Prometheus | |
---|---|
Role | Two seat turbojet powered motor glider |
National origin | Switzerland |
Manufacturer | Entwicklungsgemeinschaft für Flugzeugbau (EFF) |
First flight | 22 June 1978 |
Number built | 1 + 1 conversion from a FFA Diamant 18 |
The EFF Prometheus was an unusual two seat motor glider powered by a pair of small turbojet engines, designed and constructed in Switzerland in the 1970s. Two versions with different spans were built, but it did not go into production.
In 1970 EFF began work on a turbojet powered version of the FFA Diamant 18 sailplane. This, named the Prometheus 1, first flew on 21 June 1971. It was initially powered by a 0.745 kN (167.5 lbf) Microturbo Eclair II, later replaced by a 1.18 kN (265.3 lbf) Microturbo TRS 25. The engine was mounted on a short pylon to the rear of the cockpit above the wing centre line. Apart from the addition of the engine and associated fuel tanks and accessories, the aircraft was essentially the single seat Diamant 18. [1] The later Prometheus 19 of 1978 was a two-seat, side-by-side configuration aircraft with a new fuselage, purpose built to contain the wider cockpit and the twin turbojets, a new, mid-mounted wing with a different section and a span, in its initial form, of 19.4 m (63 ft 7.8 in). The all-moving tail of the Diamant was replaced by a conventional one. [2]
Design work on the Prometheus 19 began in about 1971 and construction was started in 1975, leading to a first flight on 22 June 1978. Its wing had a single aluminium spar and was skinned with plywood infilled with glass fibre/foam sandwich. It was fitted with flaperons for lateral control and lift generation, combined with DFS-type airbrakes operating only from the upper wing surface. [2]
The forward fuselage had a wooden structure skinned with glass fibre. The cockpit, ahead of the wing, seated two side by side . Two 0.88 kN (197.8 lbf) Microturbo TRS 18 engines were mounted behind the cockpit, fed from a pair of dorsal intakes immediately aft of the glazing and exhausting over the rear fuselage a little behind the wing trailing edge. This section of the fuselage and the empennage were constructed from glass-fibre sandwich. The Prometheus had a tall, straight edged fin with the narrow chord tailplane and single elevator on top in T-configuration. It landed on a retractable tricycle undercarriage. The mainwheels were sprung on rubber blocks and were fitted with brakes; the nosewheel had an oleo shock absorber. [2]
The Prometheus 12 was a variant with a 12.63 m (41 ft 5.2 in) span wing to improve the performance envelope and increase structural strength.
Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1981-82 [2]
General characteristics
Performance
Avionics
Henschel's Hs 132 was a World War II dive bomber and interceptor aircraft of the German Luftwaffe that never saw service. The unorthodox design featured a top-mounted BMW 003 jet engine and the pilot in a prone position. The Soviet Army occupied the factory just as the Hs 132 V1 was nearing flight testing, the V2 and V3 being 80% and 75% completed.
The Sukhoi Su-9 was an early jet fighter built in the Soviet Union shortly after World War II. The design began in 1944 and was intended to use Soviet-designed turbojet engines. The design was heavily influenced by captured German jet fighters and it was subsequently redesigned to use a Soviet copy of a German turbojet. The Su-9 was slower than competing Soviet aircraft and it was cancelled as a result. A modified version with different engines and a revised wing became the Su-11, but this did not enter production either. The Su-13 was a proposal to re-engine the aircraft with Soviet copies of the Rolls-Royce Derwent turbojet as well as to modify it for night fighting, but neither proposal was accepted.
The Schempp-Hirth Janus is a high performance two-seat glider that was built by Schempp-Hirth GmbH. It was the first high-performance two-seater.
The NASA AD-1 was both an aircraft and an associated flight test program conducted between 1979 and 1982 at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards California, which successfully demonstrated an aircraft wing that could be pivoted obliquely from zero to 60 degrees during flight.
