1944 Dornier Do 335: A Really Big Push/Pull Speedster From WWII (+ Video)

(click pic to enlarge)  WWII German Dornier Do 335 at the NASM Udvar-Hazy Center

 The recent AirPigz National Air and Space Museum MeetUp was more than just a great time with historic aircraft and great avgeek friends, it was also a good time for me to develop a new obsession: the World War II German Dornier Do 335. This rather large (about 20,000 pound max takeoff weight) and very fast single seat aircraft is one that I honestly knew pretty much nothing about. It has slipped thru the cracks of my avgeek upbringing somehow, but now it has found its very own room in my mind and I am quite happy about that.

 The short story on the airplane is that only around 40 were built toward the end of WWII, and none ever entered actual combat related service. This unique push/pull arrangement meant that the Do 335 sits high on the gear to allow for good ground clearance for the rear prop. It sits so high that the average man can walk under that wing! Powered by two centerline mounted Daimler-Benz DB 603A inverted 12-cylinder engines making 1,750 hp each, the Do 335 appears to have been the fastest piston engine aircraft from the war. I haven't done the deep research, but it seems it was capable of 475 mph in level flight! Can you imagine what a clipped, streamlined and lightened Do 335 would do on the race course at Reno! However, since this example on display at the Udvar-Hazy is the only example that remains, racing one at Reno just isn't gonna happen.

(click pic to enlarge)  Closer view of the beastly Do 335 and its push/pull power

 The Do 335 was envisioned in several different roles: fighter/bomber; night fighter, reconnaissance and trainer (in a special two-seat configuration as seen in the video below), but with the aircraft being developed near the end of the war, it never made it into service with the Luftwaffe. Because of the rear mounted propeller, the Do 335 included an ejection seat for the pilot along with the ability to jettison the vertical tail and rear prop to add greater safety to an ejection. There are many more interesting and unique features of the 335 but I'll cover that later when I do an in-depth post on it... for now, I just wanted to take the uninitiated (like I was before last Friday) and open up your mind to a very interesting WWII aircraft.

(click pic to enlarge) Dornier Do 335 cutaway available for purchase from Flightglobal

Fascinating video (in German) of the Dornier Do 335

Video: War Is Hell... But Sometimes Mercy Rules The Day (A Higher Call - Book)

 This nearly 7 minute video shares the amazing story of the 1943 encounter of a heavily damaged American B-17 bomber and a German BF-109 fighter over German territory... what should have ended with an easy kill wound up being a mission of mercy. It's a fascinating story, but even more amazing, the pilots of these two aircraft met face to face in 1990. What a fantastic display of humble humanity between these two men in that meeting! Please watch this video and see the interaction between these two great men... (both passed away in 2008).

 This true story is about to be released as a book called A Higher Call. You can learn more about the book at this A Higher Call page at ValorStudios.com. The release date for the book is December 19, 2012 but it appears that the Kindle download version is available as of today at amazon.com. If you are interested in buying the book, I have placed an ad for A Higher Call on the right side of the page (or you can click this link) and a small affiliate-sales portion of your purchase will help support AirPigz.com.

 The associated artwork shown below gives you an idea of what the encounter looked like, including the significant amount of damage the B-17 had received before being found by the BF-109 (note the left stab on the B-17) - you can learn more about the artwork on this page.

 War is hell... but thank God for mercy.

Painting by John D Shaw titled the same as the book: A Higher Call (image: valorstudios)

OSH12 Tuesday 7-24-12: Living the Oshkosh Life (8 Pix)

One of the most beautiful one-of-a-kind homebuilts ever: 1970's era Polen Special

(8 pix - click any pic to enlarge)

 
 I'm definitely playing catch-up this year getting great images captured and put up for you to check out, please hang in there with this one-man-operation as I try to get a grip! I've pulled 8 images to share with you from Tuesday at Oshkosh... it was a very nice day with waaayyyyy too many things to see and do. Of course, that's one of the awesome things we love about Oshkosh!

 Anyway, a handful of pix here to see with short captions to once again remind you why you should be here OSH12 - I hope you enjoy them : )

RV formation demo that includes my cousin Bill Gunn in the red RV-4 on the left wing

The big and very wide nose of a C-17 Globemaster III on display in Phillips 66 Plaza

Click to read more ...

Video: Marvelous RC Cam Fun Over Germany - Must See!

 It used to be that really great RC videos meant you just watched a really cool model do its thing, but the days of small HD cameras have opened up the experience to put all of us in the pilot's seat. The challenge however is to make a video compelling enough to be worth watching.

 Well here's one from youtuber muethenmetz (aka crazy horst) that's worth way more than the almost 8 minutes is takes to watch it all. With multiple camera views on a simple little Graupner 'Rookie' electric airplane, this video mixes excellent video quality with a great sense of humor and loads of awesome views over Germany. I've rated this as an absolute 'must see' and the screenshots below help to show you why. Watch this video! : )

Screenshot of rear facing cam showing a launch from an elevated balcony in town

Sreenshot from front facing cam over a beautiful German building on a foggy day
 

Screenshot approaching hot air balloon with the RC pilot in the basket!

