Aérocentre SNCAC NC.1071

The Aérocentre SNCAC NC.1071 was a a French jet-engined dive-bomber developed after the end of the World War II.
After the accident of the first prototype of the previous NC.1070, it was decided to re-engine and modify the second prototype, becoming it the first prototype of the NC.1071 on 23rd October 1947.
It was powered by two Rolls-Royce Nene 101 jet engines and flew for the first time on 12th October 1948 on a flight between Toussus-le-noble and Bretigny pilotted also by Fernand Lasne. Trial flights reported that, even if the type had some faults, they could quickly be fixed and that the type had good flying characteristics except for the excessive vibrations at high speed. Later, on 27th July 1949, after a test flight in the Centre d'Essais de Vol (Flight Test Centre), the prototype suffered a small handling accident due to a deflated tire that damaged it. This time, as the project took 100 million of French Francs of the time, it was decided to repair it and to improve the fuselage characteristics. Therefore, new low-pressure tires were installed, the nose was modified in order to get better visibility, the defensive turret at the back was replaced by an observation post and additional fuel tanks were placed at the root of the wings. The pilot who tuned-up the modified prototype was Claude Dellys.
After those modifications, further test flights were performed, but on 8th May 1951 after a 0.7 mach high-speed flight, piloted by Jean Sarrail, the aircraft suffered serious deformations at the junctions of the drifts with the motor spindles. After landing it successfully, due to lack of interest in the type, it was decided to not repair it, and abandon it. It was written-off and sent to Rochefort Mechanics school where it ended its days there.
An all-weather heavy-fighter version, called NC.1072 was also expected, but as we couldn't find any blueprints about how it could've looked like, we haven't drawn it.

Sources:
1. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNCAC_NC.1071 (translated)
2. https://www.aviationsmilitaires.net/v2/base/view/Variant/12380.html (translated)
3. https://www.aviationsmilitaires.net/v2/base/view/Variant/12381.html (translated)

Amiot 144 - Never produced variants

Today we bring you not one but three never produced aircraft as we post the never-built variants of the Amiot 144.
The Amiot 145 was the designation given to a proposed version of the Amiot 144 that was expected to be powered by two Hispano-Suiza 14AA delivering each of them 1100hp of power in order to improve the poor original performance of the Amiot 144.
The Amiot 146 was the designation given to another proposed version of the Amiot 144 expected to be powered by two Gnome et Rhône 18Lars engines delivering each of them 1100hp of power too. As that engine proved to be unsuccessful due to poor power-to-weight ratio, the project was discarded. Also, as we couldn't find any pic of how a Gnome et Rhône 18Lars looked like on an airplane, we left this variant undrawn.
The last one, the Amiot 147 was the designation given to another proposed version of the Amiot 144 expected to be powered by two Hispano-Suiza 12Ydrs/12Yfrs delivering each of them 880hp of power. This last one chose a less powerful but more reliable engine in order to improve the feeble performance of the Amiot 144.
All of them were discarded as the type was already obviously very obsolete by 1938-1939 and there were already better aircraft to centre the production on.

Sources:
1. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_amiot_145.html
2. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_amiot_146.html
3. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_amiot_147.html
4. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiot_143 (translated)

Amiot 141 & Amiot 142

Today we bring you two aircrafts in one post, however there aren't drawings of one of them.
The Amiot 141 was the name given to a modified Amiot 140M that was never made. The expected modifications was the cover of the nose gun position with a cupola, a modification of the bomb bay in order to conect the gondola, as in the original one the ventral gunner was isolated from the rest of the airplane because of the bomb bay and bigger gondola windows. No aircrafts were made and production continued towards Amiot 142 and Amiot 143.
The Amiot 142 was a prototype of an improved Amiot 140 that was powered by liquid-cooled engines. It featured the same stressed-skin construction as well as the distinctive shape with massive wings and a glazed gondola below the main fuselage. It was tested in 1933 and 40 aircrafts were ordered by the Armée de l'Air, on 23rd November 1933, more exactly.
Two prototypes were expected, one of them powered by liquid-cooled engines and another one powered by air-cooled engines.
The Amiot 142 was powered by two 860 Hispano-Suiza 12Ybrs engines. It made its maiden flight in January 1935 and was armed with five Lewis Mk.II machine guns as the French MAC 1934 was still a prototype by that year.
In the meantime, the Amiot 143 prototype, powered by air-cooled engines made also its maiden flight in August 1934, but the Armèe de l'Air decided to cancel the order and use all liquid-cooled engines for fighter production.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiot_143
2. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiot_143 (translated)
3. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_amiot_142.html

