time. The two prototypes converted as such were designated the Me-208 – in line with the designation issue mentioned previously – but only one had survived the war intact, to be renamed the Nord 1100 Noralpha. Like with the base 108, SNCAN had decided to finish the design and market it – having already done 90% of the work – with the result being the Renault 6Q-10-engined Nord 1101 (known as the Ramier in French Air Force service) whose production ran to the 205 example mark.

One of the surviving Noralphas during a tipsy landing. Though very similar to the Me-208, the Noralpha was already starting to significantly depart visually from the Bf.108 (photo from: http://www.flugzezginfo.com, taken by Mr. Karsten Palt)

Nord 1101 Noralpha engine shot @ Airliners.net

Like the 108, the Noralpha had a knack for testing out different engines :). Along with the planned, but never built, Renault 6Q-11-engined 1102 Noralpha II, the 1104 was a one-of model equipped with a Spanish Potez 6Dba engine of identical 6 cyl configuration and the same 240 HP as the 6Q-10.

But the ultimate expression of power – indeed of the entire 108 design – were the two 1959 Nord 1110s, re-engined with not a puny piston, but a 550 HP Turbomeca Astazou II turboshaft (lifted from a helicopter)! One of the two, registered F-AZNR, is still alive and flying today :).

A beautiful atmospheric shot of the sole surviving 1110 by Mr. Eric Hennequin (photo from: Mr. Hennequin’s Flickr gallery, click on the photo for the link)

F-AZNR @ Airliners.net (photo 1)

F-AZNR @ Airliners.net (photo 2)

5. Penguins and Typhoons live longer:

Today, it is estimated that there are 25-30 flying Bf.108s remaining worldwide (though I’m not sure whether that includes the Nords as well), a number being operated – naturally – in Germany, and by no less than Lufthansa’s and Messerschmitt’s “history flights” (the Deutsche Lufthansa Berlin Stiftung, www.dlbs.de, and Messerschmitt Stiftung respectively). Lufthansa’s example, D-EBEI – quite possibly the most famous 108 today – also proves that there is some humor left in today’s straight-face corporate world: for irony doesn’t quite cover a Bf.108 Taifun named Elly Beinhorn… 😀

D-EBEI @ Airliners.net (photo 1)

D-EBEI @ Airliners.net (photo 2)

While virtually all survivors were retrofitted with modern constant-speed prop units, one great-looking B-1 model, D-EBFW, is still proudly sporting its fixed pitch prop :).

D-EBFW @ Airliners.net (photo 1)

D-EBFW @ Airliners.net (photo 2)

For more modern photos – there are some beautiful ones and it wouldn’t make sense to cram them all in here – you can visit these Airliners.net “galleries” I’ve linked below, sorted by type:

6. Bf.108 Specifications:

A table view of the specs for various production Bf.108s (B-1, B-2 and D-1). Click the image to for the bigger version. Pingouin numbers were broadly similar (taken from: http://www.network54.com/forum – or simply click on the Aeronet Aviacion Part 1 link)

7. Version overview:

Reading through this prior to posting it, I’ve decided it’d be a prudent move to sum up all the Bf.108/Nord versions in one place, as trying to keep track of all of them was giving me a headache :). This is only a quick list with some distinguishing features, for reference:

M.37 – the first prototypes, used for initial flight testing, equipped with roll spoilers
Bf.108 – the designation adopted during tests, structural identical to the M.37
Bf.108A – 1934 competition aircraft modified with ailerons
Bf.108B-0 – pre-production versions
Bf.108B-1 – the first production version, with folding wings, Argus Ar 10C and fixed pitch prop
Bf.108B-2 – B-1 with the folding wings removed and the Me P7 variable-pitch prop fitted as standard
Bf.108C-1 – the Siemens radial model and/or the proposed HM 502 V12 model
Bf.108D-1 – final German production version fitted with a constant-speed prop, As 10R engine, more powerful electrics and miscellaneous small changes, produced mostly in France
Me-208 – two prototypes of the Bf.108B-2 modified with tricycle gear
Nord 1000 Pingouin – post-liberation Bf.108B-2s produced by SNCAN from existing fuselages and Argus engines
Nord 1001 Pingouin I – 1000s fitted with the Renault 6Q-11 233 HP engine
Nord 1002 Pingouin II – 1000s fitted with the 240 HP, right-turning 6Q-10 engine
Nord 1100 Noralpha – the surviving Me-208 prototype
Nord 1101 Noralpha I/Ramier – production-standard 1100s fitted with the 6Q-10 engine
Nord 1102 Noralpha II – 6Q-11 engine model, never built
Nord 1104 Noralpha – Potez 6Dba testbed
Nord 1110 – two 1101s re-engined with 550 HP Turbomeca Astazou II turboprop engines

Sources:

Airliners.net
Aeronet Aviacion Forum, Post 1, Post 2 and Post 3
Aviation Ancienne (in French)
EADS History (in French)
NZWarbirds.org.nz

Short Photo Report – A Mid-Winter Shakeup

January 20, 2010July 13, 2011Posted in General AviationLeave a comment

By me
All photos me too, copyrighted

With Zagreb stuck in the rut of typical winter weather – 2000 ft cloudbases, marginal visibility at best, temperatures just below freezing, the occasional psychotic heavy snowfall – and still no flying weather on the horizon, it was decided that AK Zagreb should clear out the hangar and give everything with an engine a good run up. The engines having sat idle for more than a month in temperatures only slightly higher than those outside, there was a real worry that something might seize later on if they weren’t given a thorough shakedown, to get their oil flowing :).

And for awhile, on the Sunday morning (17 Jan) chosen for the job, everything looked set to go. The temperature was hovering at around 0 C – which meant no engine preheat was necessary – and the weather, though misty and close, was calm and stable. For awhile…

CCH_001 — Thankfully it wasn't snowing... 9A-CCH waiting around for the avgas dripping from the cylinders to evaporate after two unsuccessful startup attempts. After pulling the prop through all four compression strokes twice to spread the oil around the cylinders, "pumping" the throttle and adding two primer strokes, the engine wouldn't start beyond an initial cough for love nor money. 7-8 further attempts and 20 minutes later, the engine finally came alive - but not before it was overprimed, leaking fuel through the cylinder valves...

DBU_001 — 9A-DBU was far less of a hassle, seen here roaring at full throttle and giving itself a thorough shakedown

DDA_001 — Plugged into a Ground Power Unit supplying electrical power for startup (it's battery having been removed and discharged for protection while it was in the hangar), AK Zagreb's rarely-seen Piper Warrior is given a workout at the entrance to the hangar. Quite a loud experience standing there between three walls... 🙂

hangar_001 — With everything out in the snow, the hangar looked quite commodious :). 9A-DDA is seen (still) flooring it, while part of the "workforce" - that had been recruited for the task of pushing everything out - is just standing there, having dropped all attempts at meaningful conversation in all the noise

Post Update 2 – Technical Museum Aircraft (Again)

January 16, 2010July 13, 2011Posted in History, Museums, Plane's Anatomy / Tech, Rare AircraftTagged Technical Museum Zagreb, Tehnički muzej2 Comments

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With a growing fascination for the Technical Museum and the few – but fine – aviation exhibits within, today I was back there yet again, camera ready to cover anything I had missed in my previous report :). A definite case of I-need-a-life-ism, but my research for the first post on the topic had revealed that the Museum had definitely traded quantity for quality (or rather rarity), so I was naturally keen to see what else was I missing out on…

YU-CGT_002 — This odd-looking little thing is an ex-Yu UTVA BC-3, popularly known as the "Trojka" ("Three"). Developed shortly after WW2 by Boris Cijan - hence BC - for Ikarus as the model 251, and later produced by UTVA, only 80-ish of these this fabric-covered trainer/tourers were ever made

YU-CGT_003 — While not the most beautiful aircraft ever designed, the BC-3 did apparently provide excellent visibility from the cockpit. Weighing only 600 kg, a 65 HP Walter Mikron engine provided sufficient power

YU-30-15_001 — Oddly suitable against all the wood, YU-30-15 (also referred to as YU-3015) is an ex-Yu UTVA Jastreb ("Hawk") glider. Couldn't find out much about it except that it had been operated by AK Ljubljana in Slovenia

YU-5153_002 — For those who don't find open cockpits exciting enough, we have the UTVA Čavka ("Jackdraw") :). Designed by Ivan Šoštarić back in 1939, gliders of this type were in use all the way to till the 70s, proving easy to fly (contrary to the way they look) and easy to maintain (precisely the way they look)

Pretty much the only aircraft in contemporary Croatian colors in the Museum, this Albatros AE-209 ultralight is also the newest - and feels decidedly out of place among the biplanes and early gliders 🙂

Something a little bit different now :). The tail section of what my friends in the know say is a Hurricane. The donor was probably one of the Hurricane Mk.IVs operated by the YuAF in the years following WW2 (being passed down from either the Partisan Air Force or the RAF's Balkan Air Force)

YU-HAL_001 — The previously featured YU-HAL from a more flattering perspective :). I'm not sure it will be visible, but this helicopter has the entire control panel moved to the side of the cockpit, rather than in front of the pilot. Don't know if this is a standard feature on the whole type though... note also the exposed tail rotor pitch control mechanism running on top of the tail boom

DAR9_001 — An artsy difference in size :). The DAR-9's 160 HP 7-cyl radial against the Thunderbolt's monstrous 2500 HP twin row 18 cylinder volcano

DAR9_002 — A small, noisy engine, an open cockpit and a view full of wing and bracing wires... I must admit I envy the people who get to fly my two favorite German biplanes 🙂

FHN_001 — Biplanes galore! Too bad they're just museum pieces...

