Convair Model 21
| Convair Model 21 | |
|---|---|
| Type: | Submarine fighter plane |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
The Convair Model 21 was a carrier-based submarine fighter aircraft design for the U.S. Navy. The conceptual design remained, as Lockheed won the VSX (Heavier-than-Air, Anti-submarine, Experimental) tender.
history
When it was foreseeable that the aging submarine fighter Grumman S-2 Tracker, powered by two radial engines, would no longer allow effective use, a design competition was called in 1967 (VSX (Heavier-than-air, Anti-submarine, Experimental)). Convair with the Model 21, Grumman with the Project G-304, Lockheed with the CL-806 / CL995, McDonnell Douglas with their Model 201, and North American Rockwell participated in the tender . This resulted in the model CL-806 / CL995 designed by Lockheed , a turbofan- powered submarine fighter that went into production under the name Lockheed S-3 Viking.
technology
Various wind tunnel models were created for the Convair Model 21. An entire aircraft mockup was also created, together with a separate front fuselage mockup for the crew rooms, a partial fuselage mockup for the avionics and system setup. For this purpose, a torpedo bay mockup including an engine in the corresponding position to the torpedo bay was created. This enabled the loading and unloading of the torpedo shaft to be verified. The Convair Model 21 was very similar to the Lockheed S-3 that was ultimately built. The main differences are the outwardly curved cockpit windows and the horizontal stabilizers positioned a little higher.
Versions
While the Lockheed S-3 was initially planned as a pure submarine hunter and was only later converted to tanker aircraft and 5 transport aircraft, a version as a transporter with a rear loading ramp was also planned for the Convair Model 21 from the start. Furthermore, the Convair Model 21 was also planned as an AWACS to compete with the E-2 Hawkeye . In addition to the obligatory rotating radar on the back of the fuselage, this version no longer had a central vertical stabilizer, but (comparable to the Bell-Boeing V-22 ) a double vertical stabilizer at the end of the elevator.
literature
Robert E. Bradly: Convair Advanced Designs II , Specialty Press, ISBN 978-0-85979-170-0