Supermarine Falcon F Mk-II

[TomZ]

Supermarine Falcon F Mk-II



When at the end of the 1940s it became clear that the jet engine would never be a reliable power source for aircraft a new impulse was given to the further development of the piston engines.
This led to the development of a new generation of piston engines with power ratings in the range of 3000 – 4000hp.
The problem was however with the propeller which had to convert all this power to propulsion. This led to problems with compressibility and propeller blades exceeding the speed of sound. In practice this meant that the piston engine aircraft were limited to a maximum speed of around 800km/h.



In the 1960s new forms of propellers were designed enabling higher speeds. The first US fighter aircraft to benefit from this was the General Dynamics F-93 Falcon. This was powered by two Allison 18 cylinder engines producing 4500hp each and driving a push and a pull propeller. This first flew in 1971. The aircraft has a big air intake under the fuselage to feed air to the radiators to cool the engines buried in the fuselage.

The British RAF ordered 100 F-93s as the Falcon F Mk-I but were disappointed with the performance of the new fighter. The top speed was 850km/h where the demand was for speeds in excess of 900km/h.
The Supermarine aircraft factory, which was producing the F-93 under license took one production Falcon F Mk-I and installed two Rolls Royce Condor engines producing 5650hp each. This boosted the top speed to 975km/h and because the higher fuel efficiency also expanded the range.



The RAF ordered 260 Falcon F Mk-II fighters which were delivered from 1974 onwards. The USAF was also very interested in the Rolls Royce powered variant and this was produced in the USA as the F-93C.
This was very successful and eventually more than 7000 Falcons were produced for a number of air forces around the world.



Also on: http://www.airwar1946.nl/whif/L46-FalconII.htm

TomZ
http://www.airwar1946.nl/index.htm

[JayBee]

My wouldn't you just have fun trying to take-off or land that beasty! 

[andrewj]

lovely concept and nice build , but doesn't that rear prop look a bit vulnerable ?

Andrew

[PR19_Kit]

Brilliant, I love it. 

Lost of scope in the 'Jet engines didn't work' backstory and yours is really excellent.

[Steel Penguin]

   that is just top class stuff.   

[Dizzyfugu]

My wouldn't you just have fun trying to take-off or land that beasty! 

LOL, same thought here. Maybe it's VTOL, though? 

[zenrat]

Lovely.  Bet it would sound fantastic.

[Snowtrooper]

My wouldn't you just have fun trying to take-off or land that beasty! 

Probably Do 335 or Shinden are used as lead-in trainers? Alternatively, maybe the landing gear is collapsible and here it is shown in its "compressed" state for maintenance work

Lost of scope in the 'Jet engines didn't work' backstory and yours is really excellent.

WW2 warbirds, suitably updated, will probably continue to serve in most air arms well into the 60's-70's timeframe. Cavalier Aircraft will become a major player in aerospace industry, no doubt.