Leduc RL.21

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Leduc RL.21
Leduc RL.21 1967.png
RL.21 with (from left) Prosper (engineer), R. Leduc (designer) and R. Davy (pilot)
Role Class speed record setter
National origin France
Designer René Leduc
First flight August 1960
Number built 1

The Leduc RL.21 was a single engine, single seat light aircraft built in the late 1950s in France. Designed to achieve high speeds from modest engine power, it set seven class records in the early 1960s.

France Republic with mainland in Europe and numerous oversea territories

France, officially the French Republic, is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland and Italy to the east, and Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The country's 18 integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres (248,573 sq mi) and a total population of 67.3 million. France, a sovereign state, is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major urban areas include Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille and Nice.

Contents

Design and development

Between 1939 and 1975 the amateur aircraft designer and builder René Leduc (not the ramjet designer of the same name)[ citation needed ] completed and flew five different lightplanes, two of which set records in their class. [1] [2] [3] The RL.21 was a low wing monoplane with its wings braced to the upper fuselage by a pair of inverted-V struts. It was powered by a 101 kW (135 hp) SNECMA-Régnier 4L-00 four cylinder inverted air-cooled inline engine driving a two blade propeller. A low, smoothly streamlined canopy covered the single seat cockpit and merged aft into a raised rear fuselage. The empennage was conventional. The RL.21 had a tailwheel undercarriage with spatted main wheels on cantilever legs, mounted on the wings approximately below the ends of the wing struts. [4]

René Leduc (1898–1968) was a French engineer who is much acclaimed for his work on ramjets. In 1949 the Leduc 0.10 became the first aircraft to fly under the power of ramjets alone. Development of this aircraft had begun in 1937, but was severely delayed by the interruption of the Second World War.

Ramjet jet engine that uses the engines forward motion to compress incoming air

A ramjet, sometimes referred to as a flying stovepipe or an athodyd, is a form of airbreathing jet engine that uses the engine's forward motion to compress incoming air without an axial compressor or a centrifugal compressor. Because ramjets cannot produce thrust at zero airspeed, they cannot move an aircraft from a standstill. A ramjet-powered vehicle, therefore, requires an assisted take-off like a rocket assist to accelerate it to a speed where it begins to produce thrust. Ramjets work most efficiently at supersonic speeds around Mach 3. This type of engine can operate up to speeds of Mach 6.

Leduc built the RL.21 over a period of six years with assistance from Sud Aviation and from the Nantes Technical School. It flew for the first time in August 1960. [4] Between late 1960 and early 1967 it set seven records in its C1a and C1b categories, [3] respectively for aircraft with maximum take-off weights below 500 kg (1,102 lb) and between 500–1,000 kg (1,102–2,205 lb). [2] The earliest were for speeds of 313.5 km/h (194.8 mph) and 316.2 km/h (196.5 mph) for the two classes around a 100 km (62 mi) closed circuit [2] and the last at 349.2 km/h (217 mph) and 334.7 km/h (208 mph) over a 500 km (311 mi) closed circuit. [3] Throughout these flights the pilot was Raymond Davy. [4]

Sud Aviation 1957-1970 aerospace manufacturer in France

Sud-Aviation was a French state-owned aircraft manufacturer, originating from the merger of Sud-Est and Sud-Ouest on 1 March 1957. Both companies had been formed from smaller privately owned corporations that had been nationalized into six regional design and manufacturing pools just prior to World War II.

Nantes Prefecture and commune in Pays de la Loire, France

Nantes is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, 50 km (31 mi) from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth-largest in France, with a population of 303,382 in Nantes and a metropolitan area of nearly 950,000 inhabitants. With Saint-Nazaire, a seaport on the Loire estuary, Nantes forms the main north-western French metropolis.

Specifications

Data from Gaillard (1990) p.209 [4]

General characteristics

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 360 km/h (224 mph; 194 kn)
  • Service ceiling: 8,000 m (26,000 ft)

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References

  1. ↑ "Leduc R-21" . Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 "Sport and Business". Flight . Vol. 78 no. 2700. 9 December 1960. p. 700.
  3. 1 2 3 "Sport and Business". Flight . Vol. 91 no. 3018. 12 January 1967. p. 52.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Gaillard, Pierre (1990). Les Avions Francais de 1944 à 1964. Paris: Éditions EPA. p. 209. ISBN   2 85120 350 9.
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