FFA P-16

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FFA P-16
P-16 f1.png
Type: Ground attack aircraft
Design country:

SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland

Manufacturer:

Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein

First flight:

April 28, 1955

Commissioning:

Never put into service

Production time:

Was never mass-produced

Number of pieces:

5

P-16 in front of the FFA hall in Altenrhein
FFA P-16 Mk.III in the Flieger-Flab-Museum Dübendorf

The FFA P-16 is a jet-powered ground attack aircraft developed and built in Switzerland from 1950 onwards by the Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein (FFA), which, however, was ultimately not introduced to the Swiss Air Force .

The wings of the Learjet 23 business jet were a modification of the wings of the P-16.

history

Since the use of jet aircraft at the end of World War II, the possibilities of such aircraft have been discussed in the Swiss aviation industry and in research, which at the ETH also included swept wings, and planned by the Commission for Military Aircraft Procurement (KMF). The turbine builders BBC , Escher-Wyss and Sulzer considered the manufacture of engines, but their progress was one of the imponderables of the development. In 1946, FFA and Sulzer received a development contract, while the Federal Aircraft Plant in Emmen pursued its own project, which led to the technically demanding N-20 . The design-ready proposals N-10 / N-11, which are easier to implement and differ in their drives, were delivered from Emmen to Altenrhein in accordance with an agreement of August 8, 1946, and designated there as P-12 and P-13: In the projects of Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein (FFA) at Altenrhein Airport , the letter P was followed by a combination of numbers: The first number related to the number of engines and was supplemented with a sequential number for the time graduation. A version number followed after a period.

The "extraordinary requirements" (Bridel) of the tender led to a wealth of ideas and all aircraft had low wing loads in common: in particular, the aircraft should be able to operate from small alpine airfields.

Due to the engine issue, the FFA initially decided against a single-engine aircraft . From the proposal of the P-23 and with the later preliminary studies of the P-25 series, an approach with negative swept wings was followed. The engines of the P-25.06 were still at the same height as the wings and from the P-25.11 variant they were attached. In the final version, P-26.20, only the trailing edge of the wing had a negative arrow. All of these twin-engine studies had been discussed with the War Technology Department from 1946 onwards and were the only ones running from 1947 to mid-1949 and were then postponed.

The single-jet project studies P-12 and P-13 had been started for the time being, canceled in mid-1947 because of the missing engines and resumed in mid-1949 - this now because of the engines being developed, especially in Great Britain. Problems and delays with the proposed Swiss engines were foreseeable and led to priority being given to the procurement of an aircraft with foreign engines. A special feature of the P-12 were the nose flaps , which should not only have been extended for slow flight, but should also have served as maneuvering aids in aerial combat in this fighter with swept wings. In contrast, the P-13 project had negatively swept wings.

The further project investigation under the direction of Hans Luzius Studer led to the P-14 with flat surfaces and improved slow flight characteristics, to the supersonic P-15 with swept wings and to the P-16 with weakly swept wings. Instead of afterburners to increase thrust, a solution with additional rocket engines of the Oerlikon type was preferred, all types had wing-end tanks and no longer, like their predecessor projects, detachable cabins, but ejection seats. On the basis of these studies P-14 to P-16, the military should define its needs, whereby the FFA also recommended the proposal P-16, which was supported in 1949 by the head of the Department of Aviation and Anti-Aircraft, Colonel Division Rihner. The purpose had thus shifted to ground combat. The British Rolls-Royce Avon or Armstrong-Siddeley-Sapphire types were proposed as engines for the P-16 . On July 23, 1950, the FFA and the Department of Warfare (KTA) signed the order for a preliminary project based on the Sapphire engine. The definitive project was to be presented by the end of the year and construction of the prototype started in early 1951; the order for the construction took place in 1951 and on July 24, 1952 the order for the construction of two prototypes . According to the FFA, a Krüger flap was used for the first time in the world on the P-16 .

The plant in Altenrhein had meanwhile passed into Swiss ownership and was renamed FFA in 1949 under the management of the Swiss entrepreneur Claudio Caroni.