Amiot 140M

Today we bring you two airplanes, though of the first one we don't have any pic as we couldn't find a pic of a Lorraine 18G Orion W-18 engine.
The Amiot 140 was the precursor of the Amiot 143 and was a twin engined that was going to be powered by two of the aforementioned Lorraine 18G Orion W-18 engines delivering an expected power of 691hp each. It was the most direct response to Armée de l'Air's requeriment but due to the obsolescence of the Lorraine engines for the year 1931 (the order was from 1928) the prototype was finished equipped with two Hispano-Suiza 12Nbr inline engines that delivered less theoretical power (650hp) but they were more reliable.
The finished Amiot 140 was renamed as the Amiot 140M (that letter M standing for Modifié - modificated). It was an stressed-skin bomber that won the contest competing against other French aircraft manufacturer firms like Dewoitine.
It has been regarded as one of the ugliest airplanes ever built with a rectangular fuselage, a large and thick wing, awkward looking nose, a large glazed gondola below the superstructure and was armed with three Lewis Mk.II machine guns (as the first indigenous French aircraft machine gun, the 7.5mm MAC wouldn't appear until three years later, in 1934) one in an open cockpit, another spinal one in another open cockpit and both were able of rotating 180º and a last one inside the superstructure facing the tail, below the wings. This last post was completely isolated from the rest of the airplane as it was placed just behind the bomb bay.
It performed well for the Armèe de l'Air and flew for the first time on 12th April 1931. It was tested at the CEMA (Centre d'Essais de Matériels Aériens - Air Material Research Centre) in the French city of Villacoublay and took part on some night maneouvres in July 1933 where some defects were detected and noted in order to be solved in the next model that would've been the Amiot 141.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiot_143
2. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_amiot_140.html
3. Signal Squadron - Aircraft in Action 189 - French Bombers of World War II in Action

Martin-Baker M.B.6 & MB.7

The Martin-Baker MB.6 was a jet fighter project that was made in 1945, just before the end of the World War II.
It would've been a single-seat jet fighter made of all-metal stressed-skin with a low wing. The fuselage was going to be cigar shaped with an air intake in the nose. The tail was designed to be conventional all-metal single-fin and rudder with a tailplane and elevator positioned on top of the aft fuselage.
The most notorius feature was also that it was going to be fitted with skids undercarriage instead of the conventional tricycle wheels. However, most likely they could've been replaced by wheels.
It wasn't specified what engine would fit, but it was most likely the Rolls-Royce Derwent. The cockpit was placed in the nose with a clear bubble view and it was going to be armed with four 20mm Hispano cannons placed at the front with a provision of 200 rounds per gun.
The Martin-Baker MB.7 was a project of a Delta shaped interceptor for the F.43/46 air ministry specification, which, most likely, was the official that was going to be given, to the Martin-Baker Delta which we already covered previously.

Sources:
1. https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.aviation.military/NVwltBtoD0A
2. http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,3600.0.html

Martinsyde A.D.C. 1, Martinsyde A.D.C. Nimbus & Martinsyde F.4A

The Martinsyde A.D.C.1 was a development of the Martinsyde F.4 Buzzard made by the Aircraft Disposal Company that bought Martinsyde's stores when it went into bankruptcy in 1922.
John Kenworthy decided to fit an Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar engine delivering 380hp of power into the airframe of a regular Buzzard and retaining the original armament of two 0.303in Vicker Machine guns in the front. The first prototype flown for the first time on 11th October 1924 and it took part in the 1925 and 1926 King's Cup Races. It attracted some foreign interest when Latvia's Air Force ordered eight airplanes in 1926 that were delivered the same year. At least two of them were still active in 1938.
The Martinsyde F.4A was a two-seater conversion of the Buzzard that most of them served with the Spanish Aeronáutica Naval and Aeronáutica Naval Republicana (Naval Aeronautics and Republican Naval Aeronauticrespectively). They were bought in 1921 and assigned to the El Prat pilots school, in Barcelona and later, they were assigned to the San Javier aeronaval base, in south-eastern Spain. They were in active trainer role until 1936 when the Spanish Civil War started.
The Martinsyde A.D.C. Nimbus was a further development of the A.D.C.1 made by John

