https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westland_Whirlwind_(fighter)
The
Westland Whirlwind was a British twin-engined
heavy fighter developed by
Westland Aircraft. A contemporary of the
Supermarine Spitfire and
Hawker Hurricane, it was the first single-seat, twin-engined, cannon-armed fighter of the
Royal Air Force.
When it first flew in 1938, the Whirlwind was one of the fastest and most heavily armed combat aircraft in the world. Protracted development problems with its
Rolls-Royce Peregrine engines delayed the project and few Whirlwinds were built. During the Second World War, only three RAF squadrons were equipped with the Whirlwind but despite its success as a
fighter and
ground attack aircraft, it was withdrawn from service in 1943.
There's also the Gloster F.9/37 Reaper.
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Gloster F.9/37
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Gloster F.9/37
Gloster F.9/37
Role Heavy fighter
Manufacturer Gloster Aircraft Company
Designer George Carter
First flight 3 April 1939
Primary user Royal Air Force (intended)
Number built 2
The
Gloster F.9/37, also known as the
Gloster G.39, was a
British twin-engined design from the
Gloster Aircraft Company for a cannon-armed
heavy fighter to serve with the
Royal Air Force, planned before the
Second World War. The F.9/37 was rejected in favour of other designs.
A development of the F.9/37 as a
night fighter, for a new
Air Ministry Specifications F.29/40 – known unofficially as the "
Gloster Reaper" – was dropped so that Gloster would be able to concentrate on existing work and on the nascent British jet projects.
Contents
[
1 Design and development
Design and development[edit]
Gloster had designed a twin-engined turret-fighter for specification F.34/35 but the single-engine design from Boulton Paul (
Boulton Paul Defiant) for F.9/35 was seen to cover both requirements and the F.34/55 design dropped. Less than two years later, F.9/37 for a "twin-engined single-seat fighter with fixed armament" was issued.
[1]
The F.9/37 was designed under the direction of
W. G. Carter, his first for Gloster, to F.9/37 (hence the name) as a single-seat fighter carrying an armament of four
0.303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns and two
20 mm Hispano cannon in the nose. Intended for dispersed production by semi-skilled labour, the structure broke down into sub-assemblies.
[2]
A
prototype (
military serial number L7999) with 1,060 hp
Bristol Taurus T-S(a) radial engines flew on 3 April 1939,
[3] and demonstrated excellent performance, its maximum speed of 360 mph (580 km/h) being the best recorded by a British fighter at the time.
[3] Test flights revealed that the prototype was very manoeuvrable and "a delight to fly."
[4] However, after being badly damaged in a landing accident in July 1939, it was re-engined with 900 hp Taurus T-S(a)-IIIs in 1940, which resulted in reduced performance. A second prototype (
L8002) with 880 hp
Rolls-Royce Peregrine I liquid-cooled inline engines flew on 22 February 1940;
[3] it proved capable of 330 mph (530 km/h) at 15,000 ft (4,570 m).
[5]
F.18/40 and F.29/40[edit]
Specification F.18/40, for a dedicated
night fighter, with both nose- and turret-mounted guns, led to Gloster submitting a design based on the F.9/37, fitted with
Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, a dorsal four-gun turret and Airborne Interception (AI)
radar.
[6] This received support from the
Air Staff who saw it as superior to the
Bristol Beaufighter and the
Air Ministry ordered one of the F.9/37 prototypes to be converted to the new specification as F.29/40.
[7]
Unofficially known as the "Gloster Reaper", it inherited the admirable handling characteristics of the F.9/37, and despite being judged superior to other designs, including turreted variants of the Beaufighter and
de Havilland Mosquito, the Reaper was terminated
[7] in May 1941, so that Gloster could concentrate on other work, especially
its work on jet aircraft.
Specifications (L7999 with Taurus engine)[edit]
Data from The British Fighter since 1912
[3]Gloster Aircraft since 1917[8]
General characteristics
- Crew: one
- Length: 37 ft ½ in (11.29 m)
- Wingspan: 50 ft ½ in (15.26 m)
- Height: 11 ft 7 in (3.53 m)
- Wing area: 386 ft² (35.9 m²)
- Empty weight: 8,828 lb (4,013 kg)
- Loaded weight: 11,615 lb (5,280 kg)
- Powerplant: 2 × Bristol Taurus T-S(a) 14 cylinder radial engine, 1,000 hp (746 kW) each
- Propellers: 3-bladed metal Rotol variable pitch [8] propeller, 1 per engine
- Propeller diameter: 10 ft (3.04 m)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 360 mph (313 knots, 580 km/h) at 15,000 ft (4,570 m)
- Service ceiling: 30,000 ft (9,150 m)
- Rate of climb: 2,460 ft/min[9] (12.5 m/s) at 15,000 ft
- Wing loading: 30.1 lb/ft² (147 kg/m²)
- Power/mass: 0.172 lb/hp (0.283 kW/kg)
- Climb to 28,000 feet (8,500 m): 19 min, 36 sec
Armament
- Guns:
- Bombs: provision for 20lb bomb carriers[8]