Have a question about a whif I'm working on

[maxmwill]

Ever since I saw the little ad on Unicraft's  home page for a 1/72 what if kit of a Ju 87 with a BMW 801, that had been percolating through my mind. And, while I will build 1/72 if the aircraft being consider is only in that scale. But, I had a 1/48 '87, and a spare 1/48 Do 217E4, and so I printed out that page, did some measuring , and after calculating what percentage to increase it by, I hied myself to the nearest office with a copier(in this case the local public library), and told the librarian what I needed, she took a bit of time trying to figure out how to blow it up, and I had an illustration of the right scale(albeit with a few differences that are entirely inconsequential.

But now, I'm trying to figure something out. The Ju 87 is a two seater, and has the canopy set up for the gunner aft of the pilot.

The Ju 87 801, however, has a canopy similar to a Fw 190, but with an addition length of plexiglass between the front part of the canopy, and the bubbler part that is the second part of the canopy on the 190(a 190  canopy of the same scale fits just about perfectly, only it needs that spacer).

So, why would there be such a long canopy, if it is now a single seater(I'm assuming a lot here, but the illustration doesn't show an aft machine gun, and looks to me like there is only the pilot there)?

I can see some advantage of the BMW 801 over the JUMO 211, besides the fact that there is an increase in  horsepower (1970 Hp, as opposed to 1400 hp), there was also weight(1250 kilos vs 1290 kilos) as well as sfc advantages(.506lb/hp vs .53 - .55 lb/hp), so taking a look at just that, there were certain advantages of the 801 over the 211 even if it remained a two seater(pilot and machine gunner), but a single seater?

I'm just trying to see if this could be workable as a single seater, then why the canopy extension?

Or, would I be better off with the original birdcage canopy?

The back story would be that a 217 was too badly damaged to fly, but one of the engines was sound, and a Ju 87D had blown its engine, and the skipper of the 87 squadron needed it to fly, and the 217 squadron was relatively close by, so, the Herr Doktor Frankenstein mechanics got busy.

Wartime necessity, is my excuse.

[Captain Canada]

Sounds like you answered your own question. If they needed it to fly, then I'm sure they would have went with the birdcage, and not wasted time modifying the canopy.

[maxmwill]

Yeah, I figured that. It had been in the back of my mind, and the 190 canopy is for a 190TL(fascinating concept, although I wonder if they could've effectively sealed the cockpit against the exhaust),so I'll just put it back.

Well, why not, but, instead of a captured Stuka modified by the British, whynot do what Junkers did when building the 287V1? That used the nose gear off a crashed B24, so, perhaps a B26 that had crash landed somewhere in Europe, and a few Herr Doktor Frankenstein mechanics decided to graft one of the 2800s onto the nose of a D or a G model with a hammered engine(the pilot didn't keep an eye on the oil pressure guage, and failed to shut down the engine while he was doing a high speed taxi, and, again that old excuse, wartime necessity). Now I'm wondering what a late model 2800 on the nose of a Stuka would do. I think those are somewhat over 2000 horses or so.

[maxmwill]

Don't mention the 2600 to me very loudly. I was working at a repair station, and was there when the boss had(what he later said) his only regret.

He accepted a contract to overhaul about a dozen 2600s, and, unlike the R1300 upon which it was based, the 2600 was one of the most cantankerous engines I have ever experienced. The 1300 is a nice radial, and fairly sings at 30 inches manifold pressure, but we never could get any of those 2600s to operate reasonably efficiently anywhere near full throttle. And for some reason, even freshly overhauled and pre-oiled to a fare thee well, all of those,when each was on the test cell, would either eat a bunch of valves(and sodium cooled valves are interesting little beasties to deal with), or had one or more jugs spit out pieces of rings, along with any chrome cylinder lining. We never could get any of them to ever run right, and the boss cancelled the contract, and gave the customer his engines and deposit check back. I think they were off surplus Caribous, but, as it has been a while, don't quote me.