On April 25, 1955, the first prototype of the P-16, built without weapons, with the military registration number "J-3001" and with the KTA flyer Hans Häfliger at the wheel, completed its maiden flight. The pilot had previously flown a Hunter with the same engine in England to familiarize himself with the engine. During a later test flight, the prototype was severely damaged by a brake failure on landing, but could be repaired. During a test flight on August 31, 1955, there was a malfunction in the fuel supply system and the engine failed. The machine crashed into Lake Constance. The pilot was able to save himself with the ejector seat . This was the first successful use of the ejection seat in the history of Swiss aviation. The aircraft was then recovered and scrapped.

The second prototype with the registration number "J-3002" was completed in the spring of 1956 and the test flights were resumed with its maiden flight on June 16. As part of these test flights, the "J-3002" broke the sound barrier for the first time on August 15, 1956 during an orbit flight . In contrast to the first aircraft, the aircraft had an air inlet that reached up to the leading edge of the wing. The machine was then tested by the Swiss Air Force. Practical tests were held from February 28, 1957 to March 16, 1957. Although they were basically satisfied with the flight characteristics, the inadequate performance of the engine was criticized and the poor longitudinal stability, which was due to the small area of ​​the rudder unit, was again due to the intended use of the aircraft from aircraft caverns .

The order for four pre-series machines had already been placed in March 1956. The pre-production and production aircraft P-16 Mk.III differed from the prototypes in the following points:

  • more powerful Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire engine
  • Cockpit canopy
  • Automatic air inlet flap at the air inlet for slow flight
  • Half-shell construction instead of sandwich construction from J-3005 and thus lighter sash

The cost of 100 aircraft in 1952 was estimated at 228 million Swiss francs.

The pre-production model "J-3003" flew from April 15, 1957 and was already equipped with the more powerful engine. The machine thus showed good subsonic flight performance. The P-16 was one of the first aircraft to follow the rule of area , which reduced drag and reduced buffeting at high speeds.

In the early 1950s, the total aircraft requirement of the Flugwaffe was located at over 500 units. On January 28, 1958 , it was decided to buy 100 Hunter fighter planes to supplement the Vampire and Venom fleets . On March 19, 1958, the order for 100 P-16 aircraft followed with the approval of Parliament for 407 million francs; this after the corresponding application by the Federal Council at the end of 1957. Parliament approved an additional 34 million francs for the license to build the Sapphire engine.

Soon after this purchase decision , on March 25, 1958, the pre-series aircraft J-3003 crashed into Lake Constance after a hydraulic problem during landing . With this crash, the pressure in politics increased - Parliament approved the cancellation of business the day after the crash. The Federal Council gave in to this pressure on June 2, 1958 and canceled the order for the 100 aircraft. The President of the Commission for Military Aircraft Procurement then announced his resignation.

After this setback, the manufacturer FFA tried to save the project on its own and in the following years produced the further developed and improved pre-series copies "J-3004" (first flight June 8, 1959) and "J-3005" (first flight March 24, 1960) ) finished, which after an agreement with the federal government became the property of the FFA. The controls had been replaced and now consisted of two equivalent hydraulic and one mechanical systems. Despite successful test flights and a planned version with the Rolls-Royce Avon engine , it was not possible to find buyers for the aircraft.

According to a specification of June 6, 1966 for the procurement of a new ground attack aircraft, a two-year preliminary evaluation of nine aircraft was carried out, including a proposal for a further development of the P-16. With the start of the main evaluation, this aircraft based on the P-16 was no longer considered, so that the P-16 project finally came to an end in 1969. In the aforementioned procurement project, the Vought A-7 G and the Dassault Milan made it to the final selection, which, however, ended with a zero decision.

Almost everything that had to do with the development and manufacture of the P-16 was scrapped, including fuselage segments that had already been manufactured for the sixth aircraft, the first production aircraft. Only a few documents and wind tunnel models have survived. The two remaining P-16s were brought to Dübendorf after 1979. One of the aircraft was handed over to the Flieger-Flab-Museum in Dübendorf as planned on August 8, 1980 ; the preparation of the second aircraft for the Lucerne Museum of Transport was not carried out; Some components were removed from the X-HB-VAC machine and the aircraft was then scrapped. The X-HB-VAD was completed again with some of these parts (especially the maintenance cover) and is on display today.