The Martinsyde ADC Nimbus

Kenworthy using a 330hp Nimbus six-inline water-cooled engine. It was basically the same airframe of the Buzzard with a modified vertical tail, a horn-balanced rudder and revised aft fuselage decking. It was going to be armed with the typical pair of 0.303in Vickers Machine guns but they never were installed. Two prototypes were completed in 1926 which took part in the King's Cup race of that same year and, one year later the first prototype was modified with faired undercarriage legs and cylinder head fairings. It didn't attract any interest and therefore no orders were placed. As we couldn't find any side drawings of blueprints of this airplane, we left it undrawn.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martinsyde_Buzzard
2. http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/martinsyde_adc-1.php
3. http://www.aviationcorner.net/gallery.asp?pg=45&fp=37&airline=Espa%F1a%20-%20Arma%20A%E9rea%20Armada&sort_order=votes&set_lang=true (translated)
4. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Martinsyde F.2

Today we have another rare airplane that, unfortunately, we couldn't find any blueprints or profile drawings.
The Martinsyde F.2 was both designed and built in parallel to the F.1 and it was tested two months before the F.1, in May 1917. It was powered by a 200hp Hispano-Suiza 8Bd eight-cylinder water-cooled engine and was armed with one fixed 0.303in synchronised Vickers machine gun plus a Lewis gun mounted on a scarff ring for the observer as it was a two-seater.
When it was officialy tested, many shortcomings were revealed which ruled out any official production order. After that any further development was cancelled and it served as a testbed for the Sunbeam Arab engine.

The only known pic of the Martinsyde F.2

Sources:
1. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
2. http://flyingmachines.ru/Site2/Crafts/Craft30048.htm

Martinsyde F.1

Unfortunately we don't have any drawings to show you today because everything we could find about this airplane was a single photo.
The F.1 was designed in late 1915 as a two-seat tractor fighter biplane where the gunner sat in the forward cockpit and stood upright to fire a 0.303 Lewis on a mount built into the upper wing central section.
It was powered by a 250hp Rolls-Royce Mk.III engine (which later was known as the Rolls-Royce Eagle III). It suffered from many development delays and, when it was officialy tested in July 1917, it was already obsolete although it showed good handling capabilites but the rare crew arrangement was criticised. As expected, it wasn't ordered into production and only one prototype, of two expected, was built. It served as a model and was used in Farnborough (where Martinsyde's headquarters were) until the end of the war as a testbed for another models, mainly the famous F.4 Buzzard.

The only known pic of the Martinsyde F.1

Sources:
1. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martinsyde_F.1

Mann & Grimmer M.1

We start this week with one of the most strange looking airplanes of the World War I.
The Mann & Grimmer M.1 was a British two-seat fighter prototype that had a radial engine placed in the nose, but with two propellers driving behind the wings, in a pusher configuration in order to give the gunner a good field of view.
It was designed by Reginald F. Mann who wanted to design an airplane with the power of a tractor airplane with the good field of view and fire of the pusher's. To achieve those requirements, he designed a conventional deep fuselage powered by a single 125hp Anzani engine which drove two propellers mounted behind and between the wings, using a long shaft to a gearbox and chain drives to the propellers. The observer/gunner sat in the nose, behind the engine, while the pilot sat in another cockpit behind the wings.
The prototype was completed at Hendon Aerodrome in February 1915 and made its maiden flight on 19th February but its complicated chain drives created some problems and underpowered the engine. When it was expected the prototype to be tested by the Royal Flying Corps, it crashed when landing after trying to beat the British altitude record on 16th November 1915.
Mann had designed an improved version, the M.2, but the lack of funds made it impossible its creation. Unfortunately we couldn't find any blueprints about it.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann_%26_Grimmer_M.1
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Macchi M.6

The Macchi M.6 was an Italian flying-boat fighter prototype that was completed in 1917 in order to compare it to the Macchi M.5 which differed from it in having a modified wing cellule. It had also Vee-type interplane bracing struts plus an sloping auxiliary vee struts that supported the upper wing making that way the parallel struts to be placed further outboard.
It was also powered by the Isotta-Fraschini V.4b that powered most of the versions of the Macchi M.5 and was armed with two Vickers 0.303 machine guns.
After comparative trials were performed between the M.6 prototype and an standard M.5, the results showed that the M.6 had not any advantage over the M.5 whatsoever, so it's development was abandoned and no more M.6s were built. The fate of the prototype is unknown.
Also, as there aren't any blueprints or profile drawings of this airplane, only black & white photos, so we decided to leave undrawn.

