joncarrfarrelly said:
I've trawled the sea of Google and while I've come up with a few photos,
so far no drawings of any sort.
Hej Jon, I made this 3V some years ago.
Derived from the high speed project D-530 designed by Castello-Henrot to beat the speed record for land-based aircraft set by Udet on the He-100V2 (He6112U) on June the 5th 1938 (Project dropped due to the un-availability of the selected powerplant: An Hispano-Suiza 12Y specially boosted to deliver up to 1800hp), the D-550 was powered by a production HS 12Ycrs rated 900hp. Compared with the fighter D-520, the D-550 was smaller and lighter.
Wind-tunnel tests performed in March 1939.
First flight on June the 23rd by Marcel Doret.
In the meantime, on March the 30th, 1939, Hans Dieterle had set the speed record at 746,606 km/h on the He6100V8 (beating the absolute speed record of Angello with the Macchi MC-72). On month later, Fritz Wendel on the Me-209V1 pushed the limit to 755,138 km/h...out of reach for the D-550 and her 900hp.
On November the 22th, 1939, the D-550 was the first French airplane to pass the 700km/h limit with a speed of 702,2km/h at 6000m.
Last flight performed on May the 27th, 1940.
Damaged on April the 4th, 1944, during Francazal bombing.
Scrapped just after the war.
Span: 8,20m
Area: 10,79m2
Lenght: 8,02m
Est. MTOW: Around 1800kg.
Philippe