Much earlier, from 1960 onwards, the P-16 developed into a business aircraft called the SAAC-23 . The work of the team around Hans Luzius Studer was based on the wings of the P-16 and resulted in the Learjet 23 , which was ultimately produced in the USA .

logbook

The P-16 completed a total of 508 flights with a total flight time of 233 hours.

  • J-3001: April 25, 1955 to August 31, 1955 - 22 flights - flight time: 12 h 38 min; Crash in Lake Constance due to engine failure as a result of a break in a fuel pressure line and this too far from the airport
  • J-3002: June 16, 1956 to March 7, 1958 - 310 flights - flight time: 130 h 37 min; scrapped
  • J-3003: April 15, 1957 to March 25, 1958 - 102 flights - Flight time: 55 h 07 min; Crash due to a fault in a connector of the hydraulic pump: there was "foam" instead of liquid in the hydraulic tank and this was not noticed for a long time. The plane had just flown rapid overflights before and was not correct for the landing approach trimmed So the pilot Jean Brunner did not have time to switch to the mechanical emergency control and had the ejection seat press.
  • X-HB-VAC (first J-3004): July 8, 1959 to April 27, 1960 - 55 flights - flight time: 27 h 25 min (scrapped)
  • X-HB-VAD (first J-3005): March 24, 1960 to June 26, 1960 - 19 flights - flight time: 7 h 14 min (with some parts from X-HB-VAC completed on display in the Flieger-Flab-Museum Dübendorf )

Development history

P-16.04

On April 28, 1955, the prototype of the fourth variant of the P16 (designation P-16.04 ) made its maiden flight. It quickly became apparent that the design basically met the requirements. In August 1955, the engine failed during a test flight and the machine crashed into Lake Constance . In the following spring, the second prototype was available, which had various improvements to the wings and air inlets that were extended to the front of the wings. With this, extensive weapon tests , spin tests and performance measurements were made. On August 15, 1956, the sound barrier was broken for the first time (in the stinging flight) on the 18th flight.

After the completion of the test flights, the troop tests could be carried out with the aircraft J-3002 in the "Interceptor" configuration from February 28 to March 12, 1957; The flight characteristics encountered were very good, but the brakes and servos were not satisfactory and were not ready for series production. The attempts had also included landings on grass.

P-16 Mk.II

The first of three pre-production aircraft equipped with a more powerful engine, the P-16 Mk.II , flew for the first time on April 15, 1957. Further test flights followed and in 1958, after some improvements, led to the production version P-16 Mk.III.

P-16.05 or Mk.III

In March 1958, the Swiss Air Force placed an order for 100 P-16 Mk.III series version machines . After another accident, however, the series production that had already started was stopped and the entire order was canceled.

P-16 trainer (1961)

The main difference to the single-seater would have been a tandem cockpit in the trainer project from 1961, of which the rear cockpit (flight instructor) would have taken the place of the Matra rocket machine. In contrast to the single-seater, the training version of the P-16 would not have had any on-board cannons (2 × 30 mm).

AR-7, AJ-7, AJ-7 from 1964

From 1964 a variant with a Rolls-Royce turbofan engine was discussed with the designation AR-7. In mid-1964 there was the idea of ​​the AA-7 variant with the Mirage engine, the Atar engine . AJ-7 was the name of the export version of the P-16 Mk.III started in 1965 for the USA with an afterburner engine GE-J-79-11A . There was no order and the projected proposals remained,

P-16C / b and P-16C / f

In these studies, carried out in 1957 and 1958, a different wing shape (C / b) and a T-tail unit (C / f, also called P-17) would have been used to enable supersonic flight.

  • FFA P-16 Mk.II J-3004 / X-HB-VAC

  • FFA P-16 MK.III J-3005 / X-HB-VAD

  • FFA P-16 trainer

  • FFA SAAC-23

Technical specifications

Parameter Data of the P-16 Mk.III
length 14.24 m
span 11.14 m
height 4.26 m
Wing area 30 m²
Top speed 1115 km / h (at sea level), with a thinner wing profile (6% instead of 8%), just under supersonic (according to the Swiss jet aircraft by Georges Bridel)
Take-off run 560 m at 500 m above sea level M.
Landing runway 300 m at 500 m above sea level M. with parachute (420 m without parachute)
Empty mass 7,040 kg
Max. Payload 4,560 kg
Max. Takeoff mass 11,720 kg
Service ceiling 14,500 m above sea level M.
Range 700 km near the ground,
1400 km normal range,
2120 km with two additional tanks
Engine an Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire ASSA-7 jet engine with 48.95 kN static thrust
Armament two 30 mm Hispano Suiza HS 825 cannons,
a Matra rocket launcher type 1000 in the fuselage for 44 unguided SNEB air-to-surface missiles, caliber 68 mm,
four wing racks for carrying air-to-air and air-to-surface guided missiles, Free-fall bombs, napalm container,
total weapon load 2,590 kg

