PZL.48 Lampart
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| PZL.48 Lampart | |
|---|---|
| Type | Fighter-bomber aircraft |
| Manufacturer | Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze |
| Status | Project |
| Primary user | Polish Air Force (planned) |
| Number built | Incomplete prototype |
| Developed from | PZL.38 Wilk |
| Variants | PZL.54 Ryś |
The PZL.48 Lampart was a Polish heavy fighter-bomber design, that remained a project only due to outbreak of World War II.
Contents |
[edit] Design and development
The PZL.48 was a development of a heavy fighter-bomber PZL.38 Wilk, designed by Franciszek Misztal. Due to problems with PZL.38's PZL Foka V8 engines and too much weight of the prototype it was decided in 1938 to build a variant of the plane using more powerful radial engines, named PZL.48 Lampart'. Despite the new plane was almost identical, as the PZL.38, apart from engines, in fact it was redesigned in order to decrease weight. French 640 hp Gnome-Rhône 14M engines of small diameter were chosen.
A building of a prototype started in 1939, but in summer 1939 only a wing was made, while fuselage was under construction. It was planned to carry out static trials in Autumn 1939 and to fly the prototype in the first half of 1940. Further plans were to produce 110 Lamparts for the Polish Air Force in 1941. Due to the German invasion on 1 September 1939, all plans were canceled.
In early 1939 Misztal also worked out an initial design of PZL.54 Ryś - a development of PZL.48 with Hispano-Suiza 12L inline engines.
[edit] Operators (planned)
[edit] Specification
It was a twin-engine low-wing cantilever monoplane of metal construction, metal covered. The fuselage was semi-monocoque, elliptic in cross-section. The crew of two - pilot and rear gunner/bombardier/observer sat under separate canopies, far from each other, fitted with dual controls. A canopy of pilot's cockpit opened aside. Three part wing, outer parts were built around light closed profiles. Wings fitted with slats and split flaps. Twin vertical stabilizers. Engines in underwing nacelles with NACA covers. Retractable landing gear, with main wheels retracting into engine nacelles, and a rear skid. Three-blade variable pith propellers. Integral fuel tanks in wings. Armament (planned): two fixed 20 mm guns and two 7.92 mm PWU wz.36 machineguns in the fuselage nose, twin 7.92 mm PWU wz.37 machinegun of a rear gunner, hiding in the fuselage (Lampart A) or 8 fixed machine guns (Lampart B). It could carry 300-kg of bombs.
Performance below are expected figures.
General characteristics
- Crew: 2, pilot, rear gunner/bombardier
- Length: 8.7 m ()
- Wingspan: 11.5 m ()
- Height: 2.50 m ()
- Wing area: 21.5 m² (ft²)
- Empty weight: 2,400 kg ()
- Loaded weight: 3,500 kg ()
- Useful load: 1,100 kg ()
- Powerplant: 2× Gnome-Rhône 14M07 air-cooled 14-cylinder radial engine, 730 hp () each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 560 km/h
- Range: 1500 km ()
- Service ceiling 10,000 m ()
- Rate of climb: 9 m/s estimated ()
- Wing loading: 154 kg/m² ()
Armament
- 2 x 20 mm FK wz.38D cannons fixed in nose
- 2 x 7.92 mm PWU wz.36 machine guns fixed in nose
- 2 x 7.92 mm PWU wz.37 machine guns movable at the upper rear
- 300 kg bombs
[edit] References
- Andrzej Glass: "Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939" (Polish aviation constructions 1893-1939), WKiŁ, Warsaw 1977 (Polish language, no ISBN)
[edit] See also
Related development PZL.38 Wilk - PZL.54 Ryś
Comparable aircraft Messerschmitt Bf 110 - Potez 630 - Fokker G.I - Kawasaki Ki-45
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