Aircraft with Ramjets

Lockon

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Hello all,

Just checking to see if any of you know more about aircraft that where fitted with ramjets?

I know the P-51,P-80 etc had them fitted to there wing tips. Any more? what about the Spitfire, Hurricane or any other aircraft?

Please post what you know and any photos,info, drawings.

Thanks.
 
You're only interested in prop aircrafts with ramjets as "boosters", right? I know a few experiment-versions of Polikarpov I-15 once got simple jets as boosters, but I'm not sure those were ramjets.
 
You're only interested in prop aircrafts with ramjets as "boosters", right?

Okay both! and it can be ramjets or just boosters?

Thanks for the heads up with the I-15
 
Soviet aircraft
Polikarpov I-15 bis (I-152)
Polikarpov I-153
Borovkov and Frolov I-207
Yakovlev Yak-7B
Lavochkin LaGG-3
Lavochkin La-126 (modification of the La-7)
Lavochkin La-138 (modification of the La-9)
 
Not actually fitted with ramjets, but at least intended for such
a modification was the (french) Arsenal VG 90, which would have
got the designation VG 93:
 

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Here's a P-51D fitted with ramjet engines; no info. -SP
 

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XB-70 Guy said:
Here's a P-51D fitted with ramjet engines; no info. -SP
A P-51D with two Ford PJ-31-1 auxiliary pulsejet engines (copy of German Argus As 014).
Source: http://tanks45.tripod.com/Jets45/Histories/NorthAmericanP51/P51.htm
 
I donot know whether this one qualifies.
In the 1980s Mr. Douglas Wheeling of Michigan/USA built a small pulsejet powered light plane (see photo).
The PJ-1 (registered N17PJ) was shown at Oshkosh 1982, but I have no confirmation it was actually flown.
(anyone knows?). Certification date 7 May 1980, year of manufacture 1982.
The PJ-1 had two Gluhareff G82-130 pulsejets.
 

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Lockon said:
You're only interested in prop aircrafts with ramjets as "boosters", right?

Okay both! and it can be ramjets or just boosters?

Thanks for the heads up with the I-15

I meant if you were only interested in propeller planes with extra ramjets, like the mentioned P-51, or "pure" jet aircraft like the French NORD 1500 projects, René Ludec's experiment aircrafts etc. (You can find those two at Wikipedia BTW, and they're reasonably well known.)

I used the word "boosters" in a very loose sense, sorry.
 
Hammer Birchgrove said:
You're only interested in prop aircrafts with ramjets as "boosters", right?

...When I read this, the first thought in my mind was a Habu with big props in front of the points :p :p :p
 
These are purported to be 30" diameter engines...not sure about that. Have some stuff from the Smith to post, if I can locate in the archives. Kevin 1615145769504.png
1615145981506.png
1615145911534.png
More to come , Kevin
 
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Here's some commentary on ramjets on planes circa 1945 - 1950

P-51D-25-NA, serial 44-63528, was fitted with two wingtip Marquart XRJ-30-MA ramjet engines. The top speed of the plane was raised 50 mph when the ramjets were running. Test flights occurred between 1946 and August 1948 when the plane was lost during a test flight. One ramjet exploded after catching fire and the pilot bailed out. That ended this experimental type.
That's the one shown above in pictures.

Two P-80A-1-LO aircraft were converted to carry ramjets. Serial 44-85042 with two wingtip Marquardt RJ-20-85D and serial 44-85214 fitted with two wingtip Marquardt RJ-30-10B ramjets. These aircraft were re-designated ERF-80A-1-LO and dubbed “Trijets.”
Approximately one hundred flights were made with these aircraft between 1947 and -48 at Muroc, mostly with Herman “Fish” Salmon piloting. 44-85042 first flew on March 12th, 1947 and 44-85412 on June 17th, 1948. Flights were made with all three engines and with the ramjets alone.

Several La-7 and -9 were fitted with PVRD ramjets. Unlike the US P-51 version, the Lavochkin’s had their ramjets fitted mid-wing just outboard of the landing gear in streamlined nacelles. Design calculations called for a speed of 497 mph, but in testing the fighters had difficulty breaking 400 mph due to the increased weight and drag of the installation. The project was soon cancelled.

One Bell XP-83 44-84990 was fitted with Marquardt RJ-30 ramjets too.

1615146379437.png

Testing found the same issues as with other ramjet fitted aircraft. Fuel consumption was too high, and the ramjets added drag didn't provide enough of a speed boost over the normal variant to warrant use.
 
documents Kevin
 

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Looking down the barrel of a Marquardt 30" diameter ramjet engine..note the "tic, tac, toe" flame holder and circular fuel pressure lines with spray jets facing forward. Can see why these first ones were so fuel inefficient. K 1615147655143.png
 
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Per docs I've read, the P-80 was/is the only AC that could maintain continued flight at altitude using ramjets alone, thought the Griffon kept turbine running more than idle during RJ mode testing. Understand there was combustion instability in Griffon RJ mode.? Of course, Griffon was a real fuel pig also...Just like Trijet something like 4lbf/1lbthr/hour? K
 
Some Marquardt stuff (forgot I had) First image purported to be the first three from Roy: the 20" 30" and 48" RJs. 48" never flight tested. Second imaged reported as the Marquardt SERJ.
 

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Based on other images of the SERJ (reported in allot of literature as being compact), I can only guess this is some sort of prototype, or ? if.... SERJ at all. Damned if I know...checking out all that plumbing... yikes! K

marquardtserj-png.652150
 
Hi
Just found today on the bay what cames an ill described ramjet aircraft project. Looks like Leduc. Any hint?

A.
 

