Fairey Delta 2
The Fairey Delta 2 or FD2 was a British supersonic experimental aircraft of the Fairey Aviation Company based on the specification of the ER103 Ministry of Supply.
History
The Fairey Delta goes back to the request of the Ministry of Supply in the late 1940s, in which an airplane was required to investigate the transonic range. Due to the rapid progress in aviation, the requirements were further increased, so that research in the supersonic range should be possible. In order to transfer the results expected soon in a production aircraft was requested that this aircraft was to be built according to the requirements for combat aircraft. The FD2 was built as a prototype for a the MoD advertised all-weather interceptor (specification F.23/49 ), who later in the Fairey Delta 3 resulted, but never got off the drawing board stage addition.
Construction
The Delta 2 was a mid-wing monoplane with tailless delta wings with a setting angle of 1.5 °, a thickness of 5 % and a Nasenpfeilung of 60 °. The wing was outside aileron and inside the elevator. The rudder also had a sweep angle of 60 ° and a thickness of 5 %. The hydraulic control was simply a redundant design and produced for the pilot artificially the otherwise usual rudder forces. The body had a circular cross-section, and was made in a shell construction. At the rear fuselage, the four flaps of the air brakes were installed. The engine inlets were in the wing roots. The jet engine was a Rolls- Royce Avon RA.5 with a non-adjustable afterburner.
The Delta 2 had a very long, pointed nose with the visibility was very limited during takeoff and landing. To compensate for the nose to 10 degrees was designed hydraulic swing and analogous to the later developed Concorde. Two prototypes were built: the WG774 and WG777. The WG774 completed its 25 -minute maiden flight on October 6, 1954, flown by Peter Twiss, the second prototype was launched February 15, 1956 for the first time.
Testing
The first prototype went through a trouble- test program until it due to lack of fuel came the end of 1954 to make an emergency landing, in which the machine was badly damaged. She was ready to start again until August 1955. During the flight test, the machine performed well and easily reached supersonic speed for the first time in August 1955., It was decided to attack the existing world speed record perform.
On March 10, 1956, the aircraft set a new high speed record with 1811 km / h, which lay 480 km / h over the old record of 1955, set up by an F- 100 Super Sabre. This record flight was the first flight, which exceeded 1,000 mph (miles per hour) limit.
BAC 221
The first Delta 2 (WG 774) was in 1960 by the British Aircraft Corporation ( BAC), rebuilt after the acquisition of Fairey, in the ogive - wing aircraft BAC 221. This modification was made for the Concorde program. It included a new wing, new engine inlets, modified rudder, an elongated by 1.83 m Hull and an extended chassis to simulate the Concorde. The aircraft flew from 1964 to 1973.
Whereabouts
The WG 774, in the BAC 221 version is issued in addition to the British Concorde prototype in the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton. The second FD2, WG 777 is exhibited in the Royal Air Force Museum near the RAF Cosford along with many other supersonic experimental aircraft.
Specifications
- Type: supersonic experimental aircraft
- Crew: 1
- Overall length: 15.7 m
- Wingspan: 8.2 m
- Height: 3.4 m
- Wing area: 33 m²
- Empty weight: 4990 kg
- Takeoff weight: 6298 kg
- Powerplant: one Rolls- Royce jet engine RA.5
- Thrust: 4536 kg
- Maximum speed: 1811 km / h
- Ceiling: 14,540 m
- Rate of climb: 76.2 m / s