Renard Fighter Projects and Prototypes

[Justo Miranda]

Please see attached some stuff from
- Bulletin periodique AELR No 19 Amis du Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace , Bruxelles
Note eyectable cabin


And one speculative drawings by myself
Wingspan 11,64 m. , Lenght 8,8 m. , Rolls Royce "Merlin II"
Max speed 525 Km/h
SOURCE GRADING 3

 

[hesham]

Hi,

a well known Renard R.40 and R.42 fighter projects,but here is their drawings.

 

[lark]

The Renard R.40 high altitude fighter was constructed in prototype form.
Fighter had a pressurised cockpit.
Prototype was destroyed near the city of Tournai-Belgium- when the Renard firm evacuated to France
during the invasion in 1940.

More on http://www.fnar.be.

The drawing of the R.44 project is the work of Justo Miranda.Taken from his
magnificient 'Unknown' series....

 

[Justo Miranda]

Here some additional stuff from Unknown N.3

 

[Justo Miranda]

And some R.37 drawings

 

[Firefly 2]

Such nice designs! And from the motherland too? I never knew of this piece of Belgian history...

 

[T-50]

I must say its a very interesting and promising fighter project! it had made a difference if there were enough examples to send the German invaders a clear message.til here and no further!
I'm searching for a book about the Renard R38,R42 series
I hope some one can help me to find a book about this beautiful Belgian fighter .
best regards T-50

 

[Justo Miranda]

Plese see attached bibliography

 

[T-50]

thanks Justo for those titles
cheers T-50

 

[Firefly 2]

I have to find some time to get to Brussels and do some research in the Army museum archives... I always thought national airplane builing was restricted to outdated byplanes.

 

[Arjen]

Renard R-40

A final version was built, the R-40, for the French Air Ministry. This model was a high-altitude fighter with a pressurised cabin which could be jettisoned in-flight with a compressed-air charge.
Before the German advance, the Renard works were evacuated to France, taking with them the disassembled prototype with the purpose of continuing trials in the unoccupied zone; however during the debacle the aircraft was abandoned in Tournai and probably destroyed in the town's bombardment.
In broad lines very similar to the R-38 (likewise having the same Rolls-Royce Merlin engine), nevertheless the design of the pilot's station was clearly different and more like the silhouette of fighter-aircraft of the period with its canopy faired into the rear fuselage.
The jettisonable cabin was connected to the fuselage by a casing in two parts (the first part connected to the cabin, the other part fixed to the airframe). Inside this casing, the flight-controls and instruments were equipped with quick-disconnects.

"Les Avions Renard 1922-1970" by André Hauet & Guy Roberty, A.E.L.R. 1996 (my translation)

 

[hesham]

Hi,


here is an artist drawing to R-40.

 

[Mustang1957]

Hello,I'm New To The Forum.I'm Doing Some Research On Renard WW2 Fighters And Have Found 3-Way Drawings On All But The R-38.I Already Checked The Renard Site,But Found Nothing.Anyone Know Of a 760x Or Better 3-Way Of The R-38? Thank You And I Would Be Very Greatful.

 

[c460]

Hello Mustang and welcome here,

Do you have a specific modelling project ?

There are excellent drawings of all those Renard fighters in the book by Nicolas Godfurnon Renard R-36/37/38 & 40 (bilingual French / English), published by FNAR:
http://www.fnar.be/?Livres:Renard_R36%2FR37%2FR38_%26amp%3B_40_by_Nicolas_Godfurnon

All the versions of the R.36 to R.38 are depicted in both 1/48 and 1/32 scale, and there are numerous technical drawings. Front views of the R.37 and R.38 are strangely missing, perhaps a mistake when the book was layed out. The 1/32 drawings are unfortunately overlapping facing pages, with the book hinge in the middle. The 1/48 drawings are unaffected, and should be enough for most purposes.

I'm sorry I will not post scans of those plans in the forum because the book is still available new and the set of plans makes a good chunk of it. But if you are seriously interested in those aircraft, I can guarantee that you won't regret buying it.

There are drawings of the R.38 in the book Les avions Renard by Hauet and in other articles, like that posted below from Avions no.153. But the plans by Godfurnon seem very carefully researched, and I would rather use them.

By the way, maybe you'll be interested by this post listing other reference books about Belgian aircraft:
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,19339.0.html

Cheers,
Adrien

 

[Mustang1957]

Thank You Adrien For The Info. I Like Collecting Line Drawings Of Rare WWII Fighters. I Will Keep That Book Idea In Mind. ;D Cheers, Dale

 

[niconico]

For those interested in the R-40 and its jettisonable pressurized cockpit, here are two drawings that were discovered recently.

Only a handful of drawings survived the war, but from time to time we manage to recover a few more, such as these.

 

[hesham]

From old site on Net,

The new aircraft—designated R-38 —did not differ significantly from the R-36. It was a low-wing, cantilever monoplane of metal construction, with an enclosed cockpit and retractable landing gear with a tailwheel. The installation of the new engine also modified its cooling system, moving the radiator under the front of the fuselage (in the R-36, the radiator was located under the rear of the fuselage). Armament was limited to four 7.7 or 13.2 mm machine guns in the wings, with the 20 mm cannon omitted (the "Merlin" engine prevented its installation between the cylinder blocks, as was the case with the Hispano-Suiza engine used in the R-36).

The R-38 prototype, designated with the civilian registration OO-ATK, was presented to representatives of the Belgian Air Force on 18 July 1939, and shortly thereafter - on 4 August - SABCA factory pilot Burniat flew it. The aircraft demonstrated very good flight characteristics and had good performance - for example, with a maximum speed of 545 km/h, it was on par with other top European fighters of the period.

By the time of the German invasion of Belgium in May 1940, the R-38 prototype had completed almost its full flight test cycle. To protect it from capture by the Germans, the aircraft was flown to the French airport in Bordeaux, from where it was then scheduled to continue on to Morocco. However, in France, the R-38's story ended. Undoubtedly the best pre-war Belgian fighter fell into German hands and was most likely destroyed, as was the unfinished prototype of the high-altitude R-40, which was also evacuated to France—this time by road.

 

[mr_boo]

The new aircraft—designated R-38 —did not differ significantly from the R-36.

The R.38 actually had quite a few subtle differences with the R.36.

Of course there are the obvious changes caused by the engine swap, you can see the Merlin exhaust pipes and the different radiator, along with the different propeller hub lacking a hole for a cannon.
But the whole design was more refined, perhaps it looked more like what a production R.36 would have looked like; the wing root fairings were smoother on the R.38 and there was almost no visible angle between the two fairing plates. The wing leading edges on the 38 also seem to lack the angle near the root that was similar to the P-51D. The whole nose and wing root section seems reworked and finer.

Behind the pilot seat on the R.36 you can see a cutout on the top of the fuselage that is missing on the R.38 as well as a small V-shaped strut behind the pilot's head. Maybe this wasn't permanent though, as this was where the radio set was supposed to go and the cutout was maybe for easier access.
You can also see the fabric covering of the aft fuselage goes all the way to the tail on the R.38, and the rudder is larger (and prettier) than on the R.36.

I hope I didn't miss anything, but I think these make the R.38 look a lot more sleek and refined.