Chapter 267 Air-Cooled Spitfire

Across the Channel, UK, Vickers-Ultramarin.

This is a famous aircraft design company. The outstanding S series aircraft won the "Schneider Cup" International Seaplane Racing Championship for three consecutive years in 1927, 1929 and 1931.

Therefore, 18 days after winning the "Schneider Cup" for the third time, the British Air Force issued a development project numbered F.7/30, requiring the design of a monoplane fighter to replace the old biplane. This is the first time Ultramarin has been given the opportunity to develop a single-seat fighter.

Designing fighter jets for the military is a huge honor for an aircraft company. Therefore, Supermarin attaches great importance to it. After half a year, chief designer Reginald Mitchell finally came up with the design plan No. 224.

It's a pity that this plan spiraled because no suitable engine could be found!

If you want the plane to fly faster, you must minimize the flight resistance. As a three-time racing aircraft champion, Mitchell knows this indicator deeply.

However, he could not find a suitable engine.

Historically, the engine he needed was a Merlin engine, but now, Rolls-Royce is out of business.

Merlin's engine died without a problem. Mitchell looked around the country and found that he could not find a liquid-cooled engine with a power of more than 1,000 horsepower that he needed! Without such an engine, he could not have designed an advanced aircraft!

In this way, after a few years, Mitchell finally found an engine with more power than the powerful, the Sagittarius engine produced by the Bristol company! Only, this is an air-cooled engine.

When it comes to World War II, the British industrial heritage is the strongest. It can be seen from the aviation industry that the British Merlin engine was even exported to the United States and became the engine of the Mustang.

This has also caused a misunderstanding to others that the British liquid cooling is strong and the air cooling is weak. However, this weak is also relatively liquid cooling.

And now, the Merlin engine has died out, and other engine manufacturers are still working hard to produce, so this advanced air-cooled engine finally appeared.

(The hero of East China is no exaggeration. The Centaur engine in history also came out in 1938, one year earlier than the German BMW801. Now, with Merlin gone, it is possible to come out one year earlier, right?)

This engine, in later generations, will eventually develop a model that can output more than 2,500 horsepower, and the current initial model can also output 1,800 horsepower stably!

It can be said that compared with Germany, the British engine has never been weaker.

This is the background of the old capitalist country! Even after World War II, Britain has always been in a leading position in terms of engines!

The engine is available. Although it is an air-cooled engine, it is not the type that Mitchell likes. After all, it can still be used. Therefore, on the basis of this engine, Mitchell spread out the drawings and redesigned it, launched the 300-type fighter, and participated in the aviation department. Bidding for the F37/34 high-speed single-seat fighter project.

In the process of designing this aircraft, the new BF109 aircraft has appeared in Germany, which is almost an epoch-making work! Mitchell has a deep premonition that there will inevitably be a new battle, so he must go all out!

Now, it is the first test flight of the new aircraft, and they are already behind compared to Germany.

"Mitchell, are you okay?" asked assistant Josephine Smith, watching Mitchell clutching his stomach and squatting in pain.

"It's okay, I'm okay." Mitchell stood up reluctantly. Last year, he knew that he had cancer, and what he hopes most now is to see the test flight of this plane with his own eyes!

This is a brand new work that he almost pushed back, just to suppress BF109!

At the same time, it is also the first all-metal load-bearing skin cantilever lower monoplane used by Supermarin. All the fixed weapons and retractable main landing gear of the aircraft are installed in the wings.

At the same time, the wing adopts a cantilevered lower wing with an elliptical plane shape, which is very different from the rectangular wing used in other countries. Although the manufacturing process is complex and labor-intensive, it has good aerodynamic characteristics and a large lift-to-drag ratio.

From the outside, it is completely different from the Spitfire of later generations. Its nose is too large, and the front is quite sturdy. That is a compromise that has to be made in order to plug the air-cooled engine.

Looking at the chief designer squatting beside the runway, Matt Summers, the chief test pilot of Ultramarin, got into the plane.

This was the first flight, but Matt was not nervous at all, he believed it was a pretty good plane!

With the roar of the motor, the propeller turned quickly, Matt pushed the throttle, and the fighter plane was on the runway and rolled quickly.

Pull up the lever and the plane takes off with ease, which is simply awesome!

Matt couldn't help cheering, he was very excited.

Retract the landing gear and test the climb! Relying on the outstanding high-horsepower engine, the climb rate of this plane is higher than that of previous racing planes!

"Climb rate 762 m/min." Matt shouted over the radio. "Now for a level flight test at max speed."

"Da..." A drop of sweat fell from Matt's forehead to his knees, and Matt couldn't help but wipe his forehead with his gloved hand.

Not right! Why is the temperature in the cockpit so high?

Matt is very experienced. He has already found the problem. The front air-cooled engine is continuously blowing hot air into the cockpit. Soon, he will become a roast chicken!

"Overheating in the cockpit, stop the test flight." Matt shouted over the radio, and he watched as water mist appeared on his cockpit glass, and the surroundings were blurred.

So, he finally couldn't help but lift the cockpit cover above his head!

The current altitude is 2,000 meters, which is not considered high altitude. Even a biplane without a closed cockpit can fly up. When the cockpit cover is lifted, the cold air swoops in. Now, it is finally cool!

Spitfire in history, the first flight was smooth because it was a liquid-cooled engine! Now, after the air-cooled engine is equipped, the problem of heat dissipation has always troubled designers!

In history, the storm fighter using this air-cooled engine did not encounter these problems, because after the British had seized the Fw-190 at that time, the cleverness of the German engineers was all inherited by the British engineers.

They learned about the technical measures for the application of high-horsepower air-cooled engines, arranged a larger annular air intake, and used the powerful slip flow of the propeller to force the cooling fins of the cylinders; the individual exhaust pipes of each cylinder were collected to the exhaust ports of the aircraft gills. The method of coupling with the engine rubber member and the engine bracket reduces vibration.

But now, they don't know anything, everything is being explored.

When the fighter plane with the canopy opened and landed back on the runway, everyone's faces were ugly. Matt got off the plane and said to Mitchell, "I feel like it's breathing fire at me!"