Strange Old Idea

[hesham]

Hi,

we discussed this strange idea before and Convair had something like this,by using
rail-car to launch airplane;
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,25508.msg259229.html#msg259229

here is an oldest one as I know;

http://www.deutsches-museum.de/fileadmin/Content/data/Insel/Information/KT/heftarchiv/1984/8-3-166.pdf

 

[LowObservable]

That is flat-out loony.

 

[Stargazer]

Was this really to launch the plane, or simply the ancestor of wind-tunnel research? I know that such research is still performed nowadays by Scaled Composites, for instance.

 

[Grey Havoc]

Observation plane setup for armoured trains?

 

[mz]

Was this really to launch the plane, or simply the ancestor of wind-tunnel research? I know that such research is still performed nowadays by Scaled Composites, for instance.

Yeah it seems to be for testing, the last Flugzeugversuchsfahrzeug is just directly translated as "airplane test vehicle".

 

[Bill Walker]

Of course, you are limited to surface pressure conditions using a train.

 

[hesham]

Of course, you are limited to surface pressure conditions using a train.

Nice Photo Bill.

 

[Jemiba]

Skyblazer got it absolutely right, this has nothing to do with launching aircraft, but with
aerodynamic testing only. Just looking at the photos in the linked document from the
Deutschen Museum München (German Museum Munich) already makes it clear, I think.
An interesting document, explaining that aerodynamic research wasn't limited to aviation,
not even before WW II.
And again, if there are documents, sites or other sources, you cannot read, please ask someone
who can ! It's a pity if others are set on the wrong track, or, even worse, if "facts" are created
this way, that in the end are just nonsense.

 

[hesham]

My dear Jemiba,

I didn't mean it,I thought it was like this;
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,25508.msg259229.html#msg259229

 

[moin1900]

Hi
Some more infos about the german rocket powered Magnetschwebewagen.
Speed 1800km/h !
http://www.technikatlas.de/~ta3/schall/schall.htm
Magnetschwebewagen with Me-163
http://www.dlr.de/100Jahre/DesktopDefault.aspx/tabid-3304/5153_read-7464/gallery-1/gallery_read-Image.37.3255/

 

[martinbayer]

Going a bit on a tangent here, looking at the travel velocity of an average freight train versus the required takeoff speed of a fixed wing aircraft, there are a few airplanes that could probably pull off a stunt like taking off from an actual moving flatbed car without a catapult. One of them would be the Fieseler Storch or one of its carbon copies like the MS-500 series that had folding wings to permit rail transportation by allowing them to pass through tunnels. In my impressionable youth I always fancied it would been a nice means of escape in a period action movie for the hero (and, if need be, his female interest ;D) from a train - I imagine that at the right speed the plane would pretty much be able take off vertically relative to the train once the wings are unfolded and any restraints released.

Martin

 

[Dynoman]

It was actually a great idea for the time! A captive flight system that could be used to validate aerodynamics during the take off, landing and for many of these early aircraft, the cruise phases of flight. Remembering that steam powered engines operated between 40-65 mph during the same era in which light aircraft typically flew between 40-100 mph. Captive-inactive tests of aerodynamic forces and moments on the aircraft, visual flow using tufts and smoke, structural integrity, flutter, etc., could have been accomplished using the freight car as a moving laboratory with force and pressure gauges to measure lift and pressures along the surfaces. Captive-active tests with a pilot on board could have been used to test flight controls, stick forces, etc.

The problems were probably practical ones, such as not enough quality rail road track to operate at 40+ mph in 1918, the motion of the train and disturbances to the test instrumentation, mounting the aircraft and re-instrumenting it between tests. Once a plane has reached full-scale development it was probably easier to validate the aircraft and its systems by free-flight testing the aircraft instead. Ultimately, as aircraft takeoff and flight speeds increased they would outstrip even the fastest locomotives of the era.

The visualization of smoke coming from the trains engine and the flow patterns they made around the aircraft must have made for some interesting pictures! ???