Aérocentre N.C. 1080

We start this Sunday with a French carrier-borne fighter of the late 1940s.

The Aérocentre N.C. 1080 AKA SNCAC N.C. 1080 was a French Carrier-borne fighter prototype. Its development was cancelled due to an unexplained accident.

It was designed by the ingenieur (engineer) Pillon and was manufactured by the SNCA du centre which was the official name for the company Aérocentre. The NC 1080 was a competitor for the first French post-World War II shipborne fighter program and had to compete against another native French designs like the Arsenal VG 90 and the Nord 2200.

It was powered by a 22,3Kn thrust Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet engine, it featured a 22º wing sweepback at quarter-chord and it was pretended to be armed with three 30mm cannons.
The prototype was flown for the first time on 29th July 1949 and the flying characteristic showed that further modifications were needed, specially on the spoilers and the tail surfaces.
In the meantime, Aérocentre company had been absorbed by the Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Centre (SNCAC), which meant that further development had to be made at another location, at the villages of Brétigny and Villaroche. 

However, after servo controls were installed in February-March 1950 the sole prototype was destroyed in 10th April 1950 and the project was definitely abandoned.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNCAC_NC_1080
2. The complete book of fighters

Aero A.102 - Fictional users

Now we cover some fictional users for this elegant airplane.

• Republican Spain: There was a report of a high winged monoplane fighter that was being used by the Republicans, that didn't fit in the description of other confirmed ones. By a process of elimination it has been suggested that it could be one of the two prototypes of the A.102, however it's very unlikely.
• Kingdom of Egypt: If the A.102 had been successful, maybe some British company, Gloster, in this case, could have bought the production license and would have started manufacturing, and selling them to some commonwealth countries, at an affordable price. Kingdom of Egypt could have been one of those countries.
• Kingdom of Yugoslavia: Looking for affordable airplane fighters to equip their squadrons, it wouldn't be absurd to think that they could've been interested on the A.102 given the currency exchange rate, it was cheaper to buy in Czech Korunas, than in British Pounds, American Dollars, German Reichmarks or French Francs.

Aero A.102

We start this Saturday with one of the most elegant Czechoslovak fighters ever made.

The A.102 was a Czechoslovak fighter aircraft of the early 1930s that showed a big difference in design patterns from other previous Czechoslovak fighters. it was ordered by the MNO (Czechoslovak Defence Ministry) and was intended to be the state of the art of the national aeronautical industry.

It was powered by an 800hp Gnome-Rhône Mistral radial engine, it was made of all-metal and was to be armed with four 7,7mm machine-guns.

Initially it was going to be a biplane, however it was decided to turn it into a gull-winged monoplane just because it was the most fashionable trend in central Europe during the early-to-mid 1930s.

The first of two prototypes flew for the first time in July 1934 with four Czech Model 30 guns installed in the wings in order to fire outboard of the propeller arc. Both climb rate and maneouvrability were good and there were plans to install a more powerful 930hp Mistral-Major Krsd engine in one of the prototypes but given the poor landing characteristics, it was discarded.
Even if those previously mentioned rates were good, the lack of flaps, the excessive wing loading rate and the touch-down speed of 110km/h were rated as excessive by the MNO. It suffered a forced landing and an accident in 1936 but the prototype was restored in 1937 in order to exhibit it at the national aircraft exhibition, but by that year the MNO the Avia B.35 monoplane to be better and further development of the A.102 wasn't continued.

There are unconfirmed rumours that one of the two prototypes ended up fighting in the Spanish Civil war, in the Republican side.

Sources:
1. The complete book of fighters
2.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_A.102

Aero A.20

We make this special entry in order to present you the evolution of the Aero A.18: The Aero A.20.

The Aero A.20 was developed in parallel with the A.18 in order to comply with a requeriment made by the Czech MNO (Ministerstvo Národny Obrany - Ministry of Defence) and get a contract.

It was powered by an Skoda-built 310hp Hispano-Suiza 8Fb engine. It was longer and heavier than the A.18 and also flew for the first time in 1923.

