Leduc Ramjets aircrafts...

[Archibald]

from 1948 to 1958 french ingeneer René Ldeuc pioneered the use of ramjets in aviation with a serie of impressive loking planes
- leduc 010 in 1949 (three built)
- leduc 021 in 1951 (two)
- leduc 022 in 1956 (two built)

these plane were really flying barrels (ramjets were bigs) with a small cockpit, wings and tail around it. The 010 and 021 were launched from a modified piston-engine airliner, dubbed the Languedoc. The latter 022 had a Atar turbojet similar to the Mirage III and could take off on its own power.
i ake some models of these planes (021 and 022)  

[Archibald]

Here's some photos of my scratchbuild Leduc model (021, 022)

[Archibald]

Other pictures... the little with straight wings is the 021, the big is the 022.
The 022 was made of stain steel and Leduc hoped mach3. sadly, the plane reached only mach.12. The Griffon used the same approach and flew at mach 2.19 in 1959 -it was made of light alloys-...  

[Tophe]

Nice unusual models. Are they coming from commercial kits or scratchbuilding?

[Archibald]

scratchbuilding! Of course, mach2 made them, but i hate mach2 since I received my trident II (what a crap!!!). Making Leducs is not too difficult (just made a small barrel, and add the avion around )  

[lancer]

They are nice looking scratchbuilds. Bloody well done Archibald

[John Howling Mouse]

Good for you!  Yep, Mach 2 can be real dogs sometimes (see other posts under search for "Mach 2").

I'm trying to think of another, similar flow-through French design but won't humiliate myself by trying to spell its name here.  Back to internet search.

[dragon]

Good for you!  Yep, Mach 2 can be real dogs sometimes (see other posts under search for "Mach 2").

Some people in my club call them "Mock You".    

[Archibald]

It's apity they are so bad, because if well managed they could become some kind of French anigrand (Ie making forbidden models of French prototypes).
waiting for that, I made my own list of French whatif some days ago (it is quite long, so if there's some unknown planes, tell me)
French whatif models

SO-6000 Triton : Traininig for the Ada (camo : Fouga Magister, Salon de Provence 1954-1997)
Arsenal VG90 / Nord 2200/ NC-1080 :    Aeronavale  (blue / grey, 11F 45 on the nose and fin).
SO-4000 / NC-270 nuclear bombers (camo  Mirage IV)
NC-1071 fighter bomber (underwing bombs and rockets, low-level camo, AdA markings)
SO-8000 Narval close air support ( wingtip fuel tanks)
SO-6020 Espadon Suez 1956+yellow and black, patrouille de France like the Heller Ouragan

MD-451, MD-453, Mystère IVM (Nightfighters derivatives of the Ouragans, Mystère II et IV) Big nosecone, painted black, missiles AA-20/Nord 5103 underwings.
Mystère IVN (French navy)

Griffon II et Leduc-022 interceptors (big radar nosecone, missiles R-530 and drop tanks underwings, and armée de l'air markings similar to a Mirage IIIC)
Trident III opérationel : Big gabizos engines on the wingtips, R-530 under the belly.
Durandal interceptor : nosecone instead of frontal air intake, R-530, Mirage IIIC drop tanks and markings.

Lightweights fighters
Etendard II
Etendard IV
Etendard VI                                                      
Breguet 1001
Breguet 1100
All of these fighters:   naval version (= camo Etendard IV) or OTAN ( german, italian, etc. G91 camo)
Mirage 01/I
Mirage II (Two 2*AIM-9B underwing, one centerline tank)

Nuclear strike bombers
-   Mirage IV
Mirage IVA (camo différents countries+bomb racks underwing)
Mirage IVC (nuclear strike, naval version for PA-52 Verdun etc.)
Mirage IVB (big twin engine bomber (J-75 exhausts)
Mirage IVK (déjà fait par les fanas britanniques J )
Mirage IV four engined bomber (4 atar underwings)

-      Concorde Strategic bomber (camo Mirage IVA or  Vulcan)

-   SO-4050 Vautour
SO-4050 nuclear strike
SO-4050 IIIE (nosecone, missiles, drop tanks, camo, from  a Mirage IIIE)
SO-4060 (supersonic Vautour)
Tsiklon (IsraelianVautour with spey engines  )

