X-43 - Has anyone else done it?

"Franz Geff" wrote in message .com...
Has any other country had success with a Ramjet or Scramjet??? France tried
Hypersonics in the 50s and failed I believe (wasn't it called the Griffon
Aircraft). I have been following many new aerospace developments for a
number of years (namely scramjets and aerospike rocket engines).

From about a year ago...


"Garrison Hilliard" wrote in message
...

This airplane looked a lot like a hypodermic syringe
and was powered by a huge ramjet... does anyone know of this
plane and have any details?

There were a number of rather weird prototypes in the 1950s,
but I think you must be referring to the ramjet aircraft designed
by Rene Leduc. He built a number of types, numbered 0.10, 0.16,
0.21 and 0.22. The 0.22 had an auxiliary jet engine to allow
a normal take-off and was intended as an operational Mach 2
interceptor; the others all had to be air-launched to start the
ramjet engine.

There are good illustrations on
http://jnpassieux.chez.tiscali.fr/html/Leduc021.php and
http://jnpassieux.chez.tiscali.fr/html/Leduc010.php

The Leduc aircraft were little more than huge ramjets. The pilot's
cockpit was in an inner fuselage, which was surrounded by burners;
an outer fuselage shell completed the engine. Tiny tail surfaces and
landing gear were another characteristic. The programme is claimed
to have been reasonably successful, but in 1957 the testing of the 0.22
was halted in a budget round.

--
Emmanuel Gustin
Emmanuel.Gustin -rem@ve- skynet.be
Flying Guns Page:
http://users.skynet.be/Emmanuel.Gustin/