Suck, Squeeze, Bang, Blow:

Having said in the original post that I had only photographed the engines I thought interesting – and given my post-visit realization that EVERYTHING in the Museum is interesting 😀 – I decided to go back there and properly finish the job. And I’m glad I did, because quite a few gems had managed to sneak by me that first time…

Engines_Alfa115 — First up is the Italian Alfa Romeo 115-I. Produced in 1937 (when the design - based on the de Havilland Gypsy Six - was just a year old), this specific engine produced 195 HP out of six inverted inline cylinders. It's rather diminutive size and power meant it was suitable for training, liaison and reconnassance aircraft

Engines_Alfa126 — Also from Italy is the Alfa Romeo 126-RC-34 of 1935. Based on the British Bristol Pegasus, this 9 cyl 750 HP engine saw use on a number of famous Italian aircraft - such as the Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 Pipistrelo transport and the curvy SM.79 Sparviero three-engine medium bomber - as well as some Junkers Ju-52 transports

Engines_Alfa126_2 — Out back. With 11,000 built, the 125/126/128 family powered virtually all Italian three-engined aircraft (the different sub-types being based on different versions of either the mentioned Bristol Pegasus or the company's Jupiter engine)

Engines_Cyclone — A legend I cannot believe I had missed - the Wright GR-1820 Cyclone 9, here in its 760 HP F-56 variant. One of the great radial engines of WW2, in all variants it had powered dozens of aircraft, including the B-17 Flying Fortress, the original DC-2 and -3, the legendary Douglas Dauntless divebomber, the FM-2 Wildcat (a Grumman F4F produced under licence by General Motors), the Grumman HU-16 Albatross amphibian and the Lockheed Hudson, one of the first American contemporary aircraft to see combat in WW2

Engines_Hiero — Something from Austria for a change :). One of the oldest engines on display, this 214 HP six-cyl was produced in Vienna in 1912! A search on the net gives indication that this could be a Hiero 6 or a Hiero E, designed by Otto Hieronimus, used on a number of WW1 reconnassance aircraft

Engines_Jupiter — Labeled simply as a "Jupiter" and produced in Belgrade in 1935 (in the then Kingdom of Yugoslavia), I believe this 500 HP engine is a licence-built version of the British Bristol Jupiter. Produced widely under licence in more than a dozen countries worldwide, the original Jupiter - one of the most reliable radials of all time - had naturally evolved into a number of different designs; some of the more interesting ones are the Bramo 323 Fafnir - powering (ironically) Germany's Focke-Wulf Fw.200 martime patrol aircraft and the superlative Dornier Do-17 light bomber (as well as the experimental Focke-Angelis Fa.223 helicopter!) - the Alfa Romeo 126-RC-35 (a close relation of the -34 featured several photos up), as well as the Soviet Union's Shvetsov M-22, powering the famous Polikarpov I-16 fighter

Engines_LD12 — And now, an oddity... a inline 6-cyl labelled as the French Lorraine-Dietrich 12Eb. However, all sources on the net state that the 12Eb was a W12 - of similar configuration to the Benz Bz.DV featured in the previous post - so I've no idea what to make of this. The plaque says the engine was built in 1928 and produced 450 KS, which sounds a bit much for a 6-cyl...

Engines_LD13 — More Lorraine-Dietrich confusion (it's becoming obvious they're French, no? :D) with the LD13. A V12 from 1924 (according to the plaque), this engine produces 400 HP - but I couldn't find any trace of it on the net, so it too is left open to interpretation 🙂

Engines_Mercury — Another - less controversial - legend: the Bristol Mercury :). During its rather long lifetime, it had powered a number of notable designs including the Blenheim light bomber and the Gloster Gladiator - one of the world's last biplane fighters - as well as the relatively successful Polish PZL.11 fighter and Sweden's SAAB 17 fighter-bomber. This specific engine was produced in 1935 and developed 850 HP

Engines_Mercury_2 — An interesting little structural tidbit - the Mercury's reduction gearbox :). This permitted the engine to run at a high number of RPM, while keeping the prop at a lower number to keep its tips below the speed of sound

Engines_Salmson — Another small, unobtrusive, but very interesting gem :). The plaque identifies this as a "Salmson", produced by GAZ in Russia in 1918. Salmson, a French engineering company, is noted - not widely unfortunately - for being one of the first companies to make purpose-built aircraft engines. This engine, stated as producing 120 HP, is I believe a Salmson 9, though my internet search noted that that model used to produce significantly more power...

Alfa_crank — And to finish this report off, a very rarely seen part of the aircraft engine - the crankshaft :). This particular one is from an Alfa Romeo engine, but it didn't say which one - a 6 cyl (probably inline) by the looks of it...

Post Update – Zagreb Technical Museum Engines

January 15, 2010July 13, 2011Posted in History, MuseumsTagged Technical Museum Zagreb, Tehnički muzej1 Comment

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Apparently destined to make up all the time since my last childhood visits to the Technical Museum, yesterday I made my third trip there in the space of a month :). A friend had asked me to take her to see the exhibition, an opportunity I used to upgrade the visit to an unofficial aviation history tour :D. Along the way, stopping at the engine section, we had noticed something on one of the engines that had eluded me before…

You may have seen an odd trident-configuration Daimler-Benz piston engine of unknown type down near the end of the report. I had it labeled as a six cylinder, information I then used in my unsuccessful attempts to find out more about it on the net. In a brilliant demonstration of my skills of perception, I had only noticed yesterday that the engine was in fact – a 12 cylinder…

engines_BenzII — The original engine shot from the previous post. Note that on first sight it looks remarkably like a 6-cyl...

BzDV — A closer inspection however had revealled that what I had though to be cylinders were actually casings, with the cylinders themselves inside. At two per casing, this doubled the cylinder count 🙂

Armed with this new found knowledge, I once again roved the Internet and think I may have nailed it this time… apparently, this is not a Damiler-Benz, but a Benz Bz.DV, the first German 12-cyl aero engine :). Designed in 1914, it weighed 425 kg and produced 250 HP, but I could not find a list of aircraft that had used it…

Odd Photo Report – Zagreb Technical Museum

January 8, 2010July 13, 2011Posted in History, MuseumsTagged Technical Museum Zagreb, Tehnički muzej4 Comments

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All photos me too, copyrighted

With quite a strong feeling of shame, I must admit that the last time I had visited the Technical Museum here in Zagreb – all 30 minutes away by tram – was back in primary school, some 15 years ago. Though I had been there a few weeks ago for the opening of the Croatian military aviation photo exhibition (featured a couple of posts back), being parking-meter-limited I couldn’t really take a good, thorough look around…

I had however noticed several aircraft hanging about, so feeling a little aviation-photography deprived – and with the weather steadily changing from awful to worse – I promptly set course for the museum for this year’s first photo report… 🙂

YU-CGO_001 — Something homegrown to start this report off. A Fizir FNH, YU-CGO is (as far as I've been able to find out) one of the oldest Croatian aircraft surviving today, built sometime in the early 30s. Designed by Rudolf Fizir - Croatia's most successful aircraft designer - this biplane trainer could be equipped with either floats or normal wheeled gear, which, designed as modules, could be interchanged on each aircraft out in the field

YU-CLY_001 — Ah finally, one of my favorite biplanes - the Bücker Bu-131 Jungmann :). One of Germany's most successful pre-WW2 trainers, the Jungmann was extensively operated by a number of Axis and neutral countries

YU-CLY_003 — Operated also by the Axis-supported Ustaše movement during WW2, many of these aircraft found their way into civilian aeroclubs after the war. Along with a number of domestic types, the Bu-131 and the single seat Bu-133 Jungmeister added to the already significant variety of the "small aviation" scene

YU-CLY_004 — Not a particularly inspired shot, but showing quite an interesting detail of the fabric-covered Jüngmann - the stitching under the fuselage! 🙂 This is the first time I've seen this in person

