BD-5 Series Aircraft

[Burncycle]

I was bored for a little while so I tried some different what-if configurations. Took me a while to envision some "little" armament too

Most of course assume upgraded engines and other fun stuff (think redesigned engine based on AGM-86 powerplant).















Williams F107-WR-101
Weight: 146 lbs.
Thrust: 600 lbs max

[rickshaw]

I think the first thing you really need to do is extend the undercarriage.  That way you might be able to fit something under the wings.

[Weaver]

Since weight is critical with something this small, why not go back to the original butterfly tail (to avoid missile exhaust impinging on the tailplane) and then mount Stingers above the wing, thus avoiding having to lengthen the undercarriage?

[rickshaw]

Since weight is critical with something this small, why not go back to the original butterfly tail (to avoid missile exhaust impinging on the tailplane) and then mount Stingers above the wing, thus avoiding having to lengthen the undercarriage?

That might work for something lightweight like the Stinger but it would be appreciably harder to load for say a Hellfire or something similar.  It also precludes the use of bombs.

[Weaver]

Since weight is critical with something this small, why not go back to the original butterfly tail (to avoid missile exhaust impinging on the tailplane) and then mount Stingers above the wing, thus avoiding having to lengthen the undercarriage?

That might work for something lightweight like the Stinger but it would be appreciably harder to load for say a Hellfire or something similar.  It also precludes the use of bombs.

Hellfires weigh just under 100lbs whilst Sidewinders weigh about 175lbs, yet the latter are routinely lifted onto tip pylons, or even overwing pylons on the Jaguar. Since the BD-5 couldn't carry any great weight of bombs, there probably wouldn't be much value in them anyway.

How about CRV-7 rocket pods on the wingtips?

[Weaver]

How about a ZELL BD-5J, with the rocket booster behind it (the combo still being short enough to be practical) and weapons fitted uder the wings without regard to u/c ground clearance because it's on it's launch rail. For runwayless recovery, unused weapons would be jettisoned and then a whole-airframe parachute deployed.

[GTX]

a scale-0-rama using the BD5 as a 1/48th scale drone or UAV for a DC-130.

Why bother scaling it - just use the existing size as a UAV.  Remove pilot - replace with suitable avionics, and sensors + maybe some extra fuel.



Regards,

Greg

[Jeffry Fontaine]

a scale-0-rama using the BD5 as a 1/48th scale drone or UAV for a DC-130.

Why bother scaling it - just use the existing size as a UAV.  Remove pilot - replace with suitable avionics, and sensors + maybe some extra fuel.

Since I have the Italeri 1/48th scale DC-130 it would need to be a scale-o-rama to use the BD-5 as a drone or UAV. 

Do you really need landing gear on the thing?  How about a belly skid instead? 

What about the long endurance version with a unducted fan mounted on the rear? 

How about wing tip mounted ESM pods and an antenna farm along the top and bottom of the fuselage? 

[GTX]

Since I have the Italeri 1/48th scale DC-130 it would need to be a scale-o-rama to use the BD-5 as a drone or UAV. 

Fair enough!

Do you really need landing gear on the thing?  How about a belly skid instead?   

Could do, but if the landing gear is already available...

What about the long endurance version with a unducted fan mounted on the rear?   

Could do, but would be noisy - unless RR's new technology developments come off.  Maybe just go turbo-prop version of the existing engine.

How about wing tip mounted ESM pods and an antenna farm along the top and bottom of the fuselage? 

Always doable.

Regards,

Greg

[Jeffry Fontaine]

What about the long endurance version with a unducted fan mounted on the rear?

Could do, but would be noisy - unless RR's new technology developments come off.  Maybe just go turbo-prop version of the existing engine.

I suspect the noise would be reduced significantly over the gas engine powered version by switching to a turbine engine.  Adding a multi-blade propeller would also help reduce the noise.  It would certainly be interesting to see if a small UDF would fit in the BD-5.  Now I have to wonder if the tail arrangement would remain as is or could they revert back to the original V-Tail of the prototype? 

Maybe scaling the design up by 200% - 300% or more would help in establishing greater endurance and a slightly larger payload.  This thing could very well fill the original role of the Fletcher Defender which was designed to be maintained with a very limited support infrastructure and operate very close to the battle area.   At least with a scaled up design you could actually see larger wings which could accommodate internally mounted machine guns and stores pylons mounted under the wings.  That would certainly make for a beefier BD-5 and maybe allow for a two seat variant to be realized as well. 

[GTX]

Re noise, a straight turboprop will be better than an UDF unless something is actively done.

Regards,

Greg

[Burncycle]

Maybe scaling the design up by 200% - 300% or more would help in establishing greater endurance and a slightly larger payload.  This thing could very well fill the original role of the Fletcher Defender which was designed to be maintained with a very limited support infrastructure and operate very close to the battle area.   At least with a scaled up design you could actually see larger wings which could accommodate internally mounted machine guns and stores pylons mounted under the wings.  That would certainly make for a beefier BD-5 and maybe allow for a two seat variant to be realized as well.  

This is a two place kitplane that reminds me a great deal of a modified BD-5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LH-10_Ellipse

There would be potential for enlargement, and a jet installation   

[JayBee]

OK people, this is some stuff you might be interested in.
Firstly, the BD-5 had four different wing spans:-
BD-5     14'3" (4.34M)
BD-5B   21'6" (6.55M)
BD-5J 17'
BD-5S 27'10" (8.48M)

The BD-5B was the long range "tourer" version.
The BD-5S was the sailplane/glider version. Only one of these was built as the handling was apparently not so good and developement was halted.

The first kit of the BD-5 was produced by an American company, 299 Models, and the first two pictures show the instruction sheet that came with it.
It was a short run injection moulded kit, with a vac/push formed canopy. I never did build it, and I do not know what became of it, bin most probably.
The introduction of the LS injection kit was the reason the last mentioned kit went the way it did.
The third picture shows the two different box tops for the LS kit, I do not know for certain which was the first issue.
The last picture is a page scanned from "Janes, World Sailplanes" 1978, and shows the BD-5S. I have built a model of this but it has just not got painted yet. It has been waiting about ten years or so!

[jcf]

299 Models was/is Terry 'braincells37' Moore.



Jon