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Hi
Just found today on the bay what cames an ill described ramjet aircraft project. Looks like Leduc. Any hint?

A.
Its the Miles M.52 - a pretty well known cancelled supersonic project and certainly nothing whatever to do with ramjets.
 
Patente Leduc dibujo especulativo de Motocar
 

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from an article. this is the only lavochkin lagg-3 ramjet test/operations i was able to find

"There were also tests of a LaGG-3 fitted with a ramjet booster under each wing, which went nowhere. Apparently a tandem-seat trainer was built as well, though it didn't go into production; the idea didn't stop there, however. Both ramjet-boosted Lavochkin fighters and tandem-seat Lavochkin trainers are further discussed below."
 
-LaGG-3 PVRD (11th Series) with two Bocharev ramjets, 1943.
-Yak-7 PVRD (Nº820803) with two Merkulov DM-4C ramjets, 1944.
 

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This is the Leduc 010

I'm surprised no one's mentioned these earlier, both aircraft on display at the Musee de l'Air at Le Bourget.

Aside from the Se.161 Languedoc image posted, the Leduc 010 was also launched from the two Heinkel He 274 prototypes co-opted by the French following the end of the war as the AAS 01A and B.

The Leduc 022 was a mixed power interceptor with a conventional jet engine inside the ramjet to get it airborne. It never reached its design speed. The surviving example was never flown.
 

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German Do-17Z with a Athodyd ramjet. Link to Lorin WWII ramjet development.

 

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- Fw 190 mit Strahlrohr (Ramjet)​



Based on the data published by the end of 1943 on the tests performed with the Sänger ramjets in the Deutsches Forschungsinstitut für Segelflug (DFS), the firm decided to build its own design of Strahlrohr. The programme was conducted under the leadership of Dr.-Ing. Otto E. Pabst in the Focke-Wulf gas dynamics department at Kirkhorsten. The first designs of the new engine, dated Spring of 1944, represented a much shorter type of ramjet than the Sänger and had a length/diameter ratio of 2 to 1.


The first prototype, as described in Report No.09045 by mid-August, had a diameter of 237 mm and 59 injectors of the Fang-Diffuseur type. It was tested in the Luftfahrt Forschungs Anstalt (LFA) Brunswick using hydrogen as fuel. From September, hydrogen was replaced by propane in some tests but, after the bombardment of the Leuna-Werks factories, the propane was replaced with vaporized petrol in the operational versions. For this reason, it was necessary to design a compact heat exchanger to vaporize and superheat the fuel.


The thrust produced by this type of ramjets depended on an absolute aerodynamic perfection of both the external surface and the internal air duct, in the design of which intervened Dr.-Ing. Theodor Zobel of the LFA Volkenrode and Dr.-Ing. Küchemann of the Aerodynamische Versuchs Anstalt (AVA) Göttingen.


Flight tests were expected to be carried out using a Fw 190 A-10 with BMW 801 F-1 piston engine and two Pabst ramjets (with 50 injectors, 960 mm diameter, 1,920 mm length and 1,150 kp estimated thrust) installed in the wingtips. According to the data of the project of 23 April 1944, the airplane would have an overall wingspan of 12 m.


The construction of the first two prototypes of 960 mm was more difficult than expected, due to the high internal pressures and the deformation of the outer surface caused by the heat. Not a single unit had been finished at the end of the war in Europe.
 

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Here's some commentary on ramjets on planes circa 1945 - 1950

P-51D-25-NA, serial 44-63528, was fitted with two wingtip Marquart XRJ-30-MA ramjet engines. The top speed of the plane was raised 50 mph when the ramjets were running. Test flights occurred between 1946 and August 1948 when the plane was lost during a test flight. One ramjet exploded after catching fire and the pilot bailed out. That ended this experimental type.
That's the one shown above in pictures.

Two P-80A-1-LO aircraft were converted to carry ramjets. Serial 44-85042 with two wingtip Marquardt RJ-20-85D and serial 44-85214 fitted with two wingtip Marquardt RJ-30-10B ramjets. These aircraft were re-designated ERF-80A-1-LO and dubbed “Trijets.”
Approximately one hundred flights were made with these aircraft between 1947 and -48 at Muroc, mostly with Herman “Fish” Salmon piloting. 44-85042 first flew on March 12th, 1947 and 44-85412 on June 17th, 1948. Flights were made with all three engines and with the ramjets alone.

Several La-7 and -9 were fitted with PVRD ramjets. Unlike the US P-51 version, the Lavochkin’s had their ramjets fitted mid-wing just outboard of the landing gear in streamlined nacelles. Design calculations called for a speed of 497 mph, but in testing the fighters had difficulty breaking 400 mph due to the increased weight and drag of the installation. The project was soon cancelled.

One Bell XP-83 44-84990 was fitted with Marquardt RJ-30 ramjets too.

View attachment 652126

Testing found the same issues as with other ramjet fitted aircraft. Fuel consumption was too high, and the ramjets added drag didn't provide enough of a speed boost over the normal variant to warrant use.
Can you tell me...I thought the testing took place at Wright-Paterson field. Would/Could you send me a link to your source? It wood be much appreciated!!! Thank you, Kevin
 
Looking down the barrel of a Marquardt 30" diameter ramjet engine..note the "tic, tac, toe" flame holder and circular fuel pressure lines with spray jets facing forward. Can see why these first ones were so fuel inefficient. KView attachment 652128
Finally, I located an image of the Marquardt 30" diameter ramjet engine. It is almost 11 feet in length: (130.75 inches), and weights over 300lbs...I'll get that exact amount in a later post. This image gives an idea of the shear size.
Found it: Weight ~ 330 lbs.
 

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