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Messerschmitt P.1101

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Me P.1101
The uncompleted P.1101 prototype
Type Fighter
Manufacturer Messerschmitt
Designed by Willy Messerschmitt
Maiden flight never flown
Primary user Luftwaffe (intended)
Number built 1

Messerschmitt P.1101 was the name attached to a single-seat, single-jet fighter developed in response to the July 1944 Emergency Fighter Program, which sought the second generation of jet fighters for the Third Reich. A characteristic feature of the Me P.1101 prototype was that the sweep of the wings could be changed before flight, a feature perfected by the later Variable-sweep aircraft such as the Bell X-5, the General Dynamics F-111, and the F-14 Tomcat.

Design and development

Within nine days of the 15 July 1944 issuance of the design specifications for the Emergency Fighter, the Messerschmitt design bureau had formed a preliminary paper design for the P.1101. The aircraft which was developed initially had a short and wide fuselage, tricycle landing gear, and mid-mounted wings with an inner sweep of 40 degrees near the fuselage, and a shallower 26 degree angle outboard. The single He S 011 jet engine was to be mounted internally within the fuselage, being aspirated by two rounded intakes located on either side of the cockpit. The tail was of a V configuration, and mounted on a tapered boom which extended over and past the jet exhaust, while the cockpit was forward mounted, with the canopy integrated into the fuselage and forming part of the rounded nose of the aircraft.

By late August 1944, the still paper design had evolved into a sleeker incarnation, with the previously stout fuselage lengthened and narrowed, and a conical nose section was added in front of the cockpit. The double angled wing was also abandoned, with the outer wing of the Me 262 instead being adapted for the design. The design was further developed, and after the wind tunnel testing of a number of wing and fuselage profiles, the design was further modified and finalized, with the decision made to undertake the construction of a full-scale test aircraft. This finalized design and associated test data were submitted to the Construction Bureau on 10 November 1944 and the selection of production materials was begun on 4 December 1944.

Production prototype

The worsening war situation led to the expedited, but risky approach of building a full-scale prototype in parallel with detail construction and continuing statistical calculation, while existing components such as the wings, landing gear, and flight components were utilized where feasible. It was also intended for the test flights to be conducted with both 35 and 45 degree wing sweep. Production of the V1 prototype was begun at Messerschmitt's Bavarian Oberammergau Complex with a projected first flight in June 1945.

The Me P.1101 V1 prototype was of duralumin fuselage construction, retained the outer wing section of the Me-262 and as mentioned previously, the wing sweep could be adjusted on the ground from 30, 40, to 45 degrees, making it a forerunner of later variable-geometry designs. The tandem, fuselage mounted intakes of the preliminary designs were replaced by a single nose intake, and the canopy became a bubble design, which afforded better all-around vision than the initial integrated canopy offered. The production prototype also incorporated a more conventional T-tail design, which was constructed out of wood and remained mounted on the tapered tail boom. The tricycle undercarriage consisted of a steerable, rear retracting nose wheel and wing root mounted main gear, which was forward retracting. The prototype was fitted with a Jumo 004B jet engine, which could easily be replaced with the more powerful He S 011 in subsequent full production versions. In addition, the production model was to be equipped with a pressurized cockpit and armored canopy.

Postwar

By the time an American infantry unit discovered the Oberammergau complex on 29 April 1945 the V1 prototype was approximately 80% complete. The airframe was removed from the nearby tunnel in which it was hidden and all associated documents were seized. There was some lobbying by Messerschmitt Chief Designer Woldemar Voight and Robert J. Woods of Bell Aircraft to have the Me P.1101 V1 completed by June 1945, but this was precluded by the destruction of some critical documents and the refusal of the French to release the remaining majority of the design documents, which they had obtained prior to the arrival of American units to the area. [citation needed]

The prototype was finally shipped to the Bell Aircraft Works in Buffalo, New York in 1948, and the already damaged aircraft suffered further damage when it fell off a freight car. This damage ruled out any possibility for repair although the Me P.1101 design components were subsequently used by Bell as the basis for the Bell X-5, which was the first aircraft capable of varying its wing geometry while in flight. The remnants of the P.1101 were scrapped in the early 1950s.

Specifications (Me P.1101 V1 Prototype)

General characteristics

  • Crew: one, pilot
  • Length: 8.98 m (29 ft 5 in)
  • Wingspan: 8.06 m (26 ft 5 in)
  • Height: 3.5 m (11 ft 6 in)
  • Wing area: 13.6 m² (146 ft²)
  • Empty weight: 2,594 kg (5,718.78 lb)
  • Loaded weight: 4,064 kg (8,960 lb)
  • Max takeoff weight: 4,500 kg (9,900 lb)
  • Powerplant:Jumo 004B
  • * Fuel capacity : 1,000 liters (264 gallons)

Performance

Armament

  • None for prototype
  • 2 or 4 × 30 mm MK 108 cannons and 4 × X-4 air-to-air missiles on production version

  • See also

    Comparable aircraft

    Related lists

    References

    • Winchester, Jim. "Bell X-5." Concept Aircraft: Prototypes, X-Planes and Experimental Aircraft. Kent, UK: Grange Books plc., 2005. ISBN 1-84013-309-2.

    External links

    de:Messerschmitt P.1101 es:Messerschmitt P-1101 it:Messerschmitt P.1101 pl:Messerschmitt P.1101 sv:Messerschmitt P. 1101


    This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
    It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Messerschmitt P.1101".