Jet Powered B-26?

[Pelzig]

I was rummaging around NASA's Technical Reports site and ran across a 12/11/1941 report. The abstract reads:

"Martin B-26 Marauder: This Martin B-26 was cracked up at Langley Field during some NACA tests. Langley test pilot Melvin N. Gough is believed to have been flying the aircraft. The accident occurred as a result of failure of the nose wheel to extend. According to the NACA's Albert E. Sherman, Langley was to modify the nacelles of this Martin B-26 for a proposed jet propulsion system. Fair out and extend the nacelle afterbody, seal all the air intakes, and arrange for the exhaust to be discharged from the modified nacelle at the tail opening. Exhaust boilers and jet burners added to the engine and nacelle complete the idea."

The image shows only the crashed B-26 which isn't modified.

Was this ever followed up? Or did it remain just a paper idea?

Cheers!

 

[Tophe]

Was this motorjet (Italian way, with usual propellers) or turbojet (without propellers)? Your words make me wonder.

 

[Pelzig]

Unfortunately, the abstract is all the information given in the NASA archives. I found it again in the records but with a date in 1942 but sadly, the abstract remained the same.

Was this motorjet (Italian way, with usual propellers) or turbojet (without propellers)? Your words make me wonder.

 

[Orionblamblam]

There was a lot of research at the time on how to recover as much kinetic energy as possible from the exhaust of conventional internal combustion piston engines. This undoubtedly was what this is refering to.

 

[AeroFranz]

I'm going to throw my two cents and offer turbocompounding experiments of sticking a turbojet in the aft nacelle (a la XP-67), although from the description given, it could be anything.

 

[Pelzig]

So, basically, the plan was to generate thrust by funneling the exhaust through a duct, inject fuel, and light it?

There was a lot of research at the time on how to recover as much kinetic energy as possible from the exhaust of conventional internal combustion piston engines. This undoubtedly was what this is refering to.

 

[airman]

I wait more info .... ! :

 

[geeshockbloke]

The Royal Aircraft Establishment did it with a Mustang and had plans to do it with a Spitfire to catch V-1s. See BSP.4. Superseded by the gas turbine.

Also planned for aircraft powered by the Rolls-Royce Crecy.

With liquid-cooled engines the air downstream of the radiator was used, so suspect redirected cooling air from an air-cooled engine could be used as well.

Mark

 

[Bailey]

If I am reading it correctly, I think the info can be found here:-

http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4305/ch8.htm

Regards Bailey.

 

[Tophe]

Thanks Bailey, page 235/236 is a picture (of B-26?) with these words:
"According to Sherman's plan for the Martin B-28, Langley was to fair out and extend the nacelle afterbody, seal all the air intakes, and arrange for the exhaust to be discharged from the modified nacelle at the tail opening. Then the lab was to fit exhaust boilers to the engine and install jet burners in the forward part of the nacelle afterbody, which would be provided with a light inner heat-resistant duct extending from the burners to the tail opening."

I don't undestand as I thought the B-28 was not Martin but North American (see http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=2526 ). Mistyping for B-26? That "jet"-B-26 would be confirmed, but the picture seems to illustrate the source for modification, not the modified B-26.

 

[Orionblamblam]

So, basically, the plan was to generate thrust by funneling the exhaust through a duct, inject fuel, and light it?

Generally it was a matter of simply ducting the exhaust properly. No "afterburning" involved, IIRC.

 

[Orionblamblam]

Copied-and-pasted straight out of the NTRS PDFs. If ya can't read it, it may be because your English stinks... but it may also be due to the OCR'ing not being entirely successful

---------------

FLIGHT TESTS OF EXHAUST-GAS JET PROPULSION
By Benjamin Pinkel and L. Richard Turner
Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory
Cleveland, Ohio

sumARY
Flight testg were conducted on the X?-41 airplane,
equipped with a Pratt & Whitney p.1830-19, 14-cYlinder, .
air-cooled en%i.ne, tG dotormine the incroaso in fliqht
speed obtainable by the use of Individual exhaust stacks .
directed rearv~rdly to o%tain exhaust-gas thrust. Speed
increases up to 13 miloo por hour at. 20,000 feet altitude
qero oitainod usinq stackn hn7ing an exit area of 3.42
square inches for each cylinder. A sliqht increase in engine
po~~r aild @bocrecso in cylipd~r temperature at a given
manifold presguro wore obtalnod with tho Individual stacks
as comp.zrcd with a colloctor-rin~ installation. lZxhaustflamc
visibility was quito IOW, particularly in tho rich
ran%o of fuel-a~r ratios.