109_001 — The mighty Thunderbolt! Rebranded as the F-47 during the post-WW2 USAF designation change, this aircraft (13109) was also an unlikely candidate for service in the 90s Civil War. It had been planned to overhaul and rearm it, but a lack of parts for the engine killed the idea off

109_002 — R-2800 power! Though the idea of turning this into a combat aircraft for the 90s seems iffy to start with, it wouldn't have been all that unique - before acquiring MiG-21s and Mi-24s, the Croatian Air Force had used Cessna 172s and UTVA-75s with shoulder-launched anti-tank missiles strapped under the wings, An-2s with "boiler bombs" (gas cylinders filled with explosives and shrapnel) and even converted Air Tractors and Cessna 188s with underwing weapon pylons and Soviet gunsights. One of the most famous modifications was what became popularly known as the "AnWACS", an An-2 modified with radar and various sensors to serve as an early warning and electronic warfare platform 🙂

40001_001 — The Technical Museum is also home to the Aero 3 prototype, coded 40001. This would eventually lead to - among other things - YU-CPC, our own example hidden away in the AK Zagreb hangar at Lučko (and previously featured here)

40001_002 — In company with the FNH to the right and an UTVA Trojka hanging above, 40001 represents one of the very few local showcases of ex-Yu aviation technology. Note also the provision of spaces for side exhausts, indicating that the airframe had been designed to accept different engines

Power on!

Along with the various flying machines, I had also stumbled upon an excellent collection of aircraft engines in an adjacent room :). I seem to remember seeing only one when I was here last time, so apparently the museum staff had been busy! 🙂 Though these are not all the engines on display, I had photographed the ones I had thought the most interesting…

Engines_merlin — Hail to the King! The most famous aircraft piston engine of all time, the legendary Rolls-Royce Merlin! 🙂 This is an early Merlin II, churning out 990 HP

engines_DB601 — Symbolic... to WW2 adversaries, the Merlin in the back and the 1160 HP Daimler-Benz DB601 inverted V12 in the foreground

engine_HS14AB — Something a bit rarer for a change, a Franco-Spanish Hispano Suiza 14AB 14 cylinder radial of 1935. Of interest is its twin-row layout - nicely shown here - with cylinders in the back row positioned between the cylinders in the front for better cooling. This specific engine was rated at 870 HP and used on the Potez 630 ground-attack aircraft of the late 30s

engines_walter — Something Czechoslovak for a change - a 160 HP Walter Minor 6-III. Like similar British engines of the period, it uses an unorthodox inverted straight six layout - and though designed in 1929, it is still in production today 🙂

engines_J35 — And finally something completely different - the General Electric/Allison J35 turbojet. The US' first axial-flow jet engine, it had cut its teeth on several well-known early jets such as the B-47 Stratojet prototype, the F-84 Thunderjet and the North American FJ-1 Fury, a carrier-based interceptor that would later evolve into one of the most famous jet fighters ever built - the F-86 Sabre (whose prototype was also powered by a J35)

Dakota Update – Found (relatively) Three More…

December 31, 2009July 13, 2011Posted in YuAF DakotasTagged YuAF Dakota11 Comments

By me

Having also posted photos of the Željava C-47 71212 on a local aviation forum, I was pleasantly surprised recently to find that some knowledgeable members had chimed in, keeping the discussion going with some very juicy details and stories of Dakotas in former Yugoslav service (both with the the YuAF and JAT, the state air carrier). Among these were the fates of three examples that had ended up with the South African Air Force – are still happily flying today in turboprop form! 🙂 So to update my small list – and with a lot of help from both the guys on the forum and the website they had directed me to – here goes:

1. 71237 / C-53D-DO / cn 11746:

A very interesting one this, apparently the only Skytrooper to have been operated by the YuAF. Essentially a stock C-47A fully adapted for paratroop drops, the Skytrooper was a common sight towards the end of the war, but few seem to have survived till today. Originally completed in 1943 as Hay Stack Annie – and taking part in the D-Day landings of 1944 – 71237 had served its first post-war decade in Scandinavia, where it flew for various small airlines before becoming part of the SAS fleet in 1949. Like all the three aircraft to be mentioned here, it was part of the batch bought from France in the 70s, serving with the French Air Force as 68819 from 1959 until it was transferred to the civil register as F-BRGI in November 1972. According to reports, it was sold to the YuAF “later that year”, operated now out of Zagreb (finally a local! 🙂 ). Just four years later, in 1979, it was back on the civil register as YU-ABW of the Obrazovni Centar Zračnog Saobraćaja (OCZS) training center, also based at Zagreb. Seeming to have bad luck with civil life, it was sold the same year to the Atlas Aircraft Corporation, becoming N8017Z – a “career path” also shared by the other two aircraft in this entry. Like them it would be returned to army life with the SAAF in 1981, where it became 6875. Today, it is a smart C-47TP, fittingly fitted with Pratt & Whitney PT6s 🙂 (of note, this is not the more common Basler BT-67 conversion, but a broadly similar South African modification – many thanks to Marko Beloglavec for the correction).

Could do with a bit of a wash - but no matter, it's still flying (I think)! (photo from: http://www.dc-3.co.za, a click will take you there 🙂 )

2. 71241 / C-47A-15DK / cn 12704:

71241, an “ordinary” C-47A this time, has had an even more interesting life. Manufactured in 1944, it was transferred to the Soviet Air Force the same year (an interesting fact, given the license-built Li-2 had entered service five years before), which had in turn passed it to the reborn Polish Air Force within several months. Following the end of the war, it had served with LOT Polish Airlines for 14 years, being sold to Finland as OY-AIC (a Nordic theme seems to be emerging here 🙂 ). Heading south, it had then flown with the French Air Force as 92857 – and on the civil register as F-BRGM – until sold to the YuAF in the later part of 1972. Like 71234, it was based at Zagreb and became YU-ABU of OCZS in 1979, while its subsequent “career path” had seen it registered as N8071X with Atlas Aircraft Corporation and 6887 with the SAAF, where it too received the C-47TP turboprop conversion in 1995.

Looking even better than 71234... 🙂 (photo from: http://www.dc-3.co.za)

3. 71254 / C-47B-1-DK / cn 14101/25546:

Finally a confirmed B model! 😀 The only one of the three ultimately ending up on the civil register, 71254 had followed the usual USAF-French AF-YuAF path, flying as 348285 and F-BTDE while in France. A bit of a registration melee ensued, the aircraft first becoming 71254 (1972) and then YU-ABV (1979), N8071Y (1979), 6880 (1980), N330RD (2000), ZS-OJL (South African civil register), 9U-BHL (Burundi, raising a few eyebrows) and finally back to South Africa as ZS-OJM, where it remains to this day, flying for the Red Cross :).

Good to see the old workhorse, 65 years old, still going strong in tough conditions! Like the previous two, it was converted to a C-47TP turboprop in 1995 (photo from: http://www.dc-3.co.za)

4. The tally:

With the total now at eight aircraft – about a sixth of the number bought, if my calculations are correct – this is coming along pretty nicely :). So far we have:

71203
71212
71214
71237
71241
71248
71254
71255

Hopefully I’ll be able to dig out more info of my own soon, just as soon as I get my head out of my ATPL studies and realize that yes, there is a world with fresh air outside… 😀

Rare Aircraft – McDonnell 119/220

December 24, 2009July 13, 2011Posted in Rare AircraftTagged McDonnell 119, McDonnell 2205 Comments

By me

While the Lockheed JetStar may have been the only bizjet quad to see service, it certainly wasn’t the only such type built (thankfully for us aero-obscurists :D). At about the same time in the mid 50s, McDonnell – then still not associated with Douglas – started work on a design of their own, the little-known, but quite interesting (and in retrospect unjustly unlucky) Model 119.