The only known pic of the Macchi M.6

Sources:
1. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macchi_M.6

Avro 720, Avro 726 & Avro 728

Happy new year everyone! Today we bring you two never built airplanes that aren't very widelly known.

The Avro 720 was a project for a rocket fighter that could act as a point-defence interceptor in order to comply with the Air Ministry's Specification F.124T. Such specification was issued back in 1949 and was greatly inspired by other war-time point defence interceptors like the German Messerschmitt Me.163. As technology advanced, the initial version was expected to be armed with at least two 20mm Hispano Mk.V cannons, but later, as the missile technology was developed, they were replaced by just two Firestreak missiles. One mock-up 1:1 scale model was made and a flyable prototype was expected to be ready in 1956 but the programme was cancelled in May 1955.

The Avro 726 was a development of the 720 intended to serve as escort or interceptor, while the Avro 728 was a naval version intended to serve with the Fleet Air Arm. They were projected in January 1954 and early 1955 respectively. However, of these last two we couldn't find blueprints or reliable drawings, so, unfortunately, they're left undrawn.

Sources:
1. Midland Publishing - British Secret Projects - Jet Fighters Since 1950

Arado Ar.232B

At the same time when the 232A version was being produced, a second B version was being designed. It intended to solve the problems present at the A one, like the lack of power in case of one engine's failure.
As it had two engines more than the A, the wing had to be extended and the center of gravity was moved forward. The first B prototypes flown for the first time in May 1942 and were followed by a production order to ten machines more. Those airplanes were widely used, specially on the eastern front. However the RLM didn't order more of them as transport planes had the lowest priority as they consumed much more fuel than they could afford. Some others were used by Arado to transport airplane parts between their factories.
Apparently in the inmediate postwar, the British forces captured two of them and, after being tested by Eric "Winkle" Brown, who defined the Ar.232B as an excellent airplane, it was used for regular cargo flights between Germany and the Uk during late 1945 and early 1946.

There were also some unbuilt projects regarding this airplane. The Ar.232C and Ar.432 was initally a sub-variant with wooden wings intended to save some precious alluminium and it would've been produced from October 1945 onwards. The Ar.532 and Ar.632 were version with even larger wingspan that would've been powere by six engines. Unfortunately we couldn't find plans or profile drawings for them so we have left them undrawn.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado_Ar_232
2. http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=475

Avro 521

This is a special post as it's hasn't any drawing in it because we couldn't find any blueprint for this airplane.

The Avro 521 was flown on late 1915 was an hybrid that had some components of the original Avro 504. It was powered by a 110hp Clerget 9Z nine-cylinder rotary engine and could've been armed with a single 0.303 lewis machine gun mounted on the rear cockpit. It was tested in early 1916 by the Royal Flying Corps but the contract was cancelled and it seems that only the prototype was built which crashed at Upavon on 21st September 1916.

The Avro 521

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_521
2. http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/avro-521.php
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Avis II

As the Avis I showed poor performance, the designer, prof. Abody-Anderlik were prompted to redesign the aircraft in spite of the decision taken by the Légüyi Hivatal of purchasing 21 Fiat Cr.20bis fighter airplanes from Italy.

The design held to the Jupiter VI engine and, as redesigned it featured a slimmer, slab-sided fuselage as well as redesigned vertical tail surfaces. It also featured narrower interplace bracing struts and an increased gap.
The overall empty weight was reduced by 100kg and, after some initial testing the engine was enclosed within a Townend ring.
It was flight tested in 1935 but it turned to overweight and it wasn't as agile as other contemporary two-winged foreign fighters. It was to be armed with two 7.62mm Gebauer machine guns but the development was abandoned in favour of the Avis III. Unfortunately we haven't found any blueprint or side-drawing of it, so it remains undrawn.

The only known pic of an Avis II fighter

Sources: 
1. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Aviatik D.VI

In 1918 Aviatik was working on various prototypes of single-seat fighter at the same time. Two of them, the Aviatik D.IV and D.V were powered by the Benz Bz IIIbv which was a larger version of the Benz BzIIIbm. The D.V was powered by that same engine but was a new design which discarded flying wires. Unfortunately there it seems that there aren't pics of these models, or at least we couldn't find any.