--------------

Restricted Report 3E21
TESTS OF EXHAUST PROPULSION NOZZLES
By Paul ]. Campbell
United Aircraft C orporation

The thrust produced by a variety of exhaust stacks and
nozzles, and tl"_,eeffect of these stacks and nozzles on the power
of' a single-cylinder R-2800 engi_ie were investigated over a wide
range of engine speeds and manifold pi_essures in. a series of
tests in the Pratt & L_rl'_i'b.'.elxepyeriir, ental test department_ From
the data obtained it is possible to esti:mate the opt_!um form of
r,ozz].es and %_ availab].e thrust for amrplanes __._._e_ _,vi_ilR-2800
e:ugines under sea-IGvel conditiorls,

 

[Stargazer]

OCR... as in Outrageously Complicated to Read!!!

 

[ermeio]

I vaguely remember that a photo and a 3-view drawing of this aircraft has been published some years ago in Le Fanà de L'aviation. I suspect in an april issue, around #100

best regards
ermeio

 

[mz]

If I am reading it correctly, I think the info can be found here:-

http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4305/ch8.htm

Regards Bailey.

It's all there. The "boilers" were for vaporizing the aviation fuel so that when it was injected into the "jet" chamber, it would burn stably and quickly. So this was a motorjet.

Basically this all relates to the story how US aero research somehow totally missed jet engines (real turbojets with a compressor-burner- turbine layout) and was seriously behind the British and Germans. Note how late this is:

In early 1942 Sherman had still believed that "the actual flight application of jet propulsion to the cooling ducts of some of our existing fighter ships" was desirable, "if only for morale and research purposes." The application "could be done in only a few months," he emphasized, "as is indicated by the information that I have already acquired experimentally." Specifically, Sherman had recommended that a twin-engine, high-speed medium bomber-a Martin B-26 Marauder in Langley's test flight fleet-be modified to include the auxiliary jet propulsion system, which the Langley Jeep had proved to be "attractive in all respects." With the afterburner, he had predicted that the top speed of the B-26 could be raised in an emergency from 350 to 400 miles per hour, "with the fuel consumption increased by the order of only 300 percent." The jet's average temperature would be approximately 1700 degrees Fahrenheit, but since the unburned portions of the air would be directed along the walls for cooling, there was no reason to fear overheating.

 

[patflash]

Hello, this will be my first contribution... but marginally related to the topic.

I know for sure a jet B-26 that actually flew. It was used by the french as a testbed for new jet engines. Spectacular intakes were installed on sides of fuselage, the jet engine exhaust replacing tail gunner position. Extensive article can be found in an old "Fanatique de l'Aviation" magazine. If you need it, I'll take some time to grab precise reference, it's buried somewhere deep into the batcave...

 

[Tophe]

from http://www.stratisc.org/Mirage-Triton_8.htm:
(in French: "Les essais en vol sur avion porteur B-26 Marauder permettent, dès l'automne 1950, d'explorer le comportement de l'ATAR en altitude et de commencer à fixer les lois de régulation.")
"In flight tests on B-26 test-plane allow, as soon as 1950 fall, to explore the behaviour of the ATAR jet in altitude and set the regulation laws."

 

[Arjen]

From "Martin Aircraft 1909-1960" by John R Breihan, Stan Piet & Roger S Mason, Narkiewicz//Thompson, 1995

 

[Jemiba]

From Aviation Francaise Magazine N°2, February/March 2005:

 

[Arjen]

I never realised it was also used for Jumo 004 tests. Thanks!

 

[airman]

surely a prototype for jet test !

 

[Arjen]

surely a prototype for jet test !

No contest there.
I did know about this particular aircraft being used for Atar development.
I did not know it was also flown with a Jumo 004. Joy

 

[Vahe Demirjian]

surely a prototype for jet test !

No contest there.
I did know about this particular aircraft being used for Atar development.
I did not know it was also flown with a Jumo 004. Joy

The Wikipedia page about the B-26 mentions a couple of B-26 Marauders being used as testbeds for the SNECMA Atar turbojet. Note that the Atar was a reverse-engineered BMW 003, and that the name ATAR stood for Atelier Technique Aéronautique Rickenbach ("Rickenbach Aeronautical Technical Workshop") because Hermann Oestrich and his team decided to disguise the country of origin for several BMW 003s held in French custody in the French occupation zone in southwest Germany.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Please try to keep Wikipedia links to a minimum. If possible, follow the clues to the actual source.

 

[kocovgoce]

In the period after 1945 most jet engine experiments were to build a hybrid In order to use propeller piston engines for cruising while jet engines for attack or to leave the attacking area quickly.But many of these hybrids were also experimental aircraft in order to see the effect of jet engines which in that period could fail in the flight itself and then came the piston engines as a safety system.

 

[Deltafan]

At the bottom part of this webpage, it's possible to see the XA-26F, testbed for a GE J31 jet engine :

Power plants used by the A/B-26 in research and development (tripod.com)

 

[MATF]

APMA (Australian Plastic Modellers' Association) 1995 Number 4

 

[MATF]

Air International 1988-02 page 92


8981 B-26C 42-107717 F-WEPO Jumo 004 and later SNECMA Atar
8704 B-26G 43-34584 F-WBXM SNECMA Atar