What a handsome and striking thing! The one and only Model 119 back in happier days at the beginning of the program. If the JetStar was your own private VC-10, this is definitely your own private DC-8 🙂 (photo from: http://www.boeing.com/history)

1. A fish on dry land:

The genesis of the 119 – not “MD-119” as is sometimes thought – bears some striking parallels to that of the JetStar. Quite apart from the fact that both were aiming for the same USAF Utility Cargo Experimental (UCX) tender, the 119 was as much of a “shot out of the blue” for McDonnell as the JetStar was for Lockeed. An already-famed manufacturer of carrier-borne combat jets (and the occasional odd land-based fighter), McDonnell was as much of a first choice for the personnel transport UCX as the then all-civilian Lockheed had been for the fast-climbing P-38 Lighting interceptor. Yet the P-38 worked – in no small part due to Lockheed’s outside-the-box approach – so there was no reason or basis to discount the innovative McDonnell just yet…

Far from it in fact, for McDonnell’s pluckiness and appetite for unorthodox solutions had already put the company on the proverbial map. Though today much overshadowed by its merger with Douglas in 1967, McDonnell had notched up several achievements by the time of the 119, including:

the XP-67 Bat (or Moonbat according to some sources), McDonnell’s first aircraft which was pretty much one of the few aircraft to actually live up to it’s name :). A very advanced twin-engine interceptor, the XP-67 had attempted to blend everything on the airframe into the wing, trying to create the most aerodynamically-perfect aircraft at the time…

xp67 — Promising to be able to outrun anything in the skies, the XP-67 was - like the XP-55 Ascender mentioned in the Starship article - too an advanced a design for the technology available at the time...

the FH Phantom, the first American jet aircraft to land on a carrier, and – with Lockheed’s P-80, the only American jet to be developed to something near operational status before the end of WW2
the F2H Banshee, the follow-up to the Phantom and one of the key jet fighters of the Korean War (and arguably, alongside Grumman’s F9F Panther, the most important Navy jet)
and the F-101 Voodoo, after some teething troubles the USAF’s premier high-speed reconnaissance aircraft – and the proving point for the configuration and technologies used on one of the world’s most prolific and famous fighters to be, the F-4 Phantom II

Despite these not being quite the exact references needed for the UCX tender, McDonnell’s team – strengthened now by designers with transport aircraft experience – went ahead with the Model 119 design undaunted. Hey, if Lockheed could do it – whose entry wasn’t even designed outright for the role! – so could they…

2. Great minds think alike…

While McDonnell and Douglas hadn’t started cooperation before the merger talks of 1963, when the prototype 119 was rolled out in 1958 it had definitely warranted an “Any similarity to the DC-8 is purely accidental” sticker :). And while the 707 and DC-8 – flying in 1957 and mid-1958 respectively – were aesthetically pleasing designs, according to many the 119 took their layout to a new level…

Though some say it looks like a mini-707, to me the 119 looks more like a short-body DC-8, the -10 to -50 versions, with the wings, sleek and slim fuselage and pointy vertical stabilizer...

Indisputably fine aesthetics aside, the design was also quite intelligent and very well thought out (for its intended mission). The classic – and today unique – layout meant the engines could be easily accessed for repair and removal, while their separation into individual pods meant that a catastrophic failure of one engine wasn’t likely to affect the other, as would be the case on the JetStar. The pods and pylons themselves were strengthened to support the aircraft and protect the wing fuel tanks and fuselage from damage during a wheels-up landing; indeed, being considerably below the fuselage and right on the aircraft’s center of gravity meant they could act as pretty good skids in an emergency.

Operationally this yielded another advantage: with the engines below the wing and not out back, the cabin could be roomier; and not having a huge mass of exotic metals yanking the tail down all the time meant more flexibility with distributing the payload inside. This in turn meant that if you had wanted to equip yer 119 in a “cattle class” configuration, you could comfortably squeeze 26 people inside!

The low-slung engines meant that sucking in foreign objects - debris, dirt, ground crews 🙂 - was a very real possibility. To reduce this as much as possible, the engines were fitted with special square intakes that prevented the formation of vortices that could suck up objects from the runway (photo from: n303wr Flick gallery)

Being built with McDonnell’s customary sturdiness – brought to you by a manufacturer constantly watching their planes being crashed onto ships – the 119 was normally a tad heavier than the JetStar, tipping the scales at 20.5 tons at maximum takeoff weight versus the JetStar’s 19.4. To propel this not at all insignificant mass, the 119 was to be powered by the same Pratt & Whitney JT12 turbojets as the JetStar – but as these were unavailable for some reason, the decision was made to use the slightly less powerful Westinghouse J34s (quite an ironic choice, given the problems the company’s unreliable J40 afterburning turbojet was giving McDonnell’s F3H Demon carrier-based fighter).

Despite the somewhat lower power, the 119 had promised to be quite a performer, with a 45,000 ft ceiling, 840 km/h cruise speed and 3700 km range against a 70 knot headwind – an impressive set of numbers any way you put it. Thinking ahead as to how could this be improved with the new engine technologies then appearing on the horizon, the design team was also working in parallel on a trust reverse-equipped version, powered by General Electric CF700 turbofans, that would be able to operate in and out of 1,500 meter runways – a tremendous achievement for a rough-and-tough ’50s transporter that could now cruise at 900 km/h at the same time.

A three-way view of the 119, sporting the extended air data probe used during testing (photo from: http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/mcdonnell_119-220.php)

Back in the present, the sole Model 119 prototype – registered N119M – had made its maiden 49-minute flight on 11 February 1959. All that was left was to hand it over to the USAF and see what their test pilots would make of it… 🙂

3. Want a jet? Anyone?

With a design as good as this, the design team felt that they had produced an aircraft more than adequate for the role. Backed by enthusiastic comments from the air force test pilots that flew it, morale within McDonnell was high – right up until August 1959, when the UCX contract was suddenly awarded to Lockheed…

The blow, when it came, had put McDonnell in an unenviable position, with a one-of – and consequently quite expensive – blue-white albatross sitting on their hands. Rather than chop it up, and hoping to salvage the situation, McDonnell again offered the 119 to the USAF, this time rebranding it as a multipurpose high speed platform capable of filling the roles of a bombardier and navigation trainer, electronic countermeasures trainer, air communications service aircraft (a role eventually taken up by the military JetStar, the C-140A), interception radar trainer, flying electronics testbed, high-speed bulk cargo hauler, EMS aircraft… you name it and it was probably somewhere on the list :).

MD119 — Imagine what impression this must have made taxiing around the airport... even today, this would turn a lot of heads 🙂

However, the answer was still a firm “no”, which again left McDonnell desperate for some way to sell the 119 and recover at least some of the funds invested in its development. Following the same path as Lockheed – which had from the start intended the JetStar to be of two worlds, serving as both a military transport and civil business jet – McDonnell quickly sought to market the 119 to civilian customers; in fact, low key negotiations with Pan Am for a 170 aircraft lease had already started even before the final UCX decision.

Given the rotten luck this aircraft has had with marketing so far, it almost wasn’t a surprise when the deal fell though… Despite 170 aircraft sounding like a lot – if you line them all up on the apron – it was nowhere near enough to cover all the costs the program would incur if it had started series production (the greatest being the production tooling) – and with no civil orders forthcoming to take up the rest, the negotiations were dropped as quietly as they had started.

4. When it rains, it pours:

To try and drum up some civil interest – the options list by now running dangerously short – it was decided to shift into high gear and turn fully to the world of business aviation, marketing the 119 as a high-end business jet to rival its eternal thorn in the eye, the JetStar. To this end, and at the suggestion of Jim McDonnell – Ol’ Man McD 🙂 – the 119 became the McDonnell 220 (still without the MD prefix), a designation commemorating the company’s entry into its second 20 years of existence. Re-registered as N4AZ, and repainted into a duller version of its original prototype colors (no dayglo orange anymore :(), the aircraft was then refitted with a custom deluxe 10-seat interior, including a galley and lavatory (still considered pretty posh amenities at the time).

Although not as good-looking as during its "119" stage, the 220 did at least look presentable (photo from: http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/343515.html, author Mark Pasqualino)

But given that the God of Aviation – Murphy 😀 – has some bright moments every now and then, the 220 finally caught some tailwind when it became the first non-airline type to receive an FAA Class I provisional type certificate for air transport operations – in effect making this the first certified business jet :). A fact much used during 1963 by McDonnell salesmen, dispatched to the 750 (!) biggest corporations, agencies, airlines, leasing companies and businessmen in the world in an attempt to sell the “new” 220 by the hundreds. In the face of stiff competition though – the Rockwell Sabreliner and Dassault Falcon 20 having joined the fray in the mean time – their efforts didn’t gain much headway.

By the end of the year, McDonnell was back at square one and down to desperation with Plan Z – selling the actual prototype, the existing production tooling and design rights to the whole type, all for next to nothing.

Incredibly, there were no takers.

At that point, McDonnell gave up. Accepting that they were stuck with the 220 for good, the design team turned the aircraft into a company shuttle, to at least make some use of it. Its service was short-lived though, with the aircraft being retired in 1965 with just short of 230 hours on the clock…

5. Whoop, whoop! Pull up!

The “for good” in the end turned out to be just one year, for after being retired the aircraft was donated – DONATED – to the Flight Safety Foundation. This successful international non-profit organization had made a name for itself with its work on improving worldwide air safety, often going experimental to point out critical areas in need of improvement. One of their more famous experiments was running a specially-instrumented and remotely-piloted Douglas DC-7C into a hill to test the survivability of American aircraft. And that’s all fine and dandy, safety being important and all – but thankfully, common sense prevailed and the 220 was spared the same fate (which was already on the cards) :).

