Search Results for: 2021

Arsenal de l’Aéronautique VG.33

France, WW2, , , , , ,

Arsenal de l’Aéronautique was one of the more peculiar plane manufacturers of interwar France, though it is also one of the somewhat more obscure ones. Arsenal was a state company which was created towards the end of 1934. Its goal at the time was to provide a way to train aviation engineers employed by the French state, and to help them evaluate design proposals. It would also be tasked with studying aircraft designs without the profitability constraints of a private company, meaning Arsenal de l’Aéronautique would typically be used to study experimental projects not necessarily meant to see mass-production. Following the mass nationalization of France’s aircraft industry ,which began in August 1936 under the Popular Front’s government, Arsenal was given eight hangars built by Bréguet in Villacoublay, near Paris, to install its design bureau and production facilities.

LFG Roland C.II

German Empire, WW1, , , ,

The Roland C.II was a reconnaissance aircraft built by LFG Roland in 1915 as a new and innovative design. The type would see widespread use by the German Empire and, thanks to its highly advanced form, became the fastest and most maneuverable of its type when it was introduced. Overall improvements on the aircraft were done throughout the war to strengthen its performance, but by the end of the war, much more advanced aircraft had been deployed and made the Roland obsolete. The C.II was relegated to a training aircraft until the end of the war, when all were scrapped.

Focke-Wulf Fw Triebflügel 

Weimar and Nazi Germany, WW2, , ,

During the war, German aviation engineers proposed a large number of different aircraft designs. These ranged from more or less orthodox designs to hopelessly overcomplicated, radical, or even impractical designs. One such project was a private venture of Focke-Wulf, generally known as the Triebflügel. The aircraft was to use a Rotary Wing design in order to give it the necessary lift. Given the late start of the project, in 1944, and the worsening war situation for Germany, the aircraft would never leave the drawing board and would remain only a proposal.

Junkers Ju 88G

Weimar and Nazi Germany, WW2, , , , , , , ,

Developed from converted fighter versions of the Ju 88A-4 medium bomber, the Ju 88G would take up a growing role in the German night fighter force, as it saw its greatest successes in the Spring of 1944, and its decline in the Autumn of that same year. While built mostly as a result of the German aviation industry’s failure to produce a new specialized night fighter design, the Ju 88G would nonetheless prove to be a valuable asset, one that far exceeded the capabilities of its predecessors and was well suited for mass production.

Junkers Ju 87A Stuka

Weimar and Nazi Germany, WW2, , , ,

Prior to the Second World War, the Germans were experimenting with how to increase the accuracy of air bombing attacks. One solution was to use dive attacks, which greatly increased the chance of hitting the desired targets. By the mid-30s, a number of German aircraft manufacturing companies were experimenting with planes that could fulfill these dive bomb attacks. The Junkers Ju 87 proved to be the most promising design and would be adopted for service.  The Ju 87 would become one of most iconic aircraft of the Second World War, being feared for its precise strikes, but also for its unique use of sirens for psychological warfare.

Blohm und Voss Bv 141

Weimar and Nazi Germany, WW2, , ,

During the Second World War, the Germans would design and build a number of unusual aircraft (the Me 163 or the He 111 Zwilling, for example), but none was so unorthodox and strange as the Bv 141. In order to provide good visibility for its reconnaissance role, the crew gondola was completely separated from the aircraft’s fuselage. While small numbers were built, during testing it was shown to have decent flying characteristics for its completely unconventional design.

Fizir Prelazni FP-2

WW2, Yugoslavia, , , , ,

The FP-2 was designed as an advanced two seater biplane trainer for the Yugoslav Royal Air Force in late 30s. It would be used to equip pilot training schools for some years before WW2. During World War II, it would be used by the Axis powers, which managed to capture a number of them, for limited ground attack operations. The FP-2 would survive the war in smaller numbers and remain in use up to 1947.

Reggiane Re.2002 Ariete

Italy, WW2, , , , , ,

As their previous Re.2000 design had failed to gain any production orders from the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Air Force), the engineers from Reggiane tried to design a new aircraft to fill the role of ground attack aircraft. While the Italian Air Force ordered 500 of this version, due to problems with production, only half of that number were ever built.