The Zero, an Aussie design???

Barrett · 30 December 2001, 07:13 AM

there's a saying in engineering: "Form follows function." Much of what appears to be copying Brand X is merely employing What Works. I'll never forget the first time I saw a 737 overhead: hmmm...that wing looks AWFULLY like the Me-262.

leo · 30 December 2001, 04:01 PM

I was not aware that the MiG15 was based on English designs.
I thought it was based on Prof. Willy Messerscmitt's design. I refer to theP 1101 project. This plane was brought to the USA after the war. The US Forces were skeptical of the swept wing design. The Russians weren't.

Billy_Bishop · 30 December 2001, 04:42 PM

Quote:

I was not aware that the MiG15 was based on English designs.
I thought it was based on Prof. Willy Messerscmitt's design.

Leo, I think what some were referring to was that the MiG 15's engine was based almost completely on the Rolls Royce Nene Jet engine design that had been "procured" by the Russians and copied (without benefit of license I believe) to become the main powerplant of the MiG15.

THIS is what I think people were referring to when they credit the British with the MiG-15 design.

VBR,

Al Lowe

Ross_Moorhouse · 30 December 2001, 04:45 PM

Quote:

I was not aware that the MiG15 was based on English designs.
I thought it was based on Prof. Willy Messerscmitt's design. I refer to theP 1101 project. This plane was brought to the USA after the war. *The US Forces were skeptical of the swept wing design. *The Russians weren't.

Just think what might of been if the Brits had not passed on the info to the Russians. The Korean War might of been a awhole different ball game in the air. *

Barrett · 30 December 2001, 04:48 PM

Yup. HM's Labour (socialist) govt. frigging GAVE a rolls-royce Nene engine to the soviets after the war, and to nobody's surprise (or apparently discomfiture, at least in London) the russians immediately began building copies as the Klimov series. OTOH, some RAF types were upset when gyro gunsights were left in lend-lease Spitfires so you may imagine how they felt about the pasty-faced poofters giving the world's best jet engine to the opposition.
The MiG-15 airframe was heavily influenced by the Ta-183 project which never was completed. However, if you can arrange it, sit in a FW-190 and then switch to the MiG. You'll feel right at home.

Billy_Bishop · 30 December 2001, 05:15 PM

I thought the P39s that the USA sent to Russia were the first gyro sights the Russians got, did they get the Airacobra, or the Spit first?

VBR,

Al

31 December 2001, 10:11 AM

Whoa there Barrett!!Hold your hosses!!Jest a minnite thea boy!!Just HOW do you think youall got the JET engine huh??And look where that`s taken you

And Mr Whittle`s engine shares nothing with the German design.Youall called that Engine the JP57 and you got it free,gratis and fer nowt

[yep them durned limeys again!!]

Barrett · 31 December 2001, 11:22 AM

Andy: Right you are, lad. The diff, of course, is that HM Gummint knew that we Yanks had got over the tendency to shoot at Brits whereas the Soviets were just getting warmed up. MiG-15s versus Sea Furies and Meteors was a pretty lopsided contest!

leo · 1 January 2002, 06:29 AM

Where thee any instances when the "Zero" came up against the Spitfire in WWII? I think it is pretty well agreed that the Spit could out manouver a 109. How did it do with the Zero?

1 January 2002, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Where thee any instances when the "Zero" came up against the Spitfire in WWII? *I think it is pretty well agreed that the Spit could out manouver a 109. *How did it do with the Zero?

There were many Spitfire vs. Zero combats in the Pacific. The Zero can out turn the Spit, but the Spit is faster, can climb quicker, and has superior armament. The rate of Spitfire losses was high in the Pacific, mainly because of the limited range Spit being used in the vast Pacific theater. Many were lost when they ran out of fuel during missions.