Henkel He P1079 ?

[Flitzer]

Hi all,
many refs state that the He 1079 would have had 6 machine guns/cannons; 4 firing forward, housed under the cockpit/nose. The remaining 2 were to have been rearward firing, but I can't work out where and how they might have been positioned and housed. The fuselage is very slim.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

Many thanks
P

 

[Jemiba]

Perhaps just fixed rearwards, as was done with MG 17 in He 111 ?
(photo from http://www.cockpitinstrumente.de/archiv/Dokumente/ABC/m/Maschinen%20Gewehre/MG%2017/mg%2017%20%20maschinen%20gewehr.html)

 

[Orionblamblam]

I know *exactly* how they were to be housed.

http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=5195

 

[Michel Van]

nice solution, but is this usability ?
I mean the machine guns barrels gonna hang in the hot exhaust from jet engines...

 

[Jemiba]

Ah, then my eyes weren't fooled ?
In german bombers such fixed weapons were called "Abschreckwaffen" (scaring weapons),
just intended to throw an attacker from the rear off his firing position. What purpose could
they have had in a night fighter, which would have been much faster, than his enemies ?
For a new attack profile, firing while overshooting ? Or were the Heinkel designers aware of
the Gloster Meteor NF-series ?

 

[Michel Van]

Ah, then my eyes weren't fooled ?
In german bombers such fixed weapons were called "Abschreckwaffen" (scaring weapons),
just intended to throw an attacker from the rear off his firing position. What purpose could
they have had in a night fighter, which would have been much faster, than his enemies ?
For a new attack profile, firing while overshooting ? Or were the Heinkel designers aware of
the Gloster Meteor NF-series ?

IMHO were two considerations:
1. overshoot the target during attack and fire with back guns, because higher speeds
2. "Hey, if we build Jet Fighter, the British and Americans can also build them"...

 

[Flitzer]

Many thanks Orionblamblam
Spot on. Exactly what I was looking for.

And to all. Interesting.


A progress pic attached.
Thank you
Peter

 

[Vahe Demirjian]

Hi all,
many refs state that the He 1079 would have had 6 machine guns/cannons; 4 firing forward, housed under the cockpit/nose. The remaining 2 were to have been rearward firing, but I can't work out where and how they might have been positioned and housed. The fuselage is very slim.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

Many thanks
P

The P.1079 project actually would have had four MK 108 cannons in the nose. Drawings of the P.1079 (https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/heinkel-p1079-diagrams.9112/) do not show any guns in the tail. The Jumo 004B-powered version of the P.1079B-1 had three MK 108 cannons. Therefore, the P.1079 had four cannons, not six.

 

[baja]

According to the drawing (https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/heinkel-p1079-diagrams.9112/) the cannons were mounted in the wing roots on the fuselage.
In my opinion it is conceivable that the cannons could also be mounted below the hull (similar to the Arado 234). The aiming is done with a periscope sight.

 

[newsdeskdan]

On p286 of my book Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe Volume 1: Jet Fighters 1939-1945, there's a scrap of a drawing I found at the Imperial War Museum which suggests that the wartime design of the P 1079 had the rear-firing MG 151s outboard of the engines, in the wings. It seems as though when Guenter and co. were recreating their work for the Americans at Penzing in June-July 1945, they took the opportunity to improve their designs a little, moving the MG 151s to the position shown in the drawing in post #9.