Regarding the strutcure of the fuselage it was identical to the A.18 and was also armed with a pair of synchronised 7,92mm Vickers Machine-Guns. In spite of its more powerful engine, it didn't perform well at the trials and was surpassed by the A.18, so the project was abandoned and it never went beyond the prototype stage.

Sources:
1.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_A.20
2. The Complete Book of Fighters

Aero A.18

Today we start this friday with the first successfully mass-produced Czechoslovak fighter, the Aero A.18.

Being an evolution of the Ae.04, the A.18 was a fighter designed also by Antonin Vlasák and Antonín Husník in order to fullfil an order coming from the Czechoslavk Army.

It was powered by the 185hp BMW IIIa engine that had already been employed in the previous Ae.04. and was armed by a pair of 7,92 (0,303) synchronized Vickers machine-guns.
It also retained the mixed construction of its predecessors but it featured a different upper wing and strut configuration.

The prototype flew for the first time in March 1923 and 20 airplanes were ordered in order to serve with the Czechoslovak Army Air Force over the other two candidates from Aero, the A.19 and the A.20 which, despite of what their names may suggest, they were developed in parallel to the A.18.

It was pretended for the A.18 stablish three national altitude records and two racing sub-variants were also made, the A.18B and the A.18C, in order to participate in the Czech Aero Club annual race which they won.

Sources:
1.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_A.18
2. The Complete book of Fighters

Aero Ae.04

We keep going with the early Czechoslovak fighters and now it comes the turn for the Aero Ae.04.

The Aero Ae.04 was a Czechoslovak fighter of 1921. It was a development of the previous Ae.02 and it didn't attract any purchase order and it only could fly in prototype form.

After testing the Ae.02, Vlasák and Husník revised the basic design of the airplane in order to acommodate it to the requirements of the Czechoslovak army in order to fit it with the 185hp BMW IIIa six-cylinder engine because a license to produce that engine had been adquired.

It flew for the first time in 1921 and the prototype stablished a new national altitude record when it reached 6361m high. After such achievement, it was displayed at the 2nd international aircraft exhibition in Prague.

Even if it held most of the fuselage features of the Ae.02, the external fuel tank of that one was transfered back into the fuselage, in order to make it safer and initialy it flew with an automobile style radiator, however, after some development, it was changed into a chin-type radiator.

Only one prototype was made and the development continued towards the A.18.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Ae_04
2. The complete book of fighters

Aero A.02

With this airplane, we include a new nation.

The Aero Ae.02 was the first fighter designed in Czechoslovakia, it was designed by Antonin Vlásak and Antonin Husnik and it was built by the Aero company.

It was an orthodox biplane design with I-type interplane struts and ailerons on the upper wing only.  It was made of mixed construction with fabric-covered wooden wings and a dural-frame fuselage.

It was powered by an V-type 220hp Hispano-Suiza HS 8Ba eight-cylinder engine with the peculiarity that the only fuel tank of the airplane was fitted between the main wheels of the undercarriage and that could be jettisoned by a quick-release mechanism. It was armed with a pair of 7,92mm Vickers Machine-guns.

It flew for the first time in 1920 and in 1921 ,piloted by Josef Novak, it won the silver club on the Czech aeroclub annual meeting. Even if the performance of the prototype was adequate for it's time, the Czechoslovak Army Air Force wasn't interested in buying it.

Sources: 
1. The complete book of fighters
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Ae_02

AERFER Leone

With this never-built airplane, we open a new sub-section at the right, dedicated to the unbuilt airplanes throughout history.

The Aerfer Leone was an Italian supersonic interceptor project. Designed by the designer Sergio Stefanutti it was initially born as an evolution of the Ariete. It was, however cancelled due to various political decisions when the prototype was at 80% of being completed.

After the experience of having an airplane powered by two jet engines like the Ariete, Stefanutti decided to use a more powerful auxiliary engine, in a similar manner that the British Saunders-Roe Sr.53 did.

The new interceptor, fully supersonic (it was intended to reach the speed of 2115 Km/h) was going to represent the last evolution of the prototype series started with the Sagittario. It featured many changes with respect to both Sagittario and Ariete, in fact it had a longer fuselage, a larger fuel tank, a new canopy, 50º angled wings and a single air intake for both engines (unlike the Ariete where each engine had it's own air intake) that could acommodate a radar, in fact this was going to be the first native Italian airplane design which would feature a radar.