Instead, it was sold – for the first time! 😀 – to an aircraft retail company, which began its long physical and even longer legal odyssey around the US… the full story of which can be read on this very detailed and informative page: http://www.anav8r.com/page03.htm (too much to cram into this post 🙂 ).

The Model 220 at Albuquerque in the early 70s @ Airliners.net (mistakenly wearing it’s old Model 119 registration)

Today, restored almost to airworthy condition, the 220 is parked at El Paso airport (ICAO: KELP) in Texas waiting out its fate. As of the end of 2009 it is up for sale for a bargain price of $800.000, which is – considering its rarity – not really all that much; less than half the price of a new Cessna Caravan or about the same as three moderately equipped Cessna 182s. So readers of Achtung, Skyhawk!, what are we all waiting for? 🙂

Looking well-kept and cared for... and with its restoration almost complete and engines remanufactured, we may yet see her flying! 🙂 (photo from: http://www.abpic.co.uk/photo/1169919/, taken by: Andrew Martin)

SPECIFICATIONS (some projected):

Takeoff weight: 20,560 kg
Empty weight: 10,530 kg
Wingspan: 17.55 m
Length: 20.27 m
Height: 7.21 m
Wing area: 51.10 sq m
Max. speed: 901 km/h / 487 kt
Cruise speed: 837 km/h / 452 kt
Ceiling: 13,685 m / 45,000 ft
Range: 3,765 km / 2,032 NM

Rare Aircraft – Lockheed L-1329/C-140 JetStar

December 22, 2009August 20, 2015Posted in Rare AircraftTagged C-140, L-1329, Lockheed JetStar3 Comments

By me

While not exactly a GA manufacturer – having produced only two designs fitting this category – Lockheed is nevertheless quite an interesting company to work with here, a company that’s had as many “hickups” as it had great aircraft. Never able to be classified into a single category, they’ve produced everything from ground breaking propliners like the Model 7 Vega, 8 Orion, 9 Sirius and the 10 Electra, to the incredible SR-71 Blackbird and the high-flying U-2 reconnaissance jets. And along the way, they’ve taken on the habit of proving one oft-neglected point: that you don’t have to have a legacy stretching back to the Wright Brothers to be able to produce something amazing…

Like with Burt Rutan at Scaled Composites, the driving force behind most of Lockheed’s designs from the 30s onward was a brilliant engineer, the famous Clarence “Kelly” Johnson. A man well versed in thinking outside the box, he was quick to adapt to any requirement put before him, a skill that earned him one of the most fascinating design lists in the history of aviation:

the model 10 Electra and 12 Electra Junior
the PV-1 Ventura light bomber based on the L-18 Lodestar transport (itself derived from the Electras) which was the mainstay of the UK’s maritime air defense at the beginning of WW2
the highly-innovative P-38 Lightning
the stunning Constellation airliner, one of the most graceful propliners to ever fly
the P-80 (later F-80) Shooting Star, America’s first combat-capable jet fighter, and it’s trainer version, the popular T-33
the pocket-rocket F-104 Starfighter
the still-speed-record-holding SR-71 Blackbird
the high-flying U-2
a plane that needs no introduction, the C-130 Hercules, still holding the record for the longest uninterrupted production run, coming up to 57 years!
the pioneering F-117 Nighthawk
and the now-mostly-forgotten L-1329 JetStar

1. Change of priorities ahead…

The first to get the ball rolling on Lockheed’s reputation was the P-38. Up until the late 30s, Lockheed had been mostly known for its civilian aircraft – or rather the records they set in the hands of pilots such as Amelia Earhart and Wiley Post. The closest they came to making a military aircraft was the Ventura, which was still a tried-and-tested civil design converted – in very little time – into a light bomber and coastal patrol aircraft. So when the USAAF in 1937 invited Lockheed to submit a proposal for a fast-climbing interceptor, many observers were not very optimistic – especially since the inexperienced company would be going up against companies such as Curtiss, Douglas and North American which had far more experience in the field.

However, that very inexperience is probably what gave Lockheed the edge. Unencumbured by the muscle-memory of years of building fighters, the team led by H.L. Hibbard – of which Johnson was a member – was able to take a more objective look at the requirement and think outside the box. The result left no one cold; the P-38 was a stunner any way you looked at it. Among all of its achievements, it was also the first US tricycle fighter, and the first US aircraft to down an enemy plane during WW2, a German Focke-Wulf FW.200 Condor patrolling off Iceland. Aggregated at the end of the war, it was one of the most successful – if not THE most successful – twin-engined fighter and became famous as the aircraft flown by Antoine de Saint-Exupery on his last flight off the coast of Sicily.

glacier_girl — The most famous P-38 today, “Glacier Girl”. From every angle, everything on it screams Kelly Johnson

2. 4 engines 4 long haul?

Despite the fact that by war’s end the needs of the moment had turned Lockheed – like many other companies – into a purely military manufacturer (with even the nascent Constellation being hurriedly pressed into military service as the C-69), there were a number of farsighted people who were still keeping tabs on what was going on behind their backs in the civil world. And soon enough, when the post-war economy recovered in the mid 50s, Kelly Johnson’s team at the celebrated Skunk Works came to the conclusion that the time was right to try out their luck in the emerging business aviation segment.

Up until that time, the serious “transcontinental businessman” had very few suitable aircraft to choose from – indeed, most where whirling about in converted medium bombers such as the North American B-25 Mitchell or the Douglas A-26 Invaider (an even larger stuff like the Douglas B-23 Dragon), dirt cheap and dumped en masse onto the civil market after the hostilities had ended. The light tourer sector didn’t offer much hope either – even a high-end piston twin would be arduous on a flight across the US, with frequent fuel stops and all the associated hassle; not to mention lumbering down low in the worst of the weather.

No, what was needed was something new, something modern, something specifically tailored for the role. A fast, high-flying jet. Drawing on their extensive early experience with the P-80 – the Korean War having just finished – Johnson’s team decided on an aircraft that would become the template for the modern business jet: a twin-engined 10 seater turbojet with swept wings, christened the JetStar :).

JetStar_001 — The man and the plane, the first JetStar prototype. In this configuration it would make its first flight on 4 September 1957.

Though lacking the substantial stance of the production versions, the first prototype was certainly a looker when it first flew. From this angle it could be easily mistaken for a Dassault Falcon 20 (photo from: http://rbogash.com/jetstarhistory.html)

Powered by two British Bristol-Siddeley Orpheus turbojets, the JetStar was almost a revolution. The first pure bizjet, designed and built as such, it had represented a giant leap from the civilianized bombers that were plowing the medium flight levels at the time. With a swept-back wing (at 30 degrees), it had promised to be fast and it’s metallic, pointy appearance was just screaming “progress”.

The first prototype refitted with the optional slipper tanks which would become one of the JetStar’s defining features. In this form it was used by Johnson as his personal aircraft for some time (photo from: http://rbogash.com/jetstarhistory.html)

The first (foreground) and second (background) JetStar prototypes in flight – flying all the Orpheus engines ever produced 🙂 (photo from: http://rbogash.com/jetstarhistory.html)

Inevitably though, there was a problem. To simplify production and keep costs down, Lockheed had tried negotiating with Bristol-Siddeley to license-produce the Orpheus in the US, much like Allison did with the Rolls-Royce Merlin during WW2. The negotiations had failed however, which left Lockheed with only two pairs of engines powering the two prototypes – the only four Oprheus engines ever made at that point – which wasn’t really enough to make progress. There was no engine yet available in the US with the Orpheus’ combination of size and power, so Johnson – in his typical display of lateral thinking – decided he’d simply have stick more engines on. How hard could it be? 😀

Your own mini VC-10! 🙂 (photo from: http://rbogash.com/jetstarhistory.html)

Apparently not very 🙂 – the second prototype soon flew again with four Pratt & Whitney JT12 turbojets, grouped in the back in a configuration that would be adopted – and made famous – by the much more well known Vickers VC.10 and Ilyushin Il-62 airliners five and six years later respectively.

While not technologically as advanced as the previously-featured Starship (in relative terms), the JetStar did take non-commercial aircraft to a whole new level. The design included backups of every major system analogous to those found on commercial airliners – a huge novelty in the simple and uncomplicated world of light aviation – while it’s cockpit was a meeting place for the most advanced navigation and instrumentation technologies available at the time, far, far removed from even the best tourers. Indeed, some reports indicate that it took six months to train pilots to think and act fast enough for the speedy and complex JetStar!

The JetStar did have one other claim to fame that made up for it’s relatively conventional design: it was the first, and so far only, four-engine bizjet to see production (but not the only one designed as such, with the abortive McDonnell 119/220 – to be featured here soon 🙂 – flying in prototype form only), and was for a long time the largest bizjet available on the market. Coupled with its hefty weight – 19.2 tons – and four thirsty engines, it naturally drank a lot of fuel, so the optional slipper tanks were quietly added as standard equipment. Despite the high consumption, it could do 4500 km in a stretch, which was nearly intercontinental range – quite a rarity among bizjets for some time to come.

