Marquardt MA-74

Last updated
Marquardt MA-74
Type Ramjet
National origin United States
Manufacturer Marquardt Corporation
Major applications North American MQM-42

The Marquardt MA-74 was a ramjet engine built by the Marquardt Corporation for use in supersonic target drones in the 1960s.

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.

Marquardt Corporation

Marquardt Corporation was one of the few aeronautical engineering firms that was dedicated almost solely to the development of the ramjet engine. Marquardt designs were developed through the 1940s into the 1960s, but the ramjet never became a major design and the company turned to other fields in the 1970s. They suffered a particularly bad financial crisis with the ending of the Cold War, and went bankrupt in the 1990s.

Target drone unmanned, remote controlled aerial vehicle used for target practice

A target drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle, generally remote controlled, usually used in the training of anti-aircraft crews.

Contents

History

The MA-74 was developed by Marquardt for use as a powerplant for high-speed target drones; [1] its primary use was in the North American Redhead and Roadrunner. [2] A nacelle-type ramjet, it used a normal shock inlet, and was designed to be mounted on top of the aircraft; fuel was ordinary JP-4. [1]

North American MQM-42

The MQM-42 was a supersonic target drone developed by North American Aviation. Developed in two subvariants, Redhead and Roadrunner, it was used by the United States Army in the 1960s and 1970s.

Nacelle

A nacelle is a housing, separate from the fuselage, that holds engines, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft. In some cases—for instance in the typical "Farman" type "pusher" aircraft, or the World War II-era P-38 Lightning—an aircraft's cockpit may also be housed in a nacelle, which essentially fills the function of a conventional fuselage. The covering is typically aerodynamically shaped.

JP-4, or JP4 was a jet fuel, specified in 1951 by the U.S. government (MIL-DTL-5624). Its NATO code is F-40. It is also known as avtag.

Variants and applications

MA-74-ZAB
North American MQM-42 [1]

Specifications (XPJ40-MD-2)

Data from Haggerty 1966 [1]

General characteristics

Components

Performance

Thrust reaction force which expels or accelerates mass in one direction. which is physical possible

Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's third law. When a system expels or accelerates mass in one direction, the accelerated mass will cause a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction on that system. The force applied on a surface in a direction perpendicular or normal to the surface is also called thrust. Force, and thus thrust, is measured using the International System of Units (SI) in newtons, and represents the amount needed to accelerate 1 kilogram of mass at the rate of 1 meter per second per second. In mechanical engineering, force orthogonal to the main load is referred to as thrust.

Thrust-to-weight ratio is a dimensionless ratio of thrust to weight of a rocket, jet engine, propeller engine, or a vehicle propelled by such an engine that indicates the performance of the engine or vehicle.

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References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 Haggerty 1966, p. 480.
  2. Parsch 2007

Bibliography

  • Haggerty, James J. (1966). he 1966 Aerospace Year Book (44th ed.). Arlington, VA: Aerospace Industries Association of America. ASIN   B000CBCHOY.
  • Parsch, Andreas (1 July 2007). "North American MQM-42 Redhead/Roadrunner". Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles. Designation-Systems. Retrieved 2017-12-19.

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