Convair Model 200
| Convair Model 200 | |
|---|---|
| Type: | VTOL - fighter plane |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
Never happened |
| Number of pieces: |
0 |
The Convair Model 200 was the design of a vertical take-off aircraft for the US Navy . Other versions were intended for conventional catapult launches and rope landings.
history
The Convair Model 200 was designed in 1973 and was partly similar to that of the F-35B . While lacking stealth, it was designed as a single-engine fighter, in both VTOL and CTOL (Model 201A) configurations. For the VTOL hover, the single Pratt & Whitney JTF22A-30A with a jet outlet that could be tilted downwards by 90 degrees and two additional lift engines with 46.7 kN thrust behind the cockpit were provided. The F-35B has a single hub fan powered by the main engine. In the CTOL versions, the lift drives and the swiveling nozzles have been eliminated. The maximum speed was Mach 2. The wingspan was 27 feet 10.5 inches; the length was 51 feet 1.5 inches. The Convair Model 200 had a cruise engine, a swept vertical tail, two keel fins under the fuselage, delta wings and delta canards directly behind the rectangular air inlets.
The Model 200 was proposed in a US Navy competition for a small VTOL fighter that could be carried by the Sea Control Ship, the small aircraft carriers the US Navy was planning at the time. Neither the Model 200 nor the SCS were built. However, a competitor to the Model 200, the Rockwell XFV-12 , was built. The Rockwell XFV-12, however, did not live up to expectations, and the project was canceled before the completion of the second Rockwell XFV-12. Various models for wind tunnel tests were built for the Convair Model 200. As well as a model for researching air currents during vertical take-off and landing. Furthermore, a 1: 1 front fuselage model including a complete cockpit layout.
Some development components of the Model 200 were also used to propose a heavily modernized version of the Convair F-106 Delta Dart, the versions F-106C, F-106D and F-106X, but remained only projects. These versions, labeled "Super Dart" would have had new engine air intakes, canards, new avionics, new radar and a General Electric J93-GE-3AR jet engine. Development components of the model 200 were also incorporated into the design of the Convair Model 44 , Convair's contribution to the VFX tender (the later F-14 Tomcat ).
Concept variants
- Convair Model 200, single-seat vertical take-off aircraft with two lift engines behind the cockpit and swiveling main engine outlet, nose gear with one wheel.
- Convair Model 201, single-seat carrier aircraft, without the lifting engines, in this version there is an internal fuel tank, with a conventional engine with afterburner, nose landing gear with two wheels and devices for catapult launch and catch hooks for the cable arrester on conventional aircraft carriers. While in the vertical take-off version the nose gear retracts forwards into the landing gear shaft under the cockpit, the nose gear of the CTOL version retracts to the rear. The landing gear shaft is located where the opening for the lift engines was intended for the VTOL version.
- Convair Model 201 Trainer, same as Convair Model 201, instead of the fuel tank behind the cockpit, enlarged cockpit for 2 men in tandem.
Armament
- 2 internal on-board cannons in the fuselage under the air inlet ducts
- 2 Sparrow on the underside of the hull
- 4 sidewinder on wing substations and the wing tips
- 6 free-fall bombs on the inner wing pylon with triple bracket.
See also
literature
- Robert E. Bradly: Convair Advanced Designs II , Specialty Press, ISBN 978-0-8597917-0-0