JetStar cockpit & closeup of the center pedestal @ Airliners.net

3. You ain’t nothing but a Hound Dog:

As well as aiming for the business market, during the design phase Lockheed was also eying a potentially-lucrative USAF contract for a Utility Transport Category aircraft under the Utility Cargo Experimental (UCX) program. To this end they developed the C-140, generally similar to the basic civilian JetStar, which they pitched to the USAF as a multipurpose fast jet transport (probably with a “four engined safety for your bureaucrats” tag line). All was fine and well – right up until the contract was canceled due to budget cuts after just 16 examples were delivered…

A “Flight Check” C-140A – used for instrument calibration – easily distinguishable by its camouflage colors for operations in Vietnam (photo from: http://www.scottfieldairpark.org/c140.html)

USAF Air Force Communications Service C-140A @ Airliners.net

Though few in numbers, the C-140’s Vietnam service record – including auxiliary communications roles back home – was further augmented by the VC-140B. Like all V-prefixed aircraft in the USAF, the VC-140B was a VVIP version, several times also acting as the famous “Air Force One” when transporting the President and his entourage on shorter distances.

Beautifully restored VC-140B @ Airliners.net

However, while the C-140s were transporting the President, a civilian JetStar had the honor of transporting the King! 🙂 “Hound Dog II” was one of the two aircraft owned by Elvis Presley, along with his prized Convair CV-880 “Lisa Marie”. Bought for nearly $900.000 – at the time, quite a lot! – while waiting for the CV-880 to be delivered (which had in turn cost less), N777EP apparently didn’t have a long service life and is today beautifully preserved as part of an exhibit at Graceland (more photos here).

What a dog! 😀 (photo from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/travelshorts/3872430500/)

4. Louder than Elvis:

Yet, the JetStar’s range and hauling capacity came at a – for the then 70s – great price. The oil crisis meant that filling the thirsty jet up was becoming quite expensive, especially now that more modern twin- and tri-jets like the Canadair Challenger and Dassault Falcon 50 were only inches away from first flight. While some wealthier owners could live with this until the crisis had ended, the nail in the original JetStar’s coffin was – noise. Four small whining turbojets did little to make the JetStar a neighbour-friendly aircraft, so in the face of operational restrictions, a decision was made in the mid-70s to re-engine it with quieter and more economical turbofans.

The engine chosen was the then-new Garrett TFE731 introduced in 1972, which would go on to power a number of highly-successful business jets – including the Falcon 50, the nearest thing the JetStar had to an equal competitor at the time.

Unusually – what was usual about the JetStar anyway? – the first step was not to produce a “new and improved” version, but retrofit existing JetStars, which then became known as the 731 JetStar to differentiate them from the unmodified – and renamed – JetStar I aircraft.

The larger-diameter turbofans gave the 731 JetStar an even more imposing presence. The refit also included redesigned wing tanks which were moved down onto the wing’s lower surface (much like on the first prototypes), which returned a bit of purposefulness to an already imposing design (photo from: http://www.flug-revue.rotor.com/Frtypen/FRhist.htm)

As is to be expected, the new engines breathed new life into the design, giving significantly better performance (especially at lower altitudes) and maximum takeoff weight, greatly reduced noise – and of a less-irritating pitch as well – and increased range; with maximum payload (a full cabin) the 731 could do 4800 km in a stretch, while sacrificing some passengers for full fuel tanks, it would be touching 5200 km, a 15% increase over the old model. This translated into some interesting operational capabilities – even with a full cabin, the 731 could comfortably hop over the Pond between destinations such as Gander in Canada and Shannon in Ireland; and its four engines meant it could go there along shorter routes, not hugging Greenland and Iceland for fear of losing an engine (which could all in all – according to the Great Circle Mapper – save almost 1000 km!).

A very welcome upgrade for JetStar owners, the 731 mod was a great success and – the 731s being retrofits and not new-built aircraft – inevitably ended up being integrated into the production line, creating the brand-new JetStar II, of which only 40 were ever produced.

With a shape like this, it was very easy to dominate any ramp the JetStar II appeared at 🙂 (photo from: http://www.airportjournals.com)

5. Headin’ south over the border…

Despite the increased grunt that gave the JetStar II comparable performance to most modern business jets in its class, the end for this fascinating design was in sight even before the decade was out. In the end it wasn’t age that killed it, but to an extent, I’m inclined to believe Kelly Johnson’s, own outside-the-box methods. Conceived in the gas-guzzling late 50s, when jet engines were just getting into their stride, the JetStar was becoming rapidly outdated in the late 70s. Jet engine technology, already increasing by leaps and bounds, had started producing engines that had more output than the two TFE731s combined, burned less fuel and were easier to service, with longer service lives. In this environment, the JetStar’s four maintenance-intensive engines were starting to become over-redundant. The end didn’t take long to come and in 1979, after the 40 JetStar IIs were produced – for a grand total of 204 (206 according to some sources, probably including the two prototypes) – Lockheed pulled the plug on this design…

Thankfully though, like the Starship, the JetStar did not go out quietly. A number are still happily flying, with the majority operating in the Mecca of vintage bizjets – Mexico :). This country is fascinating as a whole, but when aviation is concerned, it is completely off the scale! A country where Sabreliners, 20 series Learjets, Starships, early Candair Challengers and Dassault Falcons are the order of the day is, you must admit, the perfect home for the JetStar… it could almost be lost in the variety :D. With the country’s relatively lax noise rules permitting more-or-less regular operations of turbojets, Mexico is home to all three variants of the JetStar, including:

JetStar I of the Mexico Government (classy!): photo 1 and photo 2 @ Airliners.net
731 JetStar in not the most flattering state (the only photo I could find) @ Airliners.net
JetStar II, one of several on the Mex register, photo @ Airliners.net

The remainder – all JetStar IIs, Is being banned from many noise-sensitive airports – are mostly registered in the US, while there are also quite a few interesting ones out in the big wide world :)…

5-9003 used by the Iranian Air Force, photo @ Airliners.net
9G-ABF flying in Ghana, photo @ Airliners.net
HB-JGK registered in Switzerland, photo @ Airliners.net
TC-SSS and TC-NOA looking beautiful together, photo @ Airliners.net
VP-CSM registered in the Virgin Islands, photo @ Airliners.net
ZS-ICC based in South Africa, photo @ Airliners.net

Post Update 2 – Borongaj (ex-)airfield history

December 17, 2009July 13, 2011Posted in Airports, HistoryTagged BorongajLeave a comment

By me

Despite the fact having slipped by me for 11 and half months now, 2009. is a very important year for Croatian aviation – not only is the Croatian Air Force 18 years old this month (does that mean that it’s aircraft can now fly alone? :D), but this year also marks almost 100 years of aviation in Croatia, all the way from its modest start in 1910. and the first airplane built by Slavoljub Penkala, a noted Croatian inventor of Polish-Dutch origin (and coincidentally also the inventor of the mechanical pencil and fountain pen). To commemorate both of these occasions, the Croatian Military Museum had decided to put together a large photo exhibition, displaying publicly for the first time almost all available Croatian military aviation photos, from the first biplanes to the latest jets. [brag] I myself was also honored by having one photo on display, a first for me and proof that hauling all my photo gear around airshows the past few years does indeed pay off! [/brag] 🙂

The exhibition, opened on 15 December, was naturally split into several periods, of which the Interwar period (1918. to 1941.) and WW2 caught my attention the most. Two of the largest and most impressive sections – with almost 150 photos in total – they represented a very colorful part of aviation in Croatia, showing the smorgasbord of aircraft of all shapes and sizes that had been operated by the Air Force of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and its “successor” forces, the Facist Ustaška Eskadrila and the socialist Partisan Air Force (and its Allied supporter, the Royal Air Force’s Balkan Air Force).

Naturally, these periods being the highlight of Borongaj’s history, I immediately combed through the collection, searching for aircraft that had been out of that airfield. The end list – by no means complete, there were a lot of photos to go through! – is impressive and encompasses over a dozen types from all corners of Europe.

