Chapter 599 Jet Fighter (3)

Next is Heinkel's F-86.

As Heinkel said, when the F-86 fighter entered a dive, Yannick saw a faint white mist around the fuselage, which means that the speed of the aircraft is very close to the speed of sound.

"Can it break the sound barrier?"

When the aircraft is flying close to the speed of sound, the air rushing in front of the aircraft will not disperse as usual, but will accumulate around the aircraft, generating great pressure and causing invisible air vortices. This air vortex is also called the "death vortex". If the aircraft fuselage is not reinforced, it will be torn apart by the huge pressure in an instant.

The airflow around the aircraft that reaches the speed of sound will produce shock waves, and the shock waves will make the airflow flowing through the fuselage and wing surface very turbulent, causing the aircraft to shake violently and making it very difficult to control. At the same time, the chaotic airflow will cause the aircraft's wings to sink and the nose to descend. If the aircraft is climbing at this time, the fuselage will automatically pitch up, which will seriously affect flight safety. If the operation is improper, it may cause the aircraft to crash.

In the era of propeller aircraft, people believed that the speed of sound was an insurmountable obstacle to the speed of aircraft flight, and the sound barrier got its name from this.

In 1947 in the original time and space, the famous British test pilot Geoffrey de Havilland tested an experimental aircraft called "Flying Swallow". When the speed reached Mach 94, the aircraft fell apart, and Britain gave up the supersonic flight test.

On October 14, 1947, American pilot Charlie Yeager drove the rocket-powered Bell X-1 to break the sound barrier for the first time, reaching a speed of Mach 07. On September 27, 1956, American pilot Apted Milburn drove the Bell X-2, with a maximum flight speed of Mach 2, breaking through the thermal barrier and setting a new flight speed record. However, misfortune suddenly came. After the X-2 broke through the thermal barrier, the system control suddenly failed and crashed in the Mojave Desert in California, and test pilot Apted Milburn died.

Yannick had discussed the issue of breaking the sound barrier with Heinkel, Messerschmitt and others a long time ago. Moreover, the F-86 in the original time and space was also the world's first fighter jet that could reach supersonic speed in a dive. Logically, this pirated fighter jet should have similar performance.

Heinkel said respectfully. "Your Highness, theoretically, this aircraft can break the speed of sound now, but for safety reasons, the speed is limited to 1,100 kilometers per hour."

"..." Yannick didn't want to see the tragic scene of the fuselage falling apart and the plane being destroyed and people dying. "What about the range?"

"Same as the MiG-15."

Yannick sighed in his heart, but he also knew that early jet engines had serious fuel consumption problems, which were not gradually improved until the end of the second-generation aircraft.

"The fuel consumption of the engine should be reduced as much as possible!" Yannick ordered, looking at the B-47 bomber preparing to take off on the runway. "We need to find a way to increase the range of the main fuel tank to more than 1,500 kilometers before we talk about putting it into service."

The B-47 strategic bomber is also the world's first mass-produced swept-wing jet strategic bomber. The development of this bomber can be traced back to the late World War II. In 1943, the US military proposed the idea of ​​developing a large jet bomber. However, the US military's idea was still in the early stages at the time, and the specific indicators were still under discussion. It was not until the successful development of Germany's AR234 Lightning jet bomber that the US jet strategic bomber development ideas began to mature. After World War II, with the help of the investigation and research of Germany's AR234 jet bomber, the United States finally improved and completed the development and design of the B-47 stratosphere jet strategic bomber.

This plan won a contract from the US Army Air Force, and the US Air Force subsequently decided to start mass production of this strategic bomber. A total of 2,041 B-47s were produced, becoming the main pillar of the bombing force of the US Air Force Command. However, as the earliest jet strategic bomber, the B-47 also has many shortcomings, and the reliability problem of the aircraft is very serious.

The accident rate of this aircraft is also very high, including the loss of a US nuclear bomb in the 1950s, when a US B-47 disappeared along with three pilots and two nuclear bombs, and the two nuclear bombs were not found until later generations.