Screnshot of the big 'catch' at the end of the video - great stuff!

Electric Multicopter With Human Pilot - That's Some Risky Flying (Video)

Recent test flight of the e-volo multicopter with real human pilot  (photo: e-volo)

 
For more crazy stuff, check out the German HexaKopter video from February 2010

 
 Oh sure, at first glance this 16-motor (electric) multicopter aircraft from the German company e-volo is pretty cool looking with an actual human pilot onboard, but I have to say I think we are at an important crossroads with the future of flying machine design, and I think we're taking the wrong road. I could be wrong here, but the idea of using 100% thrust-vectoring to achieve flight is very high risk... in fact I'd say it's just too risky. And it's not just the thrust-vectoring element that concerns me, more on that in a minute.

 Don't misunderstand, I think there's a lot of promise with what's been done here, I just don't think human beings with souls should be onboard. (Feel free to draw your own conclusions about whether humans without souls should be flying one of these!) The positive here is that we see a large-scale and very practical multicopter with a significant payload capacity, which means that the UAV applications for these kind of machines continues to widen. However, having just said that, the same risks that make this too risky in my mind for humans on board mostly still apply to having lots of these things flying unmanned overhead. So I guess I'm conflicted about the real practicality of the direction we're headed. And if I'm concerned about all this, can you imagine what the fine folks at the FAA are thinking?!

 The primary things that really concern me are the reliance on electrical systems and computer control to keep us alive when we're off the ground... well, that and the lack of a wing of some sort that can still provide lift when all power has been lost. Now there's no doubt that aircraft like the General Dynamics F-16 ushered in a whole new era of electric and computer control back in the mid 1970's, and they've been very successful. But, much the same way that the Boeing 787 now relies very heavily on computer control, these kinds of aircraft have billions in research behind them, millions in production costs, and a vast amount of system redundancy.

 Small general aviation flying machines don't have that luxury. And while I understand how reliable the transmitters, receivers and servos are with modern RC aircraft, the truth is that these systems do sometimes fail. And when you add the wild, ongoing dream (pushed by Popular Mechanics and Popular Science) that someday the average guy is gonna have some sort of flying machine, I turn and run the other way. Have you been paying attention to how ignorant, dumb and/or stupid the average guy is these days? I don't mean this to be a put down to the average guy on the street, but I sincerely hope we don't ever try to get these people into the pilot's seat of a flying machine. Maybe you weren't around in the 80's when ultralights began attracting massive numbers of non-pilots. I was, and I remember a lot of people died because they had very little idea what they were doing, but they had affordable and relatively easy access to a flying machine.

 And then you've got that lack-of-a-wing issue. I'm a fan of BRS systems, and I'm glad that we have them available, but when you have an aircraft that HAS to go the route of a BRS when all power is lost, I think you've traveled down the wrong road. This is where I hit a hurdle with the Martin Jetpack as well. Would I fly one if given the opportunity? I think so. But that doesn't change my thought that I hope they don't become popular. I just think there's too much at risk overall.

 There's no doubt that I don't have all the answers here, but I'm a really strong believer in making inexepensive aircraft as low tech as possible when it comes to the systems that simply have to work to keep you alive. You just can't beat the reliability of cables and pushrods to drive the control surfaces or other critical systems. I'll admit that I've dreamed many times about what simple fly-by-wire systems would do for making a homebuilt aircraft much easier to build, and for adding some slick programmability, but I keep coming back to the unacceptable risk of failure.

 And flying without a wing, (fixed, rotary, inflated or whatever else) with 100% reliance on thrust-vectoring seems like a recipe for disaster to me. The public perception of aircraft safety is a really big issue going forward. I hope we're very careful about which road we take into the future.

What do you think?

If You Speak German, You'll Love This Elektra One Video

 If you're like me and don't speak German... you'll still love this video since it gives some great visual insight into the sweet all-electric flying machine from PC-Aero in Germany. Not only do you see quite a bit of the first flight conducted back on March 19th (with the uber experienced former Scaled Composites engineer/program manager/test pilot Jon Karkow in the pilot's seat), but you see some of the load testing and other behind the scenes work done leading up to the first flight. I admit that I wish I spoke (or at least could understand) German so I could get an explanation of the 'snap' sound that was heard during load testing... tho obviously it wasn't something serious.

 The bottom line is that the Elektra One is off to a great start in PC-Aero's quest to eventually fly a two place and even a four place all-electric aircraft. From this summer going forward, it's going to be very interesting watching a wide range of electric powered projects take to the skies from all over the world. 