- SE-4400 ramjet powered cruise missile

Breguet projects
-   TAON (1001/1100)
-   Sirocco (1120)
-   VTOL (mach2 1115/1116)
-   Br-121(0) (Jaguar forerunner)

VTOL  Dassault
MD-610/620/630 Cavaliers
Balzac-V
Mirage III-V  (aeronavale, AdA, foreign countries,nuclear strike with Mk7 or AN11,interceptor,attack…)

Mirage prototypes
Mirage F2 (camo Israelian)
Mirage G (French navy)
Mirage F3 (interceptor,similar to F1C + F3EQ for Irak )
Mirage G8 /ACF (camo : Mirage 2000 Tornado or Mirage IVP)
Mirage 4000 (déjà fait par les fanas canadiens J )
Mirage 3000 (2000+RB-199) Mirage 6000 (Mirage= MIG-25 with delta wing)

Jaguar derivative
Jaguar M (Royal Navy, Aeronavale)

Fouga Magister derivative
Fouga 90 (camo: Embraer 312 Tucano from Salon de provence, or Zephyrs from Hyères)

Whatifs : Foreign aircrafts in french service
-   French F80 Shooting star  (instead of Vampires ?)
-   French F89 (instead of F86D ?)
-   F8U-3 superCrusader (Aeronavale)
-   A7 corsair II (aernavale, SE camo)
-   A4T (similar to A7)
-   F-18C/D (FN)
-   T45 Goshawk "aeronavale"'

Whatif fantasy
Falcon 10/20 COD
TBM-700 COD
Caravelle AWACS
Breguet Atlantic AWACS
Dassault Mercure AWACS
Transall AWACS

[elmayerle]

I've got a couple of the old Heller 1/50 Jaguar-M kits.  One's going to be finished as a what-if with full radar, laser seeker, etc. and I'm not sure about the other.

[NARSES2]

I've always had a soft spot for those Leduc ramjets and I to have a Mach 2 kit of the Trident waiting as a penance one day   Remind me of the Miles Supersonic project in a way

So afer the the US projects books which Tony Butler is working on can we expect an Anglo/French collaboration on French projects ? Would be interesting

Chris

[Gary]

Holy smoke those are so cool. Did I really read that these were scratchbuilt?

That's all for me folks, I just can't compete!

Very cool indeed

[Archibald]

short story about leduc researches
- 1935-1940 first drawings and test of a Ramjet. The french governement fund the 010 in 1938, but the war alt the project nearly completion. Transfered in toulouse, the 010 is hiden by the resistance and finnally complete in 1946. Captive flights in 1947-48 on a Languedoc, first powered flight on 21th april 1949. First flight of a pure ramjet aircraft in the world. Two other built, the third 016 with small turbojets on wingtips to permit autonomous take off. Failure (turbojet : insufficient thrust)
Mach 0.84 in 1949.

After that, in 1951-1954 two 021 much bigger and powerful, but still subsonic. (the little I scratchbuild)

1956 022 with Atar turbojet, stainless steel mach3 capable but only mach 1.2 due to bad aerodynamics. At the same time , the Griffon from the public firm nord aviation reach Mach 2.19 (built in light alloys)
funding on Leduc programs stoped in February 1958 because of the Algerian war and also the Mirage III pure turbojet fighter...
Its true its looks like the supersonic Miles but also the Convair P-92 (the fighter, not the delta demonstrator). I like this three and Dream about a transsonic race between us in 1948...  
Thanks everyone. this is nice to exchange posts with us...
Narses 2 hope your are patient and valiant because the Trident II is very raw and crude...
I'm deseperately seeking a 1/72 scale Vautour kit (the french canberra) even an old crap from Heller ()  

[noxioux]

I found some pictures of those ramjets, and I had no friggin' idea what they were.  I'm glad somebody brought it up before I had to ask the group.  Very interesting stuff.  You learn something new every day.

[NARSES2]

I'm deseperately seeking a 1/72 scale Vautour kit (the french canberra) even an old crap from Heller ()

Archibald like you I wanted the Vautour for a long time and lucily I now have a Aero File Vatour IIb in 1/72. Injection mouldings with etched brass and resin. I got it from a French stand at Telford last year (Thorvic did his usual sniffer dog trick and tracked it down for me   ) As it is a French made kit you might be able to track it down. I will build this as a real French AF aircraft

I'm waiting for the Special Hobby kits that are promised. I want to do an RAF low level maritime strike version with the old AS missiles.

Chris