In article ,
Greg Hennessy wrote:
On 18 Feb 2004 00:20:03 -0000, (ANDREW ROBERT BREEN) wrote:
Yep. Metrovick had a very tasty axial-flow engine (the basis of
Armstrong-Siddeley and later Bristol-Siddeley engines to come)
flying in late 1943. Not a bad engine at all. And a fighter
powered by two of 'em was testing before the end of the war
(intended for pacific operations).
That was the SR1A I take it. How did it compare performance wise with the
meteor and vampire ? One wonders how say a 'conventional' version would
have performed over the skies of Korea.
Suprisingly fast, IIRC. 500+ mph rings a bell.
Aha:
"The S.R.A.1 had a normal fuel capacity of 425 Imp. gal., and jettisonable
fuel tanks could be carried under the wing inboard of the retractable
stabilising floats. Loaded weight was l6,255 lb., and empty weight was
11,262 lb. The third prototype attained a maximum speed of 516 mph., and
initial climb rate exceeded 4,000 ft/min. Dimensions we span, 46
ft.; length 50 ft.; height, 16 ft. 9 in.; gross wing area, 415 sq. ft."
(quote from "The JET AIRCRAFT of the World" by William Green (February
1956) - probably reliable enough)
Range was about 500 miles (~830 km) without external tanks. I can't find
time-to-height or ceiling figures.
Vampire F1 was good for about 520 mph, range comparible or a bit longer,
same gun armament (the usual four hispanos) but a lighter bomb load.
"Engine 3,100lb de havilland Goblin DGn.2
Wing span 40ft
Length 30ft 9ins
Maximum speed (Kts)
at height (ft) 540
20,000
Service ceiling (ft) -
Rate of climb (ft/min) 4,200
Range (miles) 730
Armament 4 x 20mm cannon in nose"
(from
http://www.609.org.uk/vampire.htm)
climb rate a little faster, and I'd be suprised if it wasn't more agile
than the big SaRo.
Meat Box F1 (with Wellands) was only good for about 410 mph, but the
F3 which was the first main production type and was in pretty extensive
squadron service before VE day was a lot better. The developed version
- the F4 - came in just post-war but is probably the best comparison
to the SaRo and the Vampi
Engines : two Derwent V turbojets of 3495 lbs thrust
Max speed : 510 Kts (Mach 0.76) at sea level, 430 Kts (Mach 0.76) at
10.000 ft, 235 Kts (Mach 0.78) at 40.000 ft
Cruising speed : 400 Kts - 480 Kts, Landing speed : 90 Kts - 100 Kts
Service ceiling : 40.000 ft, Max ceiling : 44.500 ft
Range : 530 Nm (755 Nm with external tanks)
Empty weight : 9995 lbs, Max take off weight : 17000 lbs
Dimensions : Span of 37 ft 2 in, Length of 40 ft 11 in, Height of 13 ft
Armement : four 20mm cannon + two 1000 lbs bombs or 8 x rockets of 90 lbs
each
Users : Belgium, UK, Netherlands, Argentina
So 598 mph maximum. For its day the Meteor was a very fast machine (it
held the air speed record for a fair while) and for an early jet its
acceleration was good. Not agile except in the hands of someone like
the late Zura, however.
The SaRo wasn't a lot worse than the Vamp in performance and would
certainly have overmatched any piston-engined fighter, let alone
any other seaplane. It would almost certainly have been at a disadvantage
against a Meteor, and although there were ideas of re-activating the
project early in the Korean war it's hard to see what would have been
achieved, even with more powerful engines. I doubt if anyone would
have wanted to take it up against MiG15s (though it'd possibly be no
worse than doing the same in a Firefly)
--
Andy Breen ~ Interplanetary Scintillation Research Group
http://users.aber.ac.uk/azb/
"Time has stopped, says the Black Lion clock
and eternity has begun" (Dylan Thomas)