Source: The Planes of the World (1960)

See also

literature

  • William Green, Gerald Pollinger: The Planes of the World. Werner Classen Verlag, Zurich and Stuttgart 1960.
  • Georges Bridel: Swiss jet planes and jet engines. Swiss Museum of Transport, Lucerne 1975, ISBN 3 85954 902 2 .
  • Hanspeter Strehler: The Swiss P-16 jet aircraft. 2004, ISBN 3-033-00051-7 .
  • Roman Schürmann: Helvetic hunters. Dramas and scandals in the military sky. Rotpunktverlag, Zurich 2009, ISBN 978-3-85869-406-5 .
  • Luc Leonardi: P-16, prototypes suisses d'avions à réaction, N-20, Lear Jet, Piranha. Editions Secavia, Genève, 2011, ISBN 2-88268-015-5 .
  • Jakob Urech: The airplanes of the Swiss air force since 1914. Publisher: Department of the military airfields Dübendorf, 1974 Verlag Th. Gut, 8712 Stäfa ZH.

Web links

Commons : FFA P-16  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Felix H. Meier: Breve cronaca del sviluppo dell? Aviogetto militare P-16. In: Rivista militare della Svizzera italiana. Volume 70 (1998), Issue 1, pp. 56ff.
  2. ↑ a b c d Georges Bridel: Swiss jet aircraft and jet engines. Swiss Museum of Transport, Lucerne 1975, ISBN 3 85954 902 2 .
  3. ↑ Tony Buttler: X-Planes of Europe II, Hikoki Publications 2015, ISBN 978-1-9021-0948-0 , page 193
  4. ↑ Hans-Luzius Studer, the spiritual father of the legendary Lear jet ( memento from April 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), Eastern Switzerland on Sunday, May 26, 2013
  5. ↑ Tony Buttler: X-Planes of Europe II, Hikoki Publications 2015, ISBN 978-1-9021-0948-0 , page 195
  6. ↑ Tony Buttler: X-Planes of Europe II, Hikoki Publications 2015, ISBN 978-1-9021-0948-0 , page 200
  7. ↑ Tony Buttler: X-Planes of Europe II, Hikoki Publications 2015, ISBN 978-1-9021-0948-0 , page 201
  8. ↑ nuovo aereo da combattimento per l'esercito In: Rivista militare della Svizzera italiana. Volume 44 (1972) Issue 4, page 235.
  9. ↑ Swiss Military Aviation The Swiss Film Weekly Show tells the story. Vol7 / No VII, Swiss Film Archive
  10. ^ Felix H. Meier: Breve cronaca del sviluppo dell? Aviogetto militare P-16. In: Rivista militare della Svizzera italiana. Volume 70 (1998), Issue 1, p. 62.
  11. ^ John Fricker: Switzerland's P-16 - Father of the Learjet. AIR International, March 1991, pp. 139-146.
  12. ↑ The Lear Jet 23/24/25/28/29. ( airliners.net ; English)
  13. ↑ Swiss fighter jets - felt, scandals, crashes , SRF Traces of Time, September 6, 2004 Hans Häfliger: "About Arbon han i don't notice it long"
  14. ↑ Tony Buttler: X-Planes of Europe II, Hikoki Publications 2015, ISBN 978-1-9021-0948-0 , page 199
  15. ↑ Tony Buttler: X-Planes of Europe II, Hikoki Publications 2015, ISBN 978-1-9021-0948-0 , page 195
  16. ^ John Fricker: Switzerland's P-16: Father of the Learjet. In: AIR International March 1991, p. 145
  17. ^ Georges Bridel: Swiss jet aircraft and jet engines. Swiss Museum of Transport, Lucerne 1975, p. 61, ISBN 3 85954 902 2 .