FMA I.Ae. 24

FMA I.Ae. 24 Calquín
Type:	Fighter bomber
Design country:	Argentina
Manufacturer:	Fábrica Militar de Aviones
First flight:	4th July 1946
Commissioning:	1947
Production time:	1947-1950
Number of pieces:	101

The FMA I.Ae. 24 Calquín was a fighter-bomber made by the Argentine manufacturer Fábrica Militar de Aviones .

History and construction

The Argentine Air Force was looking for a replacement for their now outdated Northrop A-17 . For this purpose, the FMA and the I.Ae. 24 developed a twin-engine fighter-bomber that was very similar to the De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito . Despite the similarity, the Calquín was an independent design, the biggest visual difference in the two Pratt & Whitney R-1830 -G "Twin Wasp" radial engines. With this drive, the machine did not achieve the performance data required by the Air Force, but 100 machines were still ordered. The Calquín was designed as a middle-decker and, like the Mosquito, was made almost entirely of local woods, with the wings being covered with fabric. It had a retractable tail wheel landing gear and an enclosed cockpit. The pilot and navigator sat next to each other. The original plan was to equip the machine with Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, but these were not available in the required quantities. However, the aircraft turned out to be non-forgiving, as it was extremely unstable, with the result that over time around 50 crew members were killed in accidents. The model was officially used until 1957, a few even until 1960.

FMA was still working on an improved version, the I.Ae. 28 Super Calquín , which was to be equipped with Rolls-Royce-Merlin engines. Although the development work was well advanced, the construction of the prototype was canceled and the development in favor of the FMA I.Ae. 30 "Ñancú" set.

Military use

 Argentina

• Fuerza Aérea Argentina

Technical specifications

Parameter	Data
crew	2
length	12 m
span	16.3 m
height	5.5 m
Wing area	38 m²
Empty mass	5,340 kg
Max. Takeoff mass	7,200 kg
Cruising speed	380 km / h
Top speed	440 km / h
Service ceiling	10,000 m
Range	1,040 km
Engines	2 × Pratt & Whitney R-1830 -G "Twin Wasp" 14-cylinder radial engines with 782 kW each
Armament	4 × 20 mm Hispano Mk. II machine guns or 4 × 7.7 mm Browning machine guns 12 × 75 mm rockets at outstations and 800 kg bombs in the internal bomb bay

See also

• List of aircraft types

literature

• Janes's All the World's Aircraft 1957-1958.
• Burzaco, Ricardo. "I.Ae. 24 Calquin. ”Aeroespacio, Nro. 52, November-December 1997
• Zúñiga, Fernando (2006). "Breve glosario del mapudungun". Mapudungun. El habla mapuche. Santiago: Centro de Estudios Públicos. P. 337. ISBN 956-7015-40-6 .

Web links

Commons : I.Ae. 24 Calquin  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• I.Ae. 24 at aviastar.org (Russian), accessed May 23, 2016
• I.Ae. 24 at aircraft.wikia.com , accessed May 23, 2016
• I.Ae. 24 at airwar.ru (Russian), accessed May 23, 2016

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Burzaco, Ricardo. "I.Ae. 24 Calquin. ”Aeroespacio, Nro. 52, November-December 1997. pp. 68-70
2. ↑ Data from airwar.ru (Russian), accessed on May 23, 2016