Dutch flying wing

[Jemiba]

A 3-engined design made by the dutch engineer E.A.Driessen before the war for a
requirement of the KLM for the Amsterdam - Batavia route. Anyone with more informations
about it ?
(From Waffenarsenal special issue 18)

 

[lark]

The Driessen design was the winning contender (of 3) in a late 1939 competition for a possible K.L.M.
long range passenger/mail aircraft.
The plane must be able to fly non-stop from Amsterdan in The Netherlands to Batavia
in the Dutch East Indies, now Djakarta in Indonesia.

The contest was organised by the 'Comité Vliegtocht Nederlands Indie'
(Committee Flight to Dutch India)
Several designs were judged by the Royal Dutch Insitute for Enineers.

3th desgin by Cremer.A conventional 4 engined aircraft with Diesel engines.
2th design by Van Lammeren.This was an aircraft with two cockpits.
One in the nose for take-off and landing and a second cockpit within the
pressurised main cabin for long distance flights above the weather.
1st and winning design, the Driessen Flying Wing.
E.A.Driessen was chief engineer of the research department of the K.L.M.

Unfortunately , Europe was at the eve of WWII and the flying wing design
never came to the hardware stadium.

some specs:

lenght:11.50m
span : 34m
height : 3.70m
wingsurface : 175m2
total weight : 17.500kg
cruising speed :328km/h
max .range : 20.000km
powered by 3 Junkers JUMO diesels. type and performence not known.

source : summary from an article in the Dutch magazine 'Vliegwereld 1939'

 

[Retrofit]

Driessen also designed a 5-engine flying-wing transport aircraft, his D-5.
Source: "Vliegwereld" magazine, March 15, 1948

 

[lark]

Great.Thanks!

 

[agricola64]

Great.Thanks!

that thing looks a lot like the inspiration for the flying wing in Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark

 

[burunduk]

Very interesting.

Had E.A.Driessen some connections with Gerard Driessen, founder of Driessen aerospace? http://www.driessen.com/pub/corporate/history/index.html?

And what company planned to build such unusual aircraft?

 

[Retrofit]

BTW somebody knows Driessen's full first names (i.e. E.A.) ?

 

[riggerrob]

How many air miles from Amsterdam to Batavia (Jakarta)?

That task was eventually assigned to Douglas DC-2 conventional airliners.

 

[Avimimus]

A minor observation: The famous flying wing in Indiana Jones had a number of strikingly similar traits (gull wing, pusher props). So it is interesting to see a legitimate historical proposal for a similar design.

 

[Hobbes]

BTW somebody knows Driessen's full first names (i.e. E.A.) ?

A quick search didn't turn up anything. I found some newspaper articles on that competition, but no first names for the entrants.

 

[hesham]

Hi,

here is a more info about Driessen Flying Wing Project.

http://www.avia-it.com/act/biblioteca/periodici/PDF%20Riviste/Ala%20d'Italia/L'ALA%20D'ITALIA%201941%2002.pdf

 

[hesham]

Driessen also designed a 5-engine flying-wing transport aircraft, his D-5.
Source: "Vliegwereld" magazine, March 15, 1948

My dear Retrofit,

for this project,what was the number of passengers it could load ?.