The Ilyushin Il-40 was a two-seat Soviet jet-engined armored ground-attack aircraft. The first prototype flew in 1953 and was very successful except when it fired its guns, as their combustion gasses disturbed the airflow into the engines and caused them to flameout or hiccup. Remedying this problem took over a year and involved the radical change of moving the engine air intakes all the way to the very front of the aircraft and repositioning the guns from the tip of the nose to the bottom of the fuselage, just behind the nosewheel. The aircraft, now resembling a double-barreled shotgun from the front, was ordered into production in 1955. Only five production aircraft had been completed before the entire program was canceled in early 1956 when the VVS discarded its close air-support doctrine in favor of tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield.
The Caproni Vizzola C22 Ventura was a light jet-powered aircraft developed in Italy for use as a military trainer. It was of conventional sailplane configuration and bore a family resemblance to the Caproni Calif gliders, although the Ventura had an almost entirely metal structure. The student and instructor sat side by side under an expansive canopy, and weapons hardpoints were provided under each of the slender, high-mounted wings. It had retractable, tricycle undercarriage.
The Fauvel AV.45 was an unorthodox motor glider produced in France in the 1960s and 1970s. Like other Charles Fauvel designs, it was a tailless aircraft, in this case inspired by the work that German firms had done on producing motorised versions of his AV.36 design. The prototype of the AV.45 was an extensively modified AV.36 powered by a Nelson H-59 two-stroke engine. AV.45s have been built with a number of other engines, however, including at least one aircraft powered by a small turbojet. Falconar marketed the plans in the 1970s.
The Ikarus 451 is a family of research aircraft designs built in Yugoslavia in the 1950s, all sharing the same basic airframe, but differing in powerplants and cockpit arrangements. One member of the family Ikarus 451M became the first domestically-built jet aircraft to fly in Yugoslavia, on 25 October 1952.
The Microjet 200 was a French jet trainer designed and built by Microjet SA.
The Lavochkin La-152,, and its variants, was a jet fighter prototype designed and manufactured by the Lavochkin Design Bureau (OKB) shortly after the end of World War II. Derived from the Lavochkin La-150, the 152 used several different engines, but the program was canceled as other fighters with more powerful engines and swept wings showed more promise.
The Margański & Mysłowski EM-10 Bielik is a low-cost Polish military training aircraft prototype, built by Margański & Mysłowski Zakłady Lotnicze, and first flown on 4 June 2003. The single-engine aircraft has a composite fuselage with a light-alloy aft section, and the pressurized cockpit is fitted with ejection seats.
The Yakovlev Yak-1000 was a Soviet supersonic technology demonstrator intended to evaluate the aerodynamic layout and field performance of the cropped delta wing discussed in captured German documents in combination with the new Lyulka AL-5 turbojet. The tandem undercarriage proved to be unsatisfactory and there were serious flight stability problems related to the delta wing, enough so that it never flew after an accident during taxiing tests.
The Yakovlev Yak-140 was a Soviet prototype lightweight supersonic fighter developed during the 1950s. The prototype was completed in 1954, but it was denied authorization to enter flight testing and the program was cancelled in 1956.
The FFA Diamant is a family of Swiss high-wing, T-tailed, single-seat, FAI Standard Class and FAI Open Class gliders that was designed by engineering students under supervision of Professor Rauscher at the ETH Zurich and manufactured by Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein AG (FFA) of Altenrhein, Switzerland.
The LAK-12 is a Lithuanian mid-wing, single-seat, FAI Open Class glider that was designed and produced by Lietuviškos Aviacinės Konstrukcijos (LAK) in Lithuania and later by Sportine Aviacija and Sport Aviation USSR.
The Procaer Cobra was a two-seat turbojet powered light aircraft designed and built in Italy and flown in the early 1960s. Only one was completed.
The Microturbo TRS 18 is a small, low thrust turbojet designed and built in France in the 1970s. It was installed on both manned and unmanned aircraft.
The Aérostructure Lutin 80, earlier known as the PLM 80, is a small, single seat motor glider with a low power pusher configuration engine, designed and built in France in the 1980s. Only two were completed.
The Schleicher K 10 is a Standard class competition glider, designed by Rudolf Kaiser and built in Germany in 1963. Only a few were produced.
The Bréguet 1100 was a twin-engine French light fighter also suitable for ground-attack and built for the French armed forces. First flown in 1957, only one was completed as budget cuts led to cancellation of the programme.