The prototype was almost fully completed, but the Italian government decided to invert the funds into buying the newer American land-to-air Hawks missiles and the Lockheed F-104 Starfighters.

Technical data:

• Crew: 1 (Pilot)
• Length: 11,20m
• Wingspan: 6,93m
• Wing Degree: 50º
• Wing Area: 17,6 Square meters
• Empty Weight: 3605Kg
• Maximum take-off weight: 7890Kg.
• Engines: 1 Bristol-Siddeley Orpheus B.Or.12 & 1 De Havilland Spectre
• Thrust/Weight: 3090Kg plus 4550 auxiliary
• Max. Speed: 2115 Km/h
• Service Ceiling: 24500m
• Armament: Two missiles (underwings, probably Sidewinders or Firestreak)

Sources: 1. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerfer_Leone
2. http://xoomer.virgilio.it/aviostoria/A/AERFER/leone.htm
3.http://www.aerei-italiani.net/Home_Page_-_Aerei_Italiani_-_Brevi_pagine_della_Storia_dellAviazione_Italiana.html

AERFER Ariete

We keep going with this saga of Italian jet airplanes.

The Aerfer Ariete was an the prototype of an Italian jet fighter that flew for the first time in 1958. It was a direct improvement from the Sagittario. It retained the main design features of the Sagittario II, specially the swept wings.

It was powered by two engines, the main being the same as the Sagittario, the 16,2Kn Rolls-Royce Derwent 9 as the main one, and the 8,025Kn Rolls-Royce Soar RSr-2 placed at the back, in tandem configuration. The particularity of this airplane was that this second auxiliary engine had it's own air intake that could be switched-on or off from the cockpit. This was made in order to achieve additional climbing and sprinting power.

As we already said, the prototype flew for the first time on 27th March 1958 and was armed with a pair of 30mm Hispano-Suiza HDD-825 cannons.

No production order was ensued and Aerfer decided to cancel all their fighter projects after this one. Even the much refined Aerfer Leone was cancelled before it could achieve the prototype status.

Sources:
1. Wikipedia
2. The Complete Book of Fighters
3. http://xoomer.virgilio.it/aviostoria/A/AERFER/ARIETE.htm

AERFER Sagittario II - Fictional Users

This is just a quick entry to show you some fictional camouflage schemes for various possible users for the Sagittario II if it had gone into mass production.

The countries are:

• Austria
• Finland
• Greece
• Mexico
• Sweden
• Turkey
• Yugoslavia

AERFER Sagittario II

We continue with the saga of these good looking Italian jet fighters.

The Sagittario II was an Italian all-metal single seat light fighter prototype intended to fullfil the interceptor or the light tactical support role. The prototype flew for the first time in May 19th 1956 and it became the first Italian airplane to break the sound barrier by achieving a mach 1.1 speed.

It was designed by the engineer Sergio Stefanutti (the same who designed the previous Sagittario I) and it was built by the Industrie Mechaniche Aeronautiche Meridionali - AERFER (Meridional Mechanical Aeronautical Industries). It was powered by a 16.2Kn thrust Rolls-Royce Derwent 9 engine and was armed with a pair of 30mm Hispano-Suiza HDD-825 cannon.

Some variants were projected:

• Sagittario II adapated for grass landing strip: This project was intended to provide the Sagittario with a separate carriage for taking-off from grass landing strips.
• Sagittario II ground attack-fighter: A ground-attack specialized variant intended to be armed with bombs, napalm canisters and unguided rockets and to be powered by a reduced version of the Rolls-Royce Derwent 9 engine.
• Sagittario II - Biposto scuola: A two-seater trainer version. 
• Sagittario III: A projected version powered by a Bristol Orpheus engine. 

The trial results were excellent, however the NATO decided to favour the development of the much better F-86 Sabre.

Sources: 1. Wikipedia
             2. The Complete book of fighters - Salamander Books
             3. http://xoomer.virgilio.it/aviostoria/A/AERFER/SAGITTARIO%202-PROGETTI.htm

AERFER Sagittario I - Fictional users

We've been feeling creative, so we decided to draw some fictional profiles for the Sagittario I. Enjoy!