1. From Czech Mate to the French Connection:

Given the shifting political and economic situation between the two World Wars, these aircraft ended up coming from all over Europe, from the UK to former Czechoslovakia (interestingly, the only major country with a significant aeronautical industry missing is Poland – though the Royal Yugoslav Air Force and its successors did operate Polish designs from other bases). It should be noted also that these only represent a fraction of the types operated by the various air forces of Yugoslavia and that the whole list would be significantly longer…

AVIA FL.3 – a small Italian side-by-side two-seater. Used by the Ustaška Eskadrila primarily for pilot training (later in the war some were also based at Lučko I believe)

A restored FL.3 in what I believe to be very accurate colors of the Ustaška Eskadrila (source: Wikipedia, photo by Malcolm Clarke)

Avia BH.33E – a biplane fighter with – interestingly – a shorter span upper wing than the lower (usually it’s the other way around, in which case the aircraft is a “sesquiplane”). Produced in a different Avia, this one from former Czechoslovakia

Rare shot of a RYAF BH.33E somewhere in the wilds of former Yu (photo from: http://www.afwing.com)

Breguet 19 – a biplane (and a real sesquiplane this time) light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft produced by Breguet of France

A line up of RYAF biplanes. The nearest, coded 11, is a Brequet 19, while I think the third one out may be a Potez 25... (photo from: oaker.sweb.cz/Maketorama)

Dornier Do-17 (K and Z models) – the famous German high-speed light bomber from the early WW2 years

A Finnish Do-17Z, pretty much the same as flown by the Ustaška Eskadrila (photo from: Wikipedia)

Dornier Do-Y – a very, very rare three-engined bomber designed by Claude Dornier (his second) back in the 30s. Few in number, I’m not sure if they had survived till the war…

An unidentified Do-Y in flight, though the rudder colors do look incredibly like the ones used by the RYAF... (photo from: airwar.ru)

Fiat G-50bis – a late 30’s Italian monoplane fighter, operated by both the RYAF (which had bought them pre-war) and the Ustaška Eskadrila (which had also received some new examples). Reportedly, only one survives to this day, kept in the basement of the Aeronautical Museum at Belgrade Airport, Serbia

The distinctively humped G.50, a fuselage design common - and unique - to Italy during the 40s (photo from: Wikipedia)

Fieseler Fi-156C-1 Storch – the legendary German get-in-anywhere-anytime utility aircraft 🙂

The shape that had inspired dozens of subsequent STOL aircraft 🙂 (photo from: museum.af.mil)

Fiesler Fi-167A-0 – most probably the biggest oddity and rarity on this list, this carrier-borne torpedo bomber was transferred Croatia once it became apparent that Germany’s projected carrier, the Graf Zeppelin (for which the Fi-167 was designed) was going nowhere. Never seeing serial production, the models used by the Ustaška Eskadrila were all A-0 pre-production versions

A rare shot of a Fi-167 inflight. Some sources identify this as the fifth pre-production model, which means it could have ended up serving down here (photo from: Wikipedia)

Focke-Wulf FW.44B – a very well known German biplane training aircraft, much used before and during WW2. Unlike all other models which were powered by a Siemens radial, the B model unusually sported an Argus As 8 four-cyl inverted-V engine of 120 HP. Unfortunately, while the FW.44 as a type was quite common, the B models were rare, so pictures are hard to find…

Fokker F.IX (Avia F.39) – of similar class as the Do-Y, the Fokker F.IX started life in the 20s as a three-engined airliner. Though failing to gain a significant market as such, it did get some lease of life as a bomber, produced under license in Czechoslovakia as the Avia F.39. Like the Do-Y, they were operated by the RYAF and probably withdrawn from service before WW2

A F.39 in the colors of the Czechoslovak Air Force. Looks like a Ford Tri-motor this... (photo from: http://www.dutch-aviation.nl)

Hawker Fury Mk.IA and Mk.II – this very clean and fast British biplane fighter, a conceptual descendant of Hawker’s Hart bomber (an aircraft that in its day could outrun all existing fighters), was manufactured under license in Yugoslavia, hence it’s widespread use in the RYAF

A pre-war Yugoslav Fury Mk.I, showing off its very elegant lines for a biplane... elegant for any plane too... (photo from: http://www.aviation-history.com)

Hawker Hurricane Mk.I – does this even need an introduction or a photo? 🙂
Ikarus IK-2 – another rarity on the list is a home-grown monoplane fighter, the not-at-all bad looking IK-2. Resembling a number of Polish high-wing monoplane and parasol fighters, this 1934 aircraft was used by both the RYAF and the Ustaška Eskadrila, and though a good dogfighter, it was no match for modern Axis and Allied fighters and was retired in 1944.

Looking somewhat like a cross between a Fury, a Storch and a PZL P.11, the IK-2 was developed as measure to reduce the RYAF's reliance on foreign aircraft (photo from: Wikimedia)

Messerschmitt Bf.109G-6 – like the Hurricane, this one’s pretty straightforward 🙂
Potez 25 ‘Jupiter’ – though this one isn’t. Used among other thing to start the first mail service from Borongaj to Belgrade, this French biplane/sesquiplane fighter-bomber saw widespread use in various air forces, including those of the Soviet Union, USA and Poland. The ‘Jupiter’, Yugoslavia’s license-built version, was powered by the Gnome-Rhone 9ac Jupiter radial

A stock Potez 25 with what may be one of the Jupiters behind it. Though, given that the aircraft's engine mount could take a very wide variety of engines, who knows what they've mounted on the one in the photo... (photo from: http://www.e-pics.ethz.ch)

Rogožarski R-100 – another indigenous design, the R-100 was an intermediate trainer, the last step before the prospective student pilot was bolted into something armed and fast. Used initially by the RYAF, later in the war they were armed by the Ustaška Eskadrila with 80 and 100 kg bombs and used as ad-hoc divebombers

One thing springs to mind here (about the aircraft 😀 )... the prop pitch is enormous... (photo from: http://www.ww2aircraft.net)

SIM X – something unknown that has the same name as Microsoft’s Flight Sim X, significantly complicating my search effort 😀

Rare Aircraft – Beech 2000 Starship

December 11, 2009July 13, 2011Posted in Rare AircraftTagged Beech 2000, StarshipLeave a comment

By me

(with nothing still happening in the wonderful world of Croatian aviation, I thought I’d restart my Rare Aircraft series by profiling the incredible Starship… I’m a huge fan and it was only a matter of time before it made it here… :D)

Of all the big GA manufacturers, Beech can be classified – stereotyped if you will – the most easily, most often put into the blanket category of “the Rolls-Royce of the air”. And usually its aircraft fit the description perfectly: elegant, classy and timeless design, superior workmanship, comfort equal to none and not a hint of compromise at any level.

And sure enough, like the Rolls-Royce, when you peel away the glitter, you end up with a beautifully engineered aircraft, built to a specification and not a price. But – again like the Rolls-Royce – when you take a closer look you see the technology is rather commonplace, nothing fancy, nothing revolutionary… for the most part conservative, tried-and-tested technology wrapped into a high-performing – but on the face of it technologically rather dull – product. Bonanza, Baron, King Air, even my favorite twin, the Duke… all excellent aircraft, but none pushing any boundaries – or conventions.

However, every now and then each manufacturer suffers a hickup somewhere along the line, something to break the established pattern. Cessna had one in the form of the ground-breaking Citation bizjet in the 70s; Piper’s high-power pistons – the Cherokee 400 and Pressurized Navajo – raised more than one eyebrow when they were introduced ’round the same time. But Beech seemed pretty consistent and, apart from a foray into the low cost market, remained true to it’s name and brand. That is until they – in a fit of creativity – hired one of aviation’s greatest innovators: Burt Rutan.

Contracted to design a successor to the King Air 200, I like to think that the first thing he’d done was take all of the King Air’s plans and throw them into the shredder :). And then proceed to design something that broke all the rules of the biz-prop world (and a handful of others): the incredible, stunning and revolutionary Starship.

1. A rich man’s LongEZ:

Beginning life as the PD (Preliminary Design) 330 of the early ’80s, the Starship was intended to become the new cutting edge of the bizprop world, a space-age combination of advanced aerodynamics, radical materials and high-tech cockpit systems. This was a significant leap, for while there were a number of conceptually-similar aircraft flying at the time – including Rutan’s own VariEze and LongEZ piston singles – no one had attempted to design something similar on such a large scale.

Despite the world of difference between a homebuilt piston two-seater and a high-flying executive bizprop, the LongEZ seemed a good place to start looking for the basic aerodynamic solution. And while the Starship is not simply a scaled-up LongEZ, the latter’s proven performance – up to 170-180 knots out of just 100 HP – promised a lot for the new Starship.

LongEZ_001 — The Starship's eventual similarity to the LongEZ was everything but unintentional (photo: author)

LongEZ_002 — Even the basic shape of the wing owes a lot to the experience gained building and flying the VariEze and LongEZ (photo: author)

However, translating that shape into the PD330 – a larger and far more complex aircraft – was still uncharted territory, so to have a stab at it and see what problems could/would be encountered, Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites designed the proof-of-concept Model 115. Not a true prototype as such, the Model 115 was an 85% scale PD330 look-alike with a somewhat different fuselage design and materials, no pressurization and just the basic systems needed needed to get it into the air (an approach also used by SAAB when designing their revolutionary J-35 Draken double-delta interceptor back in the mid ’50s, using the Lilldraken, a 70% – I think – scale demonstrator, to test out the double-delta wing).

xp55-1 — And it's a good job they built it - because the last time somebody had attempted to design something similar straight out of the box, it'd didn't go all that well: the Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender from 1941. Sharing much of the configuration - but little of the technology - the XP-55 was inherently unstable and very difficult to fly

Unlike the Lilldraken which has survived to this day, the Model 115 was scrapped soon after its work was completed.

