DONE@p.3 +++ 1:72 EKW D-4402, Schweizer Luftwaffe, 1949

[Dizzyfugu]

1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Early teaser from the Swiss Alps. ;-)

[NARSES2]

  

[scooter]

Is there something there?  All I see are three tires, a cross and an alphanumeric floating in midair.




 

[Dizzyfugu]

Is there something there?  All I see are three tires, a cross and an alphanumeric floating in midair.

   Nothing to see here. Move on.

[Dizzyfugu]

Finally, after much delay (and two more projects between finishing this one and its pictures): an 1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949.


1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Some background:
The EKW (Eidgenoessische Konstruktionswerkstaette) D-44 was a Swiss, single-seat low-wing monoplane fighter and attack aircraft. It used a twin boom fuselage with a pusher engine, giving the aircraft an unusual, almost jet-like appearance.  Its design started in 1943 when the former Federal Constructions Works became a separate unit of the Swiss Armed Forces at Emmen, after the Swiss government's decision to embark on a major expansion program in preparation for the possibility of being drawn into the Second World War. The project was designated D-44 and was constructed around a single German Daimler-Benz DB 605B engine that was positioned to the rear of the fuselage nacelle, directly behind the pilot, and drove a pusher propeller. This arrangement allowed guns to be carried in the aircraft's nose while providing the pilot with good visibility, and it concentrated the aircraft's major masses into the airframe's center of gravity, so that the aircraft would be more agile than a conventional design. To enable the pilot to bail out without hitting the propeller behind him, the design also adopted an ejection seat, operated with pressurized air.

The Swiss Air Force ordered two prototype D-44 fighters on 31 May 1944, and if the prototypes were successful, it planned to order five pre-production models and sixty-five production aircraft. The aircraft was intended to be fitted with four 20-millimeter (0.8 in) MG 151 autocannon in the nose and in the twin-booms and was supposed to be able to carry 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb) of ordnance under the wings. The fuel was stowed between the cockpit and the engine, together with a pair of self-sealing tanks inside of the inner wings, and a radiator for the inline engine was placed in a shallow trough under the rear fuselage. The tricycle landing gear – another novel design feature – was fully retractable and was stowed in the forward fuselage as well as in the sleek twin booms under the slightly swept wings.


1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


However, soon major design changes had to be made. Due to the worsening situation for Germany, the favored DB 605B engine was not available for export or license production, just as the guns and other aircraft components. F+W's designers wanted to use a British Rolls-Royce Griffon engine instead, but it proved to be too difficult to obtain, either. As an alternative, a Hispano-Suiza 12Z was temporarily envisioned, which was built by EKW at that time, leading to the project designation D-4401. But this engine was still too immature to be used, and there were doubts about the D-44's performance with a powerplant that would have an output of around 1.500 hp when the D-44 required an engine with 1.800 hp and more to be competitive. These fundamental procurement problems could not be overcome until the end of hostilities in Continental Europe in mid-1945.
Eventually, EKW's engineers were able to acquire a batch of British Napier Sabre II H-24 piston engines which had powered the Hawker Typhoon and were overstock material now, after production had ended and the RAF had retired the type by October 1945. The Sabre II promised high reliability and an output of 2,200 hp and more, resulting in an estimated top speed of 750 km/h (470 mph, 400 kn) at 8,700 m (28,500 ft). Since the Sabre's cylinders were opposed, the motion in one was balanced by the motion on the opposing side, eliminating both first order and second order vibration. EKW hoped to use air cooling on the Sabre (as Napier originally had planned), but in service, the rear cylinders proved to be impossible to cool properly, which made the engines unreliable, and so the D-44 adopted water cooling.


1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


To accommodate the bigger and heavier engine, the D-44's fuselage had to be modified with different and stronger engine bearings. The radiator had to be enlarged, too, and its deeper fairing was also used to replace a prominent scoop on the left side of the fuselage that originally provided the engine with air, so that the overall frontal area did not increase much. A six-bladed contraprop was fitted, together with the respective reduction gearbox, to effectively exploit the Sabre's high output and to accommodate enough propeller disc area in the confined space between the tail booms. As a side benefit, the contraprop countered the engine's massive torque that would have affected handling with a simple propeller, esp. at slow speed. In this new guise the aircraft was re-designated D-4402 and cleared for production.