The D.VI was the only prototype among those three that was flown in August 1918 and had little resemblance to the previous Aviatik fighter projects. It was a two-bay biplane made out of wood with ply-covered fuselage and fabric covered wings and tail surfaces.
It was armed with the usual pair of German 7,92mm LMG 08/15 machine guns and powered by the Benz IIIbm engine. It was intended to take part in the second D-type contest held in Adlershof in June 1918 but due to some engine problems it didn't make it in time. However, when tested in August 1918 it revealed excellent flying characteristics.

Sources:
1. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

AUSA MB.901 & MB.902

The AUSA MB.901 and AUSA MB.902 were a project dating back from 1939, later modified in 1941 of a heavy fighter project made entirely out of metal and twin-engined. It was designed by the Captain Engineer Andrea Bellomo and built by Aeronautica Umbra SA, based in the city of Foligno and with only one incompleted prototype built.

The first prototype of the MB.901 (which we left it undrawn as we couldn't find a trustable pic or drawing of how it looked like) was born from a request made by the Italian Air Ministry for a multi-role airplane which could be used as an escort fighter, fighter-bomber, attack airplane and fast reconnaissance airplane. It was required in the request to be powered by two engines placed in tandem behind the cockpit. The wings were placed low at the cockpit sides.

The peculiarity of the MB.901 project was the placement of the two engines which initiall they were expected to be the Isotta Fraschini L.180, placed in tandem inside the fuselage which powered two pairs of counter-rotating propellers mounted in nacelles placed on the wings with the radiators placed also in the wings by the fuel tank hatch. The expected propellers were two metalic pair of co-axial propellers at variable pitch with two propellers on each axis. Such system was designed by Bellomo himself, together with the complex mechanical transmission mechanism at 90º in order to connect the axis with the engines placed inside the fuselage.
Given the tehcnological difficulty of such mechanism, was rarely employed, even if it offered certain advantages like a significant reduction of the weight, with the possibility of including the inversion of the propellers, something very important for the piloting during the dive bombing maneouver, and during landing. It also gave more in-flight stability.
The MB.902 prototype was powered by two Alfa-Romeo RA 1000 RC.41 delivering each of them 1050hp of power. That engine was a Italian version of the German Daimler-Benz DB 601, however, other sources claim that the installed engines were the Italian FIAT 1050 RC.581. The expected armament, as it was never installed on the prototype, were four 12,7mm Breda-SAFAT caliber machine guns, placed at the wings and fuselage plus two 20mm MG151/20 cannons. Most probably it also had some bomb delivering capability.

On 7th September 1939, a non flyable model was requested to the designer, having working engines, in order to check the effectivity of them.
Later in 1941, the designer reached an agreement with AUSA for building the first prototype, which it's maiden flight was expected for the summer of 1943. At this stage some radical designs were made to the original design of the MB.901, which is therefore known as the MB.902. The wings were modified which were placed high in the fuselage and was built with a trycicle undercarriage, but the most important modification were the place of the propellers which were placed on the wings, behind the cockpit in order to improve the visibility of the pilot.
Of the two expected prototypes, only the first wind tunnel one, made out of wood, was built. On 8th September 1943, the date of the Italian armistice, the project was cancelled and the prototype model was destroyed.

Sources:
1. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/AUSA_MB.902 (translated)

Atlas Cheetah - Foreign Users

Yes, that's the South African roundel of the 1980s.

The Atlas Cheetah is a South African fighter that was developed as a major upgrade for the Dassault Mirage III made by Atlas Aircraft Corporation (actually called Denel Aviation) and based on the Israeli IAI Kfir. Three different variants were created, a training one, called Cheetah D, single-seat one, Cheetah C and E, and a reconnaissance, unbuilt one, R.

As we are centering on it's foreign users, we directly move on to the operational history while serving both with Chile and Ecuador.

In 2003, Chile bought five mothballing Cheetah Es to scrap them to use them as a spare parts source for the similar ENAER Pantera, that was also an upgraded variant of the Dassault Mirage 5. Chile wrote off their last Pantera, shuting down their Grupo 4, in 2007 after their last Mirage Elkan was retired in 2006. As theywere bought for scrap, we haven't drawn them, since most probably they weren't repainted in Chilean colours.

On 23rd September 2009 the Ecuadorian Defence Ministry bought 10 ex-SAAF Cheetahs C and two Cheetahs D to replace their fleet of Dassault Mirage F.1 equipping the Escuadrón de Combat 2112 (Combat Squadron 2112) which is one of the two supersonic combat squadrons that Ecuador has. After some delays, the first airplanes arrived in Ecuador on April 2011.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Cheetah
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters.

