Messerschmitt Me 208

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Messerschmitt Me 208
Nord 1101 Noralpha 'KR + BZ 02' (F-GMCY) (49786542372) .jpg
Nord 1101: Me 208 with Renault aircraft engine
Type: Light aircraft
Design country:

German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire

Manufacturer:

Messerschmitt AG ,
Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Nord (SNCAN)

First flight:

1943

Commissioning:

1946 (as Nord 1101/1102)

Production time:

1943 (Me 208)

Number of pieces:

2 prototypes

The Messerschmitt Me 208 is a four-seat, single-engine touring aircraft from Messerschmitt AG , which is designed as a cantilever, all-metal, low - wing cabin .

history

The aircraft was developed in France by the Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Nord ( SNCAN ), which has been manufacturing the Messerschmitt Bf 108 since the occupation of France by Germany . The airframe is very similar to the one used in the Bf 108; overall, one can speak of a modernized and heavily modified Bf 108.

In the specifications from Messerschmitt on September 15, 1941, on which the order development at SNCAN is based and which is still preserved today, a twin-engine version of the new Taifun was originally favored, but this was abandoned due to the requirement to keep operating costs as low as possible; the slats that were still present during the old typhoon were also omitted. In the development of the Me 208, the experience of important French and German aeronautical engineers (and enthusiasts) flowed together, which resulted in the flight behavior and the flight data (payload, speed, range and distance consumption, flight altitude) and equipment ( Retractable landing gear, propeller blade adjustment) must be clearly noted.

In the years 1942/43, SNCAN completed at least two prototypes of the Messerschmitt Me 208, which bore the trunk identification "GK + RZ" and "KR + BZ". The third pre-series specimen mentioned occasionally is probably an experimental machine that was still produced in Augsburg and initially still provided with a tail wheel chassis, which was still based mainly on original Me 108 components. According to the specifications, acceptance of the machine was automatically carried out with the approval of the machine by the French authorities, although (as with the order production of the Bf 108 by SNCAN) an essential point - the only limited interchangeability of the flaps (doors and engine cover) due to higher manufacturing tolerances at SNCAN - was to complain about.

The specimen marked "KR + BZ" with Argus As 10 , which still existed at SNCAN at the time of the liberation of France, was subsequently given the designation Nord 1100 Noralpha. The second machine - equipped with a Renault 6Q 10 - was named Nord 1101. As with the Bf 108, Renault engines were also installed from 1942 due to the increasingly poor availability of the Argus engines. The version with the Renault 6Q 11 engine was named Nord 1102. The two engines differed from one another in their direction of rotation. In the French armed forces, the aircraft types were designated as Ramier I and Ramier II after the war.

Since the production of the Messerschmitt 208 consisted of 60% parts made in Germany, as contractually agreed, the series production of the machines ended shortly after their start in 1943. In order to at least partially cover the development and production costs in retrospect and to be able to develop a new, modern machine of their own in post-war France (the Nord 1203 "Norecrin"), Nord sold the total of around 200 machines that had been completed or which could be completed with parts still in stock both 208 variants with Renault 6Q engines mainly to the French air force and the Armée l'Aeronavale. They were in use there until 1963. Probably for legal reasons, at least the entire technical documentation was recoded as part of the translation into French, so the part numbers in the catalogs begin with "1101-" or "1102-" instead of "208-", albeit on all physically existing machines for Example and easily readable on the chassis parts, the original numbers (starting with "208-") are still present.

After the war, Messerschmitt founded the “Entwicklungsring Nord” with befriended designers and later founded a “Nord Flugzeugwerke GmbH” in Hamburg-Finkenwerder, but the relocation or resumption of production of the Me 208 could not be implemented. On the one hand, Messerschmitt had received an occupational ban at least until 1953 during the Nuremberg Trial, on the other hand, the rights to the contract development of the Me 208 carried out at SNCAN could not be clarified. So the continuation of the Taifun series planned by the two professors Willy Messerschmitt and Kurt Tank in 1974 (but also not completed) was not continued under the designation "208", but projected under the designation "108 E".

The Me 208 represents the last and highest completed level of development of the propeller-driven Typhoon series. A twin-engine, six-seat business and touring aircraft under the name Messerschmitt Me 308 "Jet Typhoon" was a model at the 1962 Paris Air Salon show came but not beyond the project stage. Elements of the “Jet Taifun” project can be found on the later HFB 320 Hansa Jet. Another project, the Messerschmitt Me 408 “Rotor-Jet”, also remained unfinished in the mid-1960s. The idea could not be implemented without government funding. The relationship to the model series could only have been recognized in the continuation of the model number, but not in the name “Taifun”.

construction

The main differences to the Bf 108 are:

  • Nose wheel instead of tail wheel landing gear (improved visibility during take-off and landing, better rolling behavior on the ground)
  • Main landing gear attached to the wing spars and entering the cell (wider track)
  • Cabin doors and glazing

Technical specifications

Parameter Data
crew 1
Passengers 3
length 8.85 m
span 11.5 m
height 3.35 m
Wing area 17.4 m²
Wing extension
Empty mass 945 kg
Max. Takeoff mass 1580 kg
Cruising speed
Top speed 305 km / h
Service ceiling 5900 m
Range 1200 km
Engine an Argus As 10 C ,
or Renault 6Q10, 240 PS (Nord 1101)
or Renault 6Q11

Whereabouts

Many of the machines have been preserved and mostly exhibited in museums; in Germany there are exhibits in the Technikmuseum Berlin and the Museum für Luftfahrt und Technik Wernigerode . Around the world there are still around a dozen aircraft of this type in airworthy condition that are flown as collector's items. The only ready-to-fly Me 208 in Germany has the serial number 113 and is hangared at Lübeck-Blankensee airfield.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Nord 1100 Noralpha  - Collection of images, videos and audio files