Only the first D-4402 prototype was intended to be fitted with guns, so the second prototype was completed first, beginning taxiing tests in December 1946. Test pilot Guillaume Fournier attempted to make the first flight on 13 January 1946. Further high-speed taxiing trials were made in February with promising results, but the elevator had to be enlarged from an area of 1.75 to 2.6 m² (18.8 to 28.0 sq ft) before the D-4402 could make its maiden flight on 1 April. After some more modifications, including a modified main armament which consisted now of four indigenous Oerlikon 20 mm cannon, all mounted in the lower nose, modified fins (extended downwards and outfitted with small, fixed wheels to protect the tail booms), elevators and landing gear doors, D-4402 #02 made its next flight on 21 April. Its configuration set the standard for the following serial production aircraft.


1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Flight tests lasted for more than a year, and during this period the initial ejection seat, which had been powered by compressed air, was changed to a simpler and lighter model that used a gunpowder charge inside a telescoping tube attached to the seat. A total of five prototypes were built as planned – including a static airframe and two pre-production aircraft that already incorporated some modifications that had been tested on the prototypes #1 and #2.
The first example from the first serial production batch of thirty aircraft was delivered to the Swiss Air Force on 1 December 1947. Construction was at EKW's main plant in Emmen, and deliveries of this model ran until 5 December 1948, when deliveries of a second batch totaled thirty more D-4402s. A potential third order was cancelled, prior to the production line ending in 1950.

The D-4402 showed good performance and turned out to be a very stable weapon platform, even though its performance fell a little short the projected estimates. Despite the original intention for the type to be principally used in air defense roles, in service, the D-4402 was utilized mainly in the light bomber and attack role. Its active career did not last long, though: within less than four years some squadrons were already being re-equipped with a new generation of jet fighters capable of far greater speed, such as the de Havilland Vampire. The D-4402 was used only by the Swiss Air Force and due to the quick advances of jet propulsion the D-4402's frontline career already ended in 1958. The type was completely retired by 1965, after being used as advanced trainers and as instructional airframes.


1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


General characteristics:
    Crew: 1
    Length: 11.88 m (38 ft 11 in)
    Wingspan: 11.14 m (36 ft 6 in)
    Height:
    Wing area: 23.1 m2 (221 sq ft)
    Empty weight: 3,645 kg (8,036 lb)
    Gross weight: 4,928 kg (10,864 lb)
    Gross weight: 7,261 kg (16,008 lb)
    Fuel capacity: 1,413-litre (311 imp gal; 373 US gal) internally

Powerplant:
    1× Napier Sabre II water-cooled H-24 piston engine, 1,680 kW (2,250 hp),
    driving a 6-bladed contra-rotating propeller with 2.7 m (8 ft 10 in) diameter

Performance:
    Maximum speed: 730 km/h (450 mph, 390 kn) at 8,500 m (27,900 ft)
    Cruise speed: 422 km/h (262 mph, 228 kn) at 4,000 m (13,000 ft)
    Range: 852 km (529 mi, 460 nmi) with internal fuel
    Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,000 ft)
    Time to altitude: 8,000 m (26,000 ft) in 10 minutes 40 seconds
    Wing loading: 240.4 kg/m2 (49.2 lb/sq ft)
    Power/mass: 3.1 kg/kW (5.1 lb/hp)

Armament:
    4× 20 mm (0.8 in) Oerlikon autocannon with 200 RPG in the lower nose
    Underwing hardpoints for bombs, unguided missiles or drop tanks for a
    total external ordnance of 1.000 kg (2,200 lb)


1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 EKW D-4402, aircraft 'J-1257' of the Schweizer Luftwaffe, Berufsfliegerkorps Fliegerstaffel 11; Unterbach Military Airfield (Meiringen, Switzerland), 1949 (What-if/kitbashing) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Elegant, I'd say. 

[Old Wombat]

  

[PR19_Kit]

Now that's really SOMETHING Thomas, MOST impressive! 

And the backstory reads beautifully too, all very logical.

[NARSES2]

Yup, both the model and the backstory are 

[Dizzyfugu]

Thank you gentebeings, glad you like it! 

[DogfighterZen]