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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) |
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