2. Back to the future:

Finally satisfied that the future Starship wouldn’t fall out of the sky, the design team set to work on PD330. Much of the design was done on an emerging, very powerful tool – CATIA. While commonplace today, this Computer Aided Design (CAD) program was developed by Dassault for use with later members of it’s Mirage interceptor family, and at the time presented a quantum leap in aircraft design and production.

Not that PD330 – soon to be renamed the Model 2000 Starship – was lagging much behind. By the time it first flew on February 15 1986, it was the hottest-looking thing in the sky… and suddenly yer King Air started to look just that much inadequate :D.

NC-06 — Imagine the impression this shape made back in 1986... and it still keeps turning heads 13 years later 🙂

In my mind the Starship managed to pull off what only the Concorde before it did - get that perfect blend of form and function

But, true to Rutan’s form, the real treats lay below the skin – and on it for that matter :). Built entirely of graphite composites – carbon fiber in today’s speak – the Starship was the first civil production aircraft (as opposed to homebuilts) to have used composite materials to such an extent. Indeed, I think I’m right in saying that the Starship was the first composite aircraft to feature full pressurization, undoubtedly yielding a ton of information about carbon fiber under differential pressure in realistic, practical conditions.

An interesting design bit, inherited from the LongEZ, is the Starship’s virtual inability to stall. A well known phenomenon to EZ drivers, in any high Angle of Attack situation the canards – being aerodynamic surfaces in their own right – would stall well before the wing and drop the nose, keeping the aircraft in full control all the way till it returns to a normal AoA. Given that the Starship was Rutan’s child, I wouldn’t be half surprised to find out it could easily be maneuvered up to that attitude in the first place :).

Another benefit of its novel configuration was a smoother and quieter ride – at least on the inside :). Its pusher configuration meant that the spiraling propwash of the twin 1200 HP PT6 turboprops would at all times be clear of the wing – and any control surfaces it could buffet. However, while it also allowed the props to be deiced by engine exhaust, it too meant that they would be riding in the turbulent downwash from the wing, which gave the Starship the pusher prop’s characteristic, buzzing square-wave sound when heard from the outside. From the piloting point of view though, all the negative bits were offset by – for a twin – excellent engine-out characteristics. You may have noted from the photos above that the engines sit very closely together, with no fuselage in the way… in the case of an engine failure, the remaining one would not produce all that much yaw as in a conventional twin, yaw which could easily be counteracted by the relatively large surface areas of the twin rudders.

But for me one of the most interesting features of the Starship was its cockpit :). Back in the day when EFIS cockpits were getting into their stride in general aviation, Collins had gotten a bit carried away with their ProLine 4 AMS-850 suite – it featured no less than 16 CRT screens! I think a photo and a video will tell you far more than I could, but keep in mind this is the first certified glass cockpit system for general aviation use.

Starship cockpit @ Airliners.net

So many CRTs you could fry a chicken on a longer flight. The two screens with the keyboards are the FMS system, another first on light aircraft (photo from: http://www.bobscherer.com/Pages/Starship.htm)

3. Meanwhile, in the real world…

Sadly though, the Starship also shared one trait with all pioneering aircraft – it was too far ahead of its time. While everything it introduced we now take for granted – witness the successful Piaggio P-180 Avanti – back in the late ’80s that technology was pushing the envelope as far as practical use, and especially production, were concerned. In the end, the all-composite airframe was the Starship’s undoing…

The primary problem was, interestingly, weight, which had set into motion a cascade of issues that made the Starship a commercial failure. At 6758 kg, the production 2000A Starship 1 was 1125 kg heavier than originally planned. This hefty increase in weight – nearly 20%! – was due to frequent trips to the drawing board at the insistence of the FAA, the US Federal Aviation Administration. Being the first certified all-composite civil aircraft, the FAA was – understandably – not all that confident in the Starship’s structural integrity, repeatedly requesting the airframe be strengthened in order to receive certification. Beech had no choice but to comply, which set into motion the dreaded weight curve, with each structural modification requiring some sort of change somewhere else, adding weight and complexity. In the end, the result was predictable…

From a high-flying swan, the Starship had turned into somewhat of a goose. With all the added weight, performance figures inevitably went down, to the point where – at 295 knots in economical cruise – it could be outrun by the “lowly”, half as powerful Piper Cheyenne (though, in the Starship’s defense, the Cheyenne had nowhere near its FL410 ceiling). To add insult to performance injury, Starships were notoriously expensive to produce – despite the prototypes being built on production tooling to keep the costs down. Retailing at a minimum $3.9 million in 1989, the Starship had cost almost as much as the Cessna Citation V or Learjet 31, which were 89 and 124 knots faster respectively. The aforementioned Cheyenne had cost almost $1 million less…

The eventual fate of most pioneers... most of the Starships produced stored at Pinal Airpark

As a result, only 53 examples – including the three prototypes – were built before production ceased in 1995 due to a lack of buyer interest. Many were in fact not sold at all, but leased, hoping to try and raise their popularity and get back some of the $300 million invested in the aircraft’s development. However, inevitably, faced with the mounting costs of supporting a small and complex fleet, Raytheon – Beech’s parent company – decided in 2003 to pull the plug on one of the most innovative light aircraft in history, recalling all the leased aircraft for scrapping…

Starships waiting for the axeman @ Airliners.net

4. I’m leaving on a Starship…

Because people who have the money to buy one of these tend to be a stubborn lot, there are still a few – five to be exact – Starships still flying today. All of them are privately owned, being the aircraft that Raytheon could not buy back – despite their continuing efforts to do so – and represent mostly the mid- and end-production machines of the ’90s:

NC-29, manufactured in 1992, currently flying as N8244L (photo @ Airliners.net)
NC-33, manufactured in 1993, currently flying as N8074S

Looking beautiful... (photo from: http://www.bobscherer.com/Pages/Starships%20NC-31%20to%20NC-40.htm#NC-33)

NC-45, manufactured in 1993, currently flying as N45FL (photo @ Airliners.net)
NC-50, manufactured in 1994, currently flying as N8285Q (photo @ Airliners.net)
NC-51, manufactured in 1994, currently flying as N514RS, and the greatest of the lot!

A Starship for a starship... can it get any more fitting? 🙂 Arguably one of the most famous Starships today, N514RS has the chase plane for a number of Scaled Composites aircraft (photo from: http://www.bobscherer.com)

Which one looks more advanced? 🙂 (photo from: http://www.bobscherer.com)

By the looks of things – and by the passion their owners have for them – we may see Starships flying for some time to come :). So when you see Virgin Galactic proudly flying the SpaceShipTwo on the telly, look in the back… and you’ll see something far, far more charismatic… 🙂

ss8244l — NC-29, the oldest Starship flying...

Some very helpful websites which were a great help in writing this:

www.bobscherer.com– a very informative website apparently maintained by NC-51’s pilot (and an excellent job sir!)
history of the Starship at PilotFriend
and, as usual, Airliners.net 🙂

Post Update – 9A-DGW Landing Incident

December 4, 2009July 13, 2011Posted in Incident / AccidentTagged 9A-DGW, Air MGV, MGV, ZvekovacLeave a comment

By me

Just got back from the field with a few new bits of information about yesterday’s incident :). Apparently, DGW had landed a bit too long and couldn’t stop in time on the slippery grass. The pilot had managed to shut the engine down and switch off the magnetos before hitting the drainage canal, so the damage is said to be a lot less than previously though – just one bent prop blade. However, this will still necessitate an engine strip down and examination of the whole prop, so it’s not over yet… :). And that is as much as I have so far… stressing the “said” and “apparently”…

News – Cessna 182T 9A-DGW Incident

December 3, 2009July 13, 2011Posted in Incident / AccidentTagged 9A-DGW, Air MGV, landing incident, ZvekovacLeave a comment

By me
Photos me too, copyrighted

Just heard from Dean T. – and confirmed in the news – that 9A-DGW, our own Lučko C182T, was involved in a landing incident at the Zvekovac private airfield just outside Zagreb. Apparently, it had skidded off the slippery runway and ended up in a drainage canal that runs across the field. First reports indicate that the pilot is okay and without injuries, but that the material damage on the aircraft is substantial, at around €11.000, including a bent prop and knackered engine (pretty much what happened to 9A-BKS featured here recently).

Will post more updates as soon as I get some reliable information.

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