Kingdom of Hungary (1939)
Fighter Aircraft – One prototype
In their search for a new fighter, the Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légierő MKHL (English: Royal Hungarian Home Defence Air Force), approached the Germans for help. Initially, a deal was made with the German Heinkel company for the delivery of new He 112 fighters and a production license. However, nothing came of this deal, which led to the Hungarians attempting to develop their own fighter, partially based on the He 112.
The He 112 In Hungary
In the late 1930s, the Hungarian Air Force was slowly in the process of rebuilding its combat strength by the acquisition of new aircraft. For a modern air force, they needed better fighter designs, which they were then seriously lacking. Luckily for them, they began to improve their relations with Germany, so it was possible to acquire new equipment from them. In June 1938, a Hungarian delegation was sent to the Heinkel company, and the pilots that accompanied this delegation had a chance to fly the He 112 fighter. This aircraft was Heinkel’s response to the Reichsluftfahrtministerium’s (English: German Ministry of Aviation) request for a new fighter. While generally a good design, it ultimately lost to Messerschmitt Bf 109. While the He 112 project was canceled by the RLM, to compensate for the huge investment in resources and time to it, Heinkel was permitted to export this aircraft to foreign buyers. Several countries such as Austria, Japan, Romania, and Finland showed interest, but only a few actually managed to procure this aircraft, and even then, only in limited numbers.
The Hungarians were impressed with the He 112 and placed an order for 36 such aircraft. For a number of logistical and political reasons, the decision to sell these aircraft to Hungary was delayed. A single He 112 was given to Hungary in February for evaluation but was lost on its first flight. Realizing that the Germans would not deliver the promised aircraft, the Hungarians instead decided to ask for a license. This was granted and Heinkel also delivered two more He 112 B-1s. When the license arrived in Hungary in May 1939, a production order for the 12 first aircraft was given to Weiss Manfréd aircraft manufacturer.
A New Fighter
Despite the best Hungarian attempts to put the He 112 in production, this was prevented by the war between Poland and Germany. At the start of the Second World War, RLM officially prohibited the export of any German aircraft engines and equipment. This meant that the vital Jumo 210 and DB 601 engines would not be available. Based on this fact, all work on the Hungarian He 112 had to be canceled.
As the Hungarians had the license for the He 112, some parts could still be domestically produced. In essence, this offered the Hungarians the chance to develop a new fighter, based on the He 112 blueprints. Not wanting to waste this opportunity, the Hungarian Ministry of War Affairs issued a directive to commence developing a new domestic fighter by reusing some components from the He 112. The whole project was undertaken by WM’s own chief designer Bela Samu, who began development in early 1939. To speed up development, the He 112 wing design was copied, but given the comparatively underdeveloped Hungarian aircraft industry, the wing was to be built of wooden materials instead of metal, as it was on the He 112. Other differences included using an oval-section fuselage, different armament, a new engine, and a cockpit redesign.
The first prototype was completed quickly by the end of 1939. In its prototype stage, the aircraft was painted in a light gray livery, earning it the nickname Ezüst Nyíl (English: Silver arrow) from the personnel that worked on it. Once it was issued to the Air Force for testing, it received the standard Hungarian camouflage scheme, and the designation V/501 was also allocated to it. The maiden test flight was undertaken close to Budapest on the 23rd of February 1940. The flight proved successful and a maximum speed of 530 km/h (330 mph) at a height of 5 km (16.400 ft) was achieved. Some issues were detected, the most problematic proved to be the strong vibration caused by the exhaust system. Despite this, the project development pressed on.
Short Service Life
Despite the time and effort put into the project, it all went for nothing as the prototype was lost in an accident in February, or April, depending on the source, 1942. During a test flight at high speeds, one of the ailerons simply broke off. The pilot lost control of the aircraft and had to bail out. The uncontrolled plane hit the ground and was utterly destroyed, and with it, the whole project was canceled.
Beyond this major setback, another reason why this project was canceled was the start of the license production of the German Bf 109G fighter. It was much easier, and faster, to commence production of this aircraft, thanks to German technical support, than to completely develop new tooling and equipment for the WM 23.
Technical Characteristics
The WM 23 was a mixed-construction single-engine fighter heavily inspired by the German He 112. Given its somewhat obscure nature, not much is mentioned in the sources about its overall construction. Given the urgency of the project, instead of the monocoque fuselage, the Hungarian engineers decided to use a simpler oval-section fuselage which consisted of welded steel tubes and then covered with plywood. The wings, as mentioned, were taken from the He 112, but had one huge difference, being made of wood, including its control surfaces.
The landing gear was another part more or less taken directly from the He 112. They consisted of two larger landing wheels that retracted into the wings, and one semi-retractable tail wheel. But based on the photographic evidence, their overall design changed during the prototype’s development. On the prototype, possibly at an early stage, a V-shaped front landing gear strut was used. This was later replaced by a large single-leg landing gear. The cockpit was equipped with a sliding canopy that slid to the rear.
The WM 23 was powered by a 1,030 hp WM K-14B (sometimes marked as 14/B) engine. This engine was developed based on the license of the French Gnome and Rhone 14K engine, a fourteen-cylinder radial engine equipped with a single-stage, single-speed supercharger. As mentioned, during the fifth test maximum achieved speed was 530 km/h (330 mph).
While the prototype was never fitted with an offensive armament, the Hungarians had plans for a potential armament In the wing, two 8 mm (0.33 in) machine guns were to be installed. In addition, two 12.7 mm (0.5 in) heavy machine guns were to be added atop the engine compartment. Lastly it was to have a payload of two 20 kg bombs (44 lbs).
Conclusion
The WM 23 was an interesting Hungarian attempt to domestically develop and build a fighter aircraft that was greatly influenced by the He 112. It showed to be a promising design, with the prospect of entering serial production. However, the loss of the single prototype put an end to this project. By 1942, the Hungarians simply did not have the time to start over again with the WM 23, so they abandoned it in favor of the license production of the German Bf 109G.
WM 23 prototype Specifications |
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| Wingspans | 31 ft 5 in / 9.6 m | |
| Length | 29 ft 10 in / 9.1 m | |
| Height | 10 ft 9 in / 3.3 m | |
| Wing Area | 199 ft² / 18.5 m² | |
| Engine | One 1,030 hp strong WM K-14B | |
| Empty Weight | 4,850 lbs / 2,200 kg | |
| Maximum Take-off Weight | 5,733 lbs / 2,600 kg | |
| Maximum Speed | 330 mph / 530 km/h | |
| Crew | 1 pilot | |
| Proposed Armament |
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Credits
- Article written by Marko P.
- Edited by Henry H.
- Ported by Marko P.
- Illustrated By Carpaticus
Illustrations
Source:
- D. Monday (2006) The Hamlyn Concise Guide To Axis Aircraft OF World War II, Bounty Books
- D. Bernard (1996) Heinkel He 112 in Action, Signal Publication
- G. Punka, Hungarian Air Force, Signal Publication
- R.S. Hirsch, U, Feist and H. J. Nowarra (1967) Heinkel 100, 112, Aero Publisher
- C. Chants (2007) Aircraft of World War II, Grange Books
- J. R. Smith and A. L. Kay (1990) German Aircraft of the Second World War, Putnam