Focke-Wulf Ta 183

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The Focke-Wulf Ta-183 Huckebein was a jet-powered fighter aircraft, designed during World War II as the successor to the Messerschmitt Me 262 in Luftwaffe service.

[edit] Background

In early 1945 the RLM was looking for a successor for the first German jet-fighters Me 262 and He 162.

The result was a series of advanced designs, some using swept wings for improved transonic performance, others instead using the tailless design to lower drag to the same end. Unknown to the engineers at the time, tailess designs have serious stability problems in the transonic, a problem first explored in depth in the X-4 Bantam. This culminated in 1945 as a fighter project known as "Huckebein" (a cartoon raven that traditionally makes trouble for others), also known as Project V (Project VI in some references) or Design II at Focke Wulf.

[edit] Design

Development of the Ta 183 started as early as 1942, when the engineer Hans Multhopp assembled a team to design a new fighter. The plane was intended to use the advanced Heinkel HeS 011 turbojet, although the first prototypes were to be powered by the Junkers Jumo 004B. Early studies also included an optional 1000 kgf (10 kN) thrust rocket engine for takeoff and combat boost, fuel for up to 200 seconds of burn time stored in drop tanks under the wings.

The wings were swept back at 40 degrees and were mounted in the mid-fuselage position. The wings appear to be mounted very far forward compared to most designs, a side effect of attempting to keep the center of pressure (CoP) of the wing as a whole as close to the middle of the fuselage as possible. The main spar consisted of two tapered aluminum I-beams attached together on the top and bottom with thin steel sheeting. The box-like structure contained six fuel cells, giving the aircraft a total fuel load of 1,565 liters. Wooden ribs were attached to the front and back of the I-beams to give the wing its overall shape, and then covered with plywood.

The original design used a T-tail, with a notably long vertical stabilizer and a seemingly undersized horizontal stabilizer. The vertical tail was swept back at 60 degrees, and the horizontal tail was V-shaped and bent upwards somewhat. The horizontal surface was used only for trimming, the main pitching force being provided by the ailerons, which were well behind the center of gravity and thus could provide both pitch and roll control.

The Ta 183 had a short fuselage with the air intake passing under the cockpit and proceeding to the rear where the single engine was located. The pilot sat in a pressurized cockpit with a bubble canopy which provided excellent vision. The primary armament of the plane consisted of four 30 mm MK 108 cannons arranged around the air intake. It was also possible to carry a bomb load of 500 kg (1,100 lb), consisting of one SD or SC 500 bomb, one BT 200 bomb, five SD or SC bombs or a Rb 20/30 reconnaissance camera. The weapons load would be carried in the equipment space in the bottom of the fuselage and thus partially protrude about halfway from the fuselage, possibly allowing for other armament packages.

Multhopp's team also seriously explored a second version of the basic design, known as Design III, a modified Design II (it is unknown what Design I referred to). The main differences were a reduced wing sweep of 35 degrees, allowing the wing and cockpit to be moved rearward. The tail was also redesigned, using a short horizontal boom to mount the control surfaces just above the line of the rear fuselage. This version looks considerably more "conventional" to the modern eye, although somewhat stubby due to the short overall length of the HeS 011.

On February 28, 1945, the Luftwaffe High Command examined the various Emergency Fighter proposals and selected the Ta 183 to be developed and produced. Sixteen prototypes were to be built, allowing the tail unit to be interchanged between the Design II and III variations. Of the Versuchs (experimental test series) aircraft the Ta 183 V1-V3 were to be powered by the Jumo 004B turbojet, pending delivery of the He S 011 jet engine. The Ta 183 V4-V14 were 0-series preproduction aircraft and V15-V16 were to be static test aircraft. The first flight of the aircraft was projected for May 1945 but none were completed by April 8, 1945, when British troops captured the Focke-Wulf facilities.

[edit] Offspring

Kurt Tank, while in exile in Argentina, also continued the Ta 183 project, resulting in the IAe Pulqui II. This version was modified to place the wings at a shoulder-mounted position, for reasons which are unclear, which resulted in deep stall problems at high angles of attack. This seemed solvable, however, and a newer version correcting these problems was planned. However the financial crash of 1953 and the fall of Juan Peron ended the project, at first temporarily, and by 1955, permanently.

Some sources continue to repeat the myth that the famous Soviet MiG-15 was at least inspired by the Ta-183 due to its superficial resemblence in layout though the planes are clearly different in structure, detail shapes and proportions. The MiG-15 shared the high tailplane, bubble canopy and nose mounted intake and guns but these were common features of fighter designs of that era (for example, the Republic F-84B/F, the French Ouragan and Mystere or the SAAB Tunnan). A detailed design history of the MiG-15 has been published by the noted Russian aviation historian Yefim Gordon which conclusively refutes any connection between the Ta-183 and the MiG-15 and shows the MiG-15 to be an entirely separate development that had nothing in common with the Ta-183. According to the designers, the MiG-15 was indeed a indigenous design, their choice of swept wings being due to their desire to move ahead of most western designs which were not intended for the 600mph+ speed range. Though they too were an entirely indigenous designs, the Lavochkin La-15 and several related development machines also had a layout superficially similar to the Ta-183, though they were longer and had a more orthodox control arrangement.

After the end of the war, Multhopp moved to the United States, where he gave valuable insight into swept wing design. This information contributed to the development of the F-86 Sabre and later versions of the F-84, both of which incorporated swept wings. The Sabre in particular would be the first American fighter that could cope on an equal footing with the MiG-15 in performance.

[edit] Specifications (Ta 183, as originally designed)

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 9.20 m (30 ft 2 in)
• Wingspan: 10.00 m (32 ft 10 in)
• Height: m (ft in)
• Wing area: 22.5 m² (242 ft²)
• Empty weight: 2,380 kg (6,240 lb)
• Loaded weight: 4,300 kg (9,480 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: kg (lb)
• Powerplant: 1× Heinkel He.S 011 turbojet, 15.6 kN (3,500 lbf)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 955 km/h (596 mph)
• Range: km (miles)
• Service ceiling: 14,000 m (45,920 ft)
• Rate of climb: 20.4 m/s (4,020 ft/min)
• Wing loading: 196 kg/m² (41 lb/ft²)
• Thrust/weight: 0.37

Armament

• 4× 30 mm MK 108 cannons
• 500 kg (1,100 lb) of bombs

[edit] Related content

Related development

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15, Saab Tunnan, FMA IAe 33 Pulqui II

 

Designation sequence

Bü 180 - Bü 181 - Bü 182 - Ta 183 - Fl 184 - Fl 185 - Ju 186

 

 

[edit] Notes

[edit] External Links

Mikoyan-Gurevich MIG-15: The Soviet Union's Long-Lived Korean War Fighter, Yefim Gordon, Publisher: Midland (October 14, 2001) ISBN: 1857801059. A detailed design history of the MiG-15 that conclusively disproves the theory that it was inspired by, or a development of, the Ta-183