• Regia Aeronautica: Considering that the Sagittario I is based on an airplane designed back in 1939, we thought that it would be interesting to see it in Italian World War 2 colours.
• Spain: If Spain needed some jet interceptors, this would've been a good afordable choice back in the early 1950s.

AERFER Sagittario I

Now is the turn for an Italian jet fighter of the 1950s.

The AERFER Sagittario I (AKA Ambrosini Sagittario) was an Italian aerodynamical test airplane based on the Ambrosini S.7 Freccia (Arrow).

New wooden swept wings were added to the fuselage. The swept was of 45º. It was powered by a Turbomeca Marboré engine of 3.7Kn thrust. The inlet was at the nose of the fuselage and the exhaust was at the bottom, under the cockpit. As the original landing gear of the S.7 was retained, a special shielding was added to the rear wheel in order to protect it from the exhaust fumes.

It flew for the first time on 5th January 1953. It was the base for the much refined Sagittario II

Sources:
Wikipedia
Aviastar

A.E.G. DJ.I

This time we bring you a further development of the AEG armoured attack fighter.

Chasing the concept of a single-seat armoured ground-attack fighter, AEG begun to develop an aerodynamicaly advanced biplane at the same time they tested the AEG PE expecting this one, the DJ.I to be completed in July 1918. In the end, the test were still undergoing when the armistice reached.

Two prototypes were completed and both were powered by the 195hp Benz Bz IIIb engine. A third prototype was planned to be powered by a more powerful 240hp Maybach Mb IVa engine and all three of them were to be armed with twin forward-firing LMG 08/15 machine-guns and could hold up to four small bombs under the fuselage.
Another interesting feature is that, just like it's predecessor, the wings, provided by I section struts, lacked any flying wires and were dural-made and covered with fabric. The fuselage had some armour protection in the nose section, just to cover the engine, the fuel tank and the pilot, consisting in an alluminium sheet skinning.

Data taken from: 

• 1. The complete book of fighters 
• 2. Wikipedia

A.E.G. P.E.

We include today a new German airplane which one of the first armoured airplanes ever made.

The A.E.G. P.E. (Panzer-Einsitzer - Armoured one-seater) was a single seat armoured ground-attack fighter. It was the only armoured triplane set for that role. The whole fuselage was covered by an armoured light alloy and the wings were fabric-covered dural wings.

It was powered by a 195hp BenzBz IIIb eight-cylinder water-cooled engine.

It flew for the first time in March 1918 and was armed with two synchronised LMG 08/15 machine-guns and it could carry four small bombs under the fuselage.

During trials it was found to be easy to fly but it wasn't very effective when facing against other fighters, and a dedicated ground-attack aircraft was considered unacceptable. That's why the Idflieg rejected it and only one prototype was made.

Oeffag Va.153 - Austro-Hungarian users. Second entry.

We come back to the Great War in order to finish with the entries dedicated to the Va.153 with more native users for this airplane.

Powered by a 200hp Austro-Daimler engine, the Oeffag Va.153 proved to be robust, popular and effective, specially in the Italian front.

It featured various changes like having the Schwarzlose machine guns buried into the front part of the fuselage, and a different radiator than it's German counterpart. Many pilots decided to remove the propeller spinner because it was prone to fall-off in flight.

Also, from the 112th aircraft, of the production series, a new rounded nose was introduced, similar to the one that would be standard in the 253 series in order to achieve better aerodynamical speed and the removal of the controversial spinner.

It was the airplane choosen by Godwin Brumowski, the top Austro-Hungarian ace, who when the war ended, he had flown up to three of them, all of them painted completely in red (copying to Manfred von Richthofen) and with his characteristical skull-insignia.

B.A.C. (English Electric) Lightning F. Mk.1 - Fictional users

We start with what we hope will be a saga throughout our blog: The fictional users.

We have choosen two users for this airplane, Republican Spain and Rhodesia.

