Blog 001

The Aerospace History Blog - Page 01

Post 002

Enlargement of the logo painted on the rudder of the glider aircraft shown below.

A Flea-market Discovery There are hardly any flea markets these days due to the corona situation. On one of the rare occasions I came across three historical aviation photos. A stamp and postcard seller also had a sheet of paper taken out of a photo album on offer. One picture showed a couple, taken in a park. Two pictures presumably show the airship LZ-127 "Graf Zeppelin" which is observed by people on the roofs of their houses. The third photo shows a hang glider preparing to take off. The photos seem to have been taken around the year 1930 in Germany. Can someone identify the type of glider (logo on the tail unit in an enlarged version to the left) and the location of the Zeppelin photos based on the cityscape?

Unknown german glider immediately before take off, powered by a rubber rope. (click to enlarge - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)

A Zeppelin (LZ-127?) without a swastika painted on the fin (pre-1934/35) floates over a german town.

Post 001

A lonely Uwe as the only person in the main building of Tegel during the Corona crisis.

Last Dance for Berlin-Tegel-Airport On November 8, 2020, the legendary Tegel TXL airport in the north of Berlin was closed forever. One week earlier, the new BER airport had opened south of Berlin. The construction of this airport, located on the site of the previous Schoenefeld Airport SXF, took nine years longer than estimated. The first rockets with liquid fuel flew in Tegel between 1930 and 1934, launched by young spaceflight pioneers. The French built an airfield here in their sector in 1948 within 90 days to supply Berlin during the blockade. The Americans then had Tempelhof airfield, the British had Gatow airfield. From 1960, civil air traffic began at Tegel. The building that still exists has been in use since 1974. It is designed in such a way that it is only twelve meters from a taxi to the check-in counter. The standstill of air traffic due to the corona pandemic in 2020 had made Tegel a ghost airport even before it closed. A science campus is to be built on the Tegel site.

Tegel TXL was the homebase of Air Berlin, the second largest german airline until it ceased operations in October 2017.

The control-tower and the main entrance of Tegel airport - now out of service

Post 003

The design of the DFS 346 impressed scientists both in Russia (in 1947, top) and in the USA (in 1948, bottom).

The World’s real first Mach 1+ Aircraft In 1944 the Luftwaffe requested a research aircraft that could fly faster than the speed of sound. The Research Institute for Glider Aircraft (DFS) designed an aircraft with wings swept back 45 degrees - the DFS 346. The pilot was in a prone position in a rescue capsule. The DFS 346 was to be carried by an large aircraft to 10000 Meter (33000 feet) altitude and would climb under power of two rocket engines to about 20000 Meter. From there the DFS 346 would glide back to 10000 Meter and ignite its engines again to climb back, repeating this several times. The Luftwaffe hoped that the DFS 346 would fly as fast as Mach 2.6 at high altitudes. It was planned to develope the DFS 346 into a reconnaissance aircraft. When the war ended, the prototype was under construction and discovered by the Russians. They completed the aircraft and named as OKB-2 346 it flew several times - but never under power. So the DFS 346 never broke the sound barrier.

A to date unpublished drawing of the general arrangement of the DFS 346. (click to enlarge - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)

Post 004

The only result of the russian/german cooperation was this brochure. (click to see the brochure - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)

Bomber Tupolev Tu-160 as Space Launcher The Soviet Air Force dreamed of developing its Mach 1.8 Bomber Tupolev Tu-160 into a military space launching system. Carrying a two stage solid fuel rocket to 13000 Meters (43000 feet) this system could put a payload of 600 to 1000 Kilograms into a low earth orbit. In 1994 Russia was looking for partners in the west to market this system for small civil satellites like Pegasus was doing this in the USA. At this time, the small german company OHB was planning to invest in spaceflight as a new business field. Burlak and Diana never flew The cooperation lasted for a few years until the Germans became aware that their money was only spend to buy luxury cars. The system of Burlak (aircraft) and Diana (rocket) was hoped to be operational in the year 2000 and should orbit one Kilogram payload for around 5000 Dollar. No test was ever undertaken.

Post 005

(click to enlarge - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)

Hungarian Bomber Junkers Ju 86 Hungaria purchased Junkers Ju 86 bomber in Germany before the war. 66 aircraft were delivered in 1937 and 1938. They had the hungary-build engine Gnome-Rhone Mistral Major and they were named Ju 86 K-2. I found two pictutres in my collection showing the aircraft B3+21 on its nose and after being recovered. A date or location is not known.

(click to enlarge - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)

Post 006

A reconnaissance plane from the Royal Australian Air Force caught a soviet vessel during recovery of Bor 4 - Cosmos 1445 - in March 1983.

Six Decades of the Mini-Shuttle At the beginning of the 1960s, the NASA began thinking of a small spacecraft, capable of flying into orbit and landing like an aircraft. From 1963 so-called Lifting Bodies were built and testflown. The one that performed best was the Martin Marietta X-24. The NASA (and the U.S. Air Force) needed a spacecraft for quick reaction inspections of orbiting enemy satellites. But no Lifting Body made it into space. The X-24 was later modified to test landing procedures for the Space Shuttle. In June 1982 an Australian Lockheed Orion photographed the recovery operation for the soviet spacecraft Cosmos 1374 in the Indian Ocean. The object emerged as a small Lifting Body with fins. This was the first evidence of a soviet shuttle program. Later the world learned that this was a craft called BOR-4 (Unmanned Orbital Rocketplane no 4), a testbed for the larger Spiral shuttle. Four flights were made. The design looked interesting and was copied in the USA and tested in a windtunnel. It showed better performance than the Lifting Bodies of the 1960s. This was the starting point of developing a small shuttle to deliver supply and crews to a space station. Today it is called Dream Chaser and its maiden flight is scheduled for 2022. To be continued …

In 1998 Russia presented a Bor-4 at the Berlin Air Show. (click to enlarge - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)

(click to enlarge - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)

An original soviet drawing of Bor-4, note tiles for heat protection. (click to enlarge - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)

Post 007

(click to see the brochure - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)

Flopped Cooperation Russia/Germany - pt 2 The company OHB near Bremen in northern Germany was so eager to proceed into space, that after the first disaster with a russian partner, they tried again with the Russians (see Post 004). This time the cooperation was targeted to develop a hypersonic demonstrator. This should be the forerunner of a two-stage shuttle with airbreathing engines. A mockup of the demonstrator D2 was presented at the Berlin Air Show in 1998. A russian aircraft Tupolev Tu-22 should carry the D2 to an altitude of 12000 Meter (40000 feet) and launch it there. The D2 was to fly up to a velocity of Mach 6. Again a lot of German money was invested - but no hardware was produced and no flighttests made. OHB proceeded on its way to a spaceflight company. Some of my former colleagues later changed to OHB and are now working in the space business. OHB is today one of the largest space companies in Europe - despite the Russian experience!

Post 008

(click to enlarge - the file may not be modified - commercial use is prohibited.)

The failed Luftwaffe Wooden Wonder During World War 2, the wooden De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito impressed the Luftwaffe very much and so the commander-in-chief, Hermann Goering, ordered a german version to be developed. The chief designer at Focke-Wulf, Kurt Tank, built the Tank Ta 154 also from wood. But the performance does not recommend using it in an air battle. So the prototypes built were used for varying tests and as flight trainers. The example shown below was captured at Lechfeld in southern Germany. There it was most likely used for training future jet pilots.

Posted by Uwe W. Jack