Unbuilt Arsenal VG-90 projects

As most of these are left undrawn, as there aren't blueprints or profile drawings we are gathering them all in one post. The only one that apparently was drawn in a blueprint was the VG-93.

The Arsenal VG-91 was an intended single-seat fighter for the French Air Force and, apparently it was going to be powered by the French Atar C.101 engine and was expected that it would've achieved the speed of 953km/h. It was going to be also a little bit longer.
Arsenal VG-92 was just a regular VG-90 refitted with the newer Rolls-Royce Nene II engine. It was intended for Aeronaval service.
Arsenal VG-93 was a VG-90 powered also by the Rolls-Royce Nene II engine, and it would've featured ramjets placed on the wingtips. It was estimated that it would've achieved speeds of 1095Km/h.
Arsenal VG-94 was also a derivative of the VG-90, intended for the Navy and powered by a Rolls Royce Nene 104 delivering 3100Kgp of thrust and intended to achieve speeds of 1100km/h.

Sources:
1. http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=1242.10;imode

Arsenal VG-70 & VG-80

The Arsenal VG-70 was a French experimental airplane developed just after the World War II.

Back in 1939 the engineer Jean Galtier had started to work on the design of a wooden fighter powered by a supercharged Hispano-Suiza 12Y-51 capable of delivering, theoretically, 1000hp of power. That project was called VG-60. That project was relaunched in 1942 around another supercharged Hispano-Suiza 12Z capable of achieving 1200hp of power, but with the liberation, the objectives of the French aeronautical sector, changed radically as the industrial priority was to adquire experience with the newly built jet engines and/or fighters. So, since September 1944 Arsenal de l'Aeronautique made some studies on how to adapt the German Jumo 004 engine on the fuselage of an Arsenal VG-60, which was never fully built.

During the summer of 1943 the engineers at the design bureau of Messerschmitt carried out some wind-tunnel tests at Chalais-Meudon in order to develop the P.1092 programme. That program never materialized, but Jean Galtier had knowledge of the results and decided to use them, so during the autumn of 1945 it was decided to build a swept-wing research prototype resulting in a 38º swept-winged monoplane resting on a retractable tricycle landing gear with a ventral air intake placed just under the cockpit. It was of mixed construction, since the fuselage was made out of metal but the wings and the vertical stabilizers were made out of wood.

It flew for the first time on 23rd June 1948 at Melun-Villaroche piloted by Modeste Vonner. It had the honour of being the second French jet airplane to fly after the SNCASO SO.6000 Triton and it achieved the speed of 760Km/h. It was expected to replace the Junkers Jumo 004 with a Rolls-Royce Derwent and it would've been called Arsenal VG-80, but the programme was abandoned in favour of the Arsenal VG-90.

Finally, as we like to run our imagination wild, we thought that it would've been interesting if the Frenchs, would've armed the aircraft to use it as a rocket fighter.

Sources:
1. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenal_VG_70 (translated)
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenal_VG_70

Antonov Salamandra

We make a brief visit to the USSR to cover some never materialized projects made by Antonov, which was famous for designing and manufacturing big cargo airplanes, and enormous strategical bombers.

The first project to cover is the Antonov Salamandra. Back in the days when Antonov design bureau was newly founded, they had a go at fighter design, even if they had their design staff cut by a third. During the World War II, Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov, worked for the design department of Yakovlev as a deputy. He was impressed by the Heinkel He.162 "Salamander", which was designed and produced incredibly fast during the closing stages of the war. That aircraft, as it's widely known, had the engine mounted on top of the fuselage and also twin tail fins to keep the rudders out of jet efflux, so it comes no surprise that the Antonov design copied this layout and was also called Salamandra (Salamander). The design began in the spring 1946, just after the completion of the Antonov An-2 design.

Antonov Salamandra

It was powered by a single RD-10 engine on the back of the fuselage and this position removed the risk of ingestion and foreign object damage coming from rough field operations, which was the intended field of act of this airplane and also made the maintenance of the airplane easier.

A wind test model was tested on 6th April 1946, but Antonov received intructions from the NKAP (the Soviet bureau of new technology) ordering them to concentrate in a new fighter design powered by two RD-10 engines. Therefore, Antonov abandoned the project and concentrated on the Antonov M or Antonov Masha.

Unfortunately as we couldn't find blueprints of profile drawings for this one, we couldn't draw it. However we found two pics of the wind test model.

Antonov Salamandra

Source:
1. Midland Publishing - Soviet Secret Projects - Fighters since 1945