• Republican Spain: In real timeline, the United Kingdom set-up an arms embargo against the Francoist Spain. It's feasible to think that if a democratical Republic had won the civil war (and, if that was the case, also went through the World War 2 allied with UK and France) that government would be a good customer for British arm industries.
• Rhodesia: Once the Rhodesian Bush war was won by the Rhodesian government and, in order to secure their airspace from Angolan and Mozambican incursions, they bought some obsolete interceptors from the UK that, in Rhodesia weren't so obsolete.

B.A.C. (English Electric) Lightning F. Mk.1/Mk.2 - British users

We finish with the domestic users for this British bird of the 60s.

The English Electric Lightning flew for the first time on December 1959. And it entered into production and frontline duty on 1960.

It achieved an excellent performance, and was very easy to fly, however, during the first months of service the serviceability was very poor because of the lack of spare parts and the inadequability of the ground equipment to serve correctly these airplanes. The first squadron to fly them, was the No.74 Squadron. at Coltishall, on 1960.

An improved version, the Mk.1A featured better avionics and could support an air-to-air refuelling probe.

The F. Mk.2 was an improved version that flew first on 1961 and entered service with the 19th squadron on 1962 and with the 92nd one in 1963. Conversion that was made possible thanks to the 226th OCU (Operational Conversion Unit).

Due to the better performance of the McDonnel-Douglas F-4 Phantom II, which were better both in range and speed, and the development of the co-joint project, Panavia Tornado, they were replaced, mostly by this last one, with it's interceptor variant, the F.3.

They served in most of the operational theaters, from the United Kingdom to Singapore passing through Cyprus and Germany.

EDIT: In order to see the image in it's proper size, click on it, then right click on it --> copy image address, open a new tab on your browser and then paste the copied address.

B.A.C. (English Electric) Lightning F.52 (Mk.2) - Saudi users

Today we make a huge step forward... up to the late 50s and 60s! With this British supersonic fighter.

The English Electric Lightning is a British supersonic fighter of the cold war. It was designed and manufactured by the English Electric company first and by the British Aircraft Corporation (B.A.C.) later after the first company was absorbed by the second one. It was the only British fighter of those decades that could achieve mach 2 speed. In this variant (F.52) was only operated, in small numbers, by the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF).

The F.52 was a slightly modified version of the F.2 prepared to be exported to Saudi Arabia.

Given the urge of the Saudi government of improving the defenses of their airspace due to the Egyptian incursions which were supporting the Yemeni Republicans in the context of the North Yemen civil war (civil war, where the monarchicals were openly supported by the Saudis) back in 1965. They ordered a number of multi-role lightning F.53, lightning T.55 some BAC Strikemaster and some American Hawk surface-to-air missiles.
Because of the urgency of the situation, they close a new urgent deal codenamed "Magic Carpet" where the British government sold them four additionnal F.52 plus another one in order to replace a lost in an accident one. Just after their arrival, they were deployed in the Khamis Mushait airfield, close to the Saudi-Yemeni border and were piloted by mercenaries.

EDIT: We forgot to mention that, the registrations and the colours themselves should be considered speculative.

A.C.A.Z. C.2

Today we go beyond the First World War and we bring you this rare native Belgian airplane.

The A.C.A.Z. C.2 was the prototype for a Belgian two-seater fighter. It was manufactured by the Ateliers de Construction Aeronautique de Zeebruge (A.C.A.Z.).

It was completely built in duraluminium and was considered very advanced for the year it flew for the first time in 1926. It was powered by a 450hp Hispano-Suiza 12Ha 12-cylinder liquid-cooled engine. An interesting feature of this airplane was the interchangeability of the four main wings panels. The pilot and the observer/rear gunner were seated in tandem and the airplane was armed by a single forward-firing Vickers machine gun and twin lewis machine-guns were installed in the observer post in a flexible mount.
It also featured some space to be fitted with cameras in order to perform reconnaissance missions.

Only one prototype was built and, due to the fact that no production order was placed by the Belgian Aeronautique Militare, it was considered a failure. That's why the prototype was modified and given a new registration in order to register it as a small passenger airplane that could accommodate at least one pilot and two substitutes in order to fly from Belgium to the Belgian Congo. The pilots chosen for that expedition were the famous World War I ace Edmond Thieffry plus two companions, Joseph Lang and Philippe Quersin, but due to a failure they never made it past the souther Belgian town of Philippeville, close to the French border because they had to perform a forced landing due to a failure.