Moreover, in 1950-1960, due to the special historical environment, nuclear deterrence was an important strategic task in that era, so the B-47 bomber, as the backbone of nuclear deterrence, had to "work hard" to the fullest. Frequent takeoffs and landings, aerial refueling, endless patrols and combat readiness missions, almost no time for rest, undoubtedly made the B-47, which was not a very perfect design, more likely to have problems.

In order to reduce the accident rate of the B-47 Stratojet in the later period, the US military increased the training of pilots. When it came to the B-47H, the crew was changed from 3 to 6, and each pilot was equipped with an ejection seat. But overall, the reliability of the B-47 is still a problem. During its service, 203 B-47s crashed, accounting for about 10% of the total number of B-47s manufactured, killing 464 pilots. The aircraft was even ridiculed as a "crew killer".

After the more mature B52 strategic bomber entered service in large quantities, the B-47 soon withdrew from the stage of history.

Yannick did not plan to mass-produce and serve the B-47. The reason for developing this bomber was just to accumulate experience for the subsequent B-52 bomber.

Unlike the B-47 stratojet strategic bomber, the B-52 is a strategic bomber in the full sense and one of the most successful strategic bombers developed in the history of human aviation. The aircraft was delivered for use in 1955 and has remained one of the main models of strategic bombing in the United States until the 21st century. According to the US military's public plan, the US military will use the B-52 until 2050.

Therefore, Yannick was not very enthusiastic about this bomber. After the B-47 landed, he encouraged the engineers of Arado Company and left the viewing platform to go to the base conference room.

"You have also seen that the new jet fighter requires a very hard and long runway. Once the runway is attacked by the enemy, even the most advanced fighter aircraft will become a display. Maybe we can deploy a tight anti-aircraft fire network around the airport. But what if the enemy attacks with weapons like V1 and V2? We need a fighter that can take off vertically or at a short distance."

The first person to consider this issue in the original time and space was Germany during World War II. At the end of World War II, all airports in Germany were bombed by the Allies. The German army had to consider building vertical take-off and landing fighters that did not rely on airport runways; they even designed a model called " Viper" vertical take-off and landing fighter, but it was still in the design stage, and Germany surrendered.

There are many countries around the world researching vertical take-off and landing fighters. Only the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union have successfully developed and equipped their troops. (After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has actually lost the ability to develop vertical take-off and landing fighters. The British aviation industry has also collapsed and cannot do it alone. development of fighter aircraft).

Although the earliest vertical take-off and landing fighter equipped with troops and used in actual combat, the most produced vertical take-off and landing fighter was the British "Harrier" fighter. However, as early as 1957, the X-14 technology demonstrator of the American Bell Aircraft Company successfully tested flight, including vertical take-off. , hover, and then land vertically. However, because it was too advanced and could not meet practical requirements, only one verification aircraft was produced. In addition, the U.S. aircraft carrier is large enough and the demand for vertical take-off and landing aircraft is not that strong. Since then, the United States has basically withdrawn from the research field of vertical take-off and landing fixed-wing aircraft.

After the war, Germany also demonstrated its excellent quality and extremely high efficiency in the field of vertical take-off and landing fighter development. In 1965, the VJ-101 developed by Germany made its first flight, one year earlier than the British Harrier. Moreover, VJ-101 achieved supersonic flight in 1969, reaching Mach 14, and was the earliest supersonic vertical take-off and landing aircraft. , due to restrictions on Germany and the technical conditions at the time, this aircraft was not equipped with troops.

The schematic diagrams and dynamic diagrams of the F35B vertical takeoff and landing can be found everywhere on the Internet, and Yannick has seen a lot of them, and now he drew the schematic diagrams on the small blackboard. "This is the general principle of vertical take-off and landing. However, this project will not be approved for the time being, and there is no funding. We will not start it until our engine thrust exceeds 10 tons. You can do your own research first."

Everyone present couldn't help but take a breath. The thrust of the current jet engine is less than 3 tons. If it needs to exceed 10 tons, it cannot be studied for 20 or 30 years?