The PC-Aero Elektra One showing a real eagerness to climb on all electric power

 

Video: Miniature Airport That's Really Miniatur (I Think)

 Here's another interesting video of an airport kinda like the awesome one from last week... except this one really is in miniature. It's miniature, but it's huge too. It's a new exhibit that's almost ready to open at the Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany, and just the airport part of the display covers over 1,600 square feet. The Wunderland is mostly a model train experience, but on a really massive and detailed scale. And as you can see from the fictitious Knuffingen Airport in this video, it's remarkably real looking.

 
 I love the way the camera pans around the airplanes as they taxi, takeoff and land - it's truly fabulous. The quality of the display and the video work is all top notch. So take a couple minutes and experience the daily operations of Knuffingen Airport!

A tiny portion of the Knuffingen Airport display at Germany's Miniatur Wunderland

Mystery Aft Fuselage Identified - 'VFW Fokker 614' 70's Airliner

The VFW-Fokker 614 (West Germany) small airliner from the mid 1970's (photo: wiki)

 The world of aviation is full of unique aircraft designed and built by people driven to find a better way. The VFW Fokker 614, which just happened to be identified correctly by 'Holger' earlier today in a Name The Plane contest, is one of those unique aircraft. The 614 was a kinda cute small airliner with only a 40-44 seating capacity. With a first flight in 1971, the 614 was actually intended to be a sort of modern day DC-3, and it offered up some unique design features. Most obvious was the placement of the turbofan engines on pylons on the top side of the wing. No, the HondaJet isn't as revolutionary as you might have thought.

 The engine location meant the landing gear could be short and stout, and since the engines are mounted in that same general location on the wing, which is already likely the strongest part of the airframe, it was perceived as being a really good idea overall. It also meant that the chance of foreign object damage that low slung engines are often exposed to was virtually eliminated.

 The airplane was relatively wide and short, with fairly roomy 4 across seating. That seems like a pretty comfortable approach to hauling such a small number of passengers. In many ways, the 614 was ahead of its time... but as is often the case, making money with the airplanes was difficult. After a total of only 19 airplanes were built, production stopped. The VFW Fokker 614 is left to live on as a very interesting little footnote in the history of world aviation.

A Real Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Is In The Air!

Flying Heritage Collection's Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-5 first flight on 12.1.10 (photo: FHC)

(2 pix and 3 videos)

 The last time this airplane flew was July 19th, 1943. What that means is this is a 'real' German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 rather than the replicas that have surfaced in the last several years. Any Fw 190 is amazing, but to know that there is an actual example that's been faithfully restored is pretty phenomenal. The first flight actually took place about a month ago, with veteran race and warbird test pilot Steve Hinton at the controls, but since I somehow missed it when it happened, I thought you may have too. (if you're an Fw 190 fan, check out my other Fw 190 posts)

Paint scheme of the lost 1943 Fw 190  (image: FHC)

 The airplane is owned by Paul Allen's Flying Heritage Collection, and it will make an awesome compliment to the already stellar collection of historic World War II combat aircraft from around the world. These restored aircraft are brought back to flying condition, and done so at the highest level. The Flying Heritage Collection, which is based on Paine Field in Everett Washington, honors the amazing technological leaps that took place during the WWII aviation era.

 I've been fascinated with the Fw 190 since I was a kid, so this is pretty exciting stuff to be sure. Even more, I've recently been gathering a far greater understanding of the events of WWII than I'd ever had before. The more you understand about the people, the battles and the motivations involved in WWII, the more significant artifacts like this Fw 190 become.

 Here a three videos of interest related to this specific Fw 190:

Click to read more ...

1939 Focke-Wulf FW 190 Prototype: Crazy Big Spinner!

Focke-Wulf FW 190 V1 (prototype) with massive spinner

Cooling air was taken in thru the center hole in the spinner

(4 pix)

 As I mentioned in the FW 190 CoolPix post the other day, I've been a fan of the this airplane since I was a kid, but that doesn't mean there isn't a boatload of stuff for me to to still learn about it. Like; I didn't know the prototype aircraft had that huge spinner the diameter of the fuselage! I had no idea that this was the original concept Kurt Tank had for the airplane. I found out about the prototype FW 190 in a book my dad had that I stumbled across later the same day I had put up the CoolPix. The idea was that cooling air would enter into that big hole in the middle of the spinner, and the smaller spike spinner was there to help increase the air pressure. All this was supposed to lead to good cooling and low drag.

 There are two kinds of out-of-the-box thinking in aircraft design: super crazy cool ideas that are not only different, but right away they strike a chord as being really well worth the time and effort to give them a try. And then there are those ideas where you just have to say what the heck were these people thinking?! For me, that huge spinner fits the first category. It's like aerodynamics, art, and fantasy all coming together for a moment of synergy, but in the real world. Too bad this idea was better at looking cool than it was at keeping the engine cool.

Click to read more ...