The sole prototype crashed on 25th January 1933 and was written off.

Oeffag Va.153 - Austro Hungarian users. First entry.

Today we come with many new Austro-Hungarian Albatros, the one that was their main production variant. The Oeffag Va.153.

Powered by a 200hp Austro-Daimler engine, it was a development of the earlier Va.53.2. As it's predecessor, it was armed with two schwarzlose machine-guns buried into the fuselage, making it unaccessible to the pilot and it could also support a cowling around the engine in order to keep it heated during winter operations. That cowling proved to be very effective, specially in the eastern Austro-Hungarian front were the Russian winter proved to be very harsh. Some pilots also removed the propeller spinner because it was prone to falling off in flight.

From the 112th airplane of this series until the production was switched on to the better powered Oeffag Va.253, a new variant with a rounded nose was introduced that eliminated the spinner. This variant proved to be more effective than the standard one when, in the wind-tunnel tests it achieved a top speed of 14 km/h faster than the standard one.

The Austro-Hungarian top-ace, Godwin Brumowski, flew this airplane and he copied the German Red Baron Manfred von Richtoffen by copying his red Fokker Dr.I. with the addition of a skull.

Oeffag Va.253 - Austro-Hungarian users

We continue with the derivatives of the Albatros D.III, this time concluding with the native users of this sub-variant.

Powered by a 225hp Austro-Daimler engine, the Va.253 featured, in many cases like it's predecessors, a Scharwzlose machine-gun buried into the mouth of the fuselage making it unaccessible to the pilot. However, some pilots prefered the traditional synchronistaion gear system because it gave some problems, specially when jammed or when the synchronisation gear failed. In fact, in the latest variants of the 253, the machine-gun was relocated to the top of the fuselage just like their German counterparts. This created a problem with the machine-gun released oil, which could interfere with the aiming system.

Under Austro-Hungarian command it proved to be popular, robust, effective and maneouvrable and was highly liked by their pilots.

Albatros MZ/F.2

This airplane has the honour of perform the first military mission on the skies of Europe. With it we open a new section of the blog dedicated to the pre-world war I airplanes. With what airplane will we open the interwar airplane section? Who knows...

The Albatros MZ/F.2 (MZ stands for Militardoppeldecker) was a licensed version of the French Farman F.III, hence the F.
It, however differed from the original F.III because it had a gondola for the crew and was powered by an Argus in-line engine instead of the Gnôme engine of the original.

As we said, this airplane was the first one to be used in a military operation. On October 15th 1912, during the second Balkan Wars, an order was given in order to gather reconnaissance information about the Turkish army and the disposition of the Adrianopole fortress. Obbeying the order, two airmen, the Lieutenant Radul Milkov and Prodan Tarakchiev performed the first aerial recon mission over Europe (The first recon mission in history had been performed by Italian airmen in Libya one year earlier). The wheels of the airplane were damaged when they landed back at the airfield they had departed from.

A.E.G. D.I/Dr.I

Today it's the turn for another German fighter prototype, the unsuccessful A.E.G. D.I/Dr.I.

The A.E.G. D.I was a German fighter prototype of the First World War. After one of the three prototypes were involved in serious crashes, one of which killed the ace Walter Höhndorf, on September 1917 further development was called off.

There were only one variant of this airplane, the Dr.I which was a triplane version that was also cancelled after the test showed a very poor performance.

Albatros D.XI

Today, we bring you this rare and small Albatros airplane.

The Albatros D.XI made it's first flight in February 1918, it was different from it's Albatros predecessors in many aspects.
It was made out of wood with fabric-covered wings and a fuselage covered in plywood. The unequal-span staggered wings had an inclined aerofoil-section braced by two I-shaped struts which eliminated the need for wiring.

For the first time, a rotary engine was fit into an Albatros airplane, it was a 160hp Siemens-Halske Sh.III and the unusually large propeller needed an excepcionally long undercarriage. It was armed with the 7,92mm forward-firing LMG/08 machine gun.

Two prototype were built and the second one featured a two-bladed propeller. As the trials were not found to be satisfactory, no production order was issued.