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43-661: The Loose Special is a small single seat racer with conventional landing gear and a cable-braced mid-wing . The engine was replaced with an 85 hp (63 kW) Continental to compete in the Formula One air races . The Loose Special participated in 1933, 1935 and 1938 air races. In the 1948 Goodyear Formula One Air Races pilot Earl Ortman placed fourth at a speed of 127.339 mph (205 km/h). Data from Skyways, Flying General characteristics Performance Conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear , or tailwheel-type landing gear ,

86-634: A wartime fighter jet project performed on behalf of the Royal Air Force (RAF). Many of the design's key features and performance requirements were stipulated under Specification E.10/44 (the E standing for experimental) issued by the Air Ministry during 1944, which had called for the development of a jet fighter furnished with a laminar flow wing and a single jet engine. In response, British aircraft manufacturer Supermarine decided to produce their own submission, which involved designing

129-743: A brand new fuselage, complete with bifurcated intakes to provide airflow to the Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet engine powering the type. This fuselage was mated with the pre-existing laminar flow straight wings which had been designed for the Supermarine Spiteful , a piston-engined fighter that had been intended to replace the Supermarine Spitfire . Joe Smith presented the Type 392 for consideration and three prototypes (TS409, TS413 and TS416) were ordered. Prior to

172-415: A conventional geared aircraft can be accomplished in two ways. Normal landings are done by touching all three wheels down at the same time in a three-point landing . This method does allow the shortest landing distance but can be difficult to carry out in crosswinds, as rudder control may be reduced severely before the tailwheel can become effective. The alternative is the wheel landing . This requires

215-528: A new fuselage for the Rolls-Royce Nene engine. Performing its maiden flight on 27 July 1946, the flight testing phase of development was protracted due to several issues, including handling difficulties. The first Attackers were introduced to FAA service in August 1951. Common to the majority of other first-generation jet fighters , the Attacker had a relatively short service life before being replaced; this

258-460: A range of extensive modifications to be made to the design, including a revised fin and tailplane arrangement, as well as an increased internal fuel capacity. Accordingly, a large external ventral fuel tank was adopted, along with an extended dorsal fin and folding wing tips. Flight testing was largely conducted at Supermarine's newly created experimental establishment at the former RAF Chilbolton . The Attacker had several deficiencies, one of which

301-478: A single wheel, retractable or fixed, centered under the fuselage, which is referred to as monowheel gear or monowheel landing gear . Monowheel gear is also used on some powered aircraft, where drag reduction is a priority, such as the Europa XS . Monowheel power aircraft use retractable wingtip legs (with small castor wheels attached) to prevent the wingtips from striking the ground. A monowheel aircraft may have

344-650: A tailwheel (like the Europa) or a nosewheel (like the Schleicher ASK 23 glider). Taildragger aircraft require more training time for student pilots to master. This was a large factor in the 1950s switch by most manufacturers to nosewheel-equipped trainers, and for many years nosewheel aircraft have been more popular than taildraggers. As a result, most Private Pilot Licence (PPL) pilots now learn to fly in tricycle gear aircraft (e.g. Cessna 172 or Piper Cherokee ) and only later transition to taildraggers. Landing

387-660: A variant of the Attacker known as the Type 538 , which was essentially a "de-navalised" variant of the aircraft used by the FAA. Pakistan received its first Attackers in 1951, with deliveries eventually reaching 36 units. Only a single squadron was ever equipped with these aircraft, an interceptor unit, the No. 11 Squadron , with the Attackers also equipping the PAF's first aerial display team,

430-511: A wartime requirement for the RAF, it was not introduced until the early 1950s, and was ultimately developed for use aboard aircraft carriers . For a jet aircraft, the Attacker's design was unusual, with a tail-dragger undercarriage with twin tailwheels, as well as an un swept wing . The flight controls were relatively conventional, based on those of the Spiteful. The forward position of the cockpit

473-470: Is a British single-seat naval jet fighter designed and produced by aircraft manufacturer Supermarine for the Royal Navy 's Fleet Air Arm (FAA). It was the first jet fighter to enter operational service with the FAA. In order to rapidly introduce jet aircraft to Navy service, Supermarine proposed using the wing developed for their most advanced piston-powered design, the Supermarine Spiteful , with

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516-622: Is also used on some tricycle gear aircraft, with the nosewheel being the freely castering wheel instead. Like the steerable tailwheel/skid, it is usually integrated with the rudder pedals on the craft to allow an easy transition between wheeled and aerodynamic control. The tailwheel configuration offers several advantages over the tricycle landing gear arrangement, which make tailwheel aircraft less expensive to manufacture and maintain. The conventional landing gear arrangement has disadvantages compared to nosewheel aircraft. Jet aircraft generally cannot use conventional landing gear, as this orients

559-403: Is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail. The term taildragger is also used. The term "conventional" persists for historical reasons, but all modern jet aircraft and most modern propeller aircraft use tricycle gear . In early aircraft, a tailskid made of metal or wood was used to support

602-517: The Camel fighter) were equipped with steerable tailskids, which operate similar to a tailwheel. When the pilot pressed the right rudder pedal — or the right footrest of a "rudder bar" in World War I — the skid pivoted to the right, creating more drag on that side of the plane and causing it to turn to the right. While less effective than a steerable wheel, it gave the pilot some control of the direction

645-571: The "Paybills". No. 11 Squadron's Attackers remained operational for seven years with the last examples withdrawn from service in 1956 when they were replaced with the North American F-86F Sabres . Officially, the Attacker remained in Pakistani service until 1958, although some sources claim the aircraft were still being used as late as 1964. Following its retirement from service in 1956, Attacker F.1 Serial number WA473

688-571: The Attacker remained in service with squadrons of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR), the type being finally taken out of reserve service during early 1957. During the early 1950s, the Royal Pakistan Air Force (RPAF) sought to acquire its first-ever jet-powered aircraft. A combination of a lack of funds and political pressure that was exerted by British suppliers persuaded the service to acquire

731-595: The British Supermarine Attacker naval fighter and the Soviet Yakovlev Yak-15 . Both first flew in 1946 and owed their configurations to being developments of earlier propeller powered aircraft. The Attacker's tailwheel configuration was a result of it using the Supermarine Spiteful 's wing, avoiding expensive design modification or retooling. The engine exhaust was behind the elevator and tailwheel, reducing problems. The Yak-15

774-519: The FAA, a total of 146 production Attackers would be delivered to the service. It had a relatively brief career with the FAA, none of its variants seeing any action during the type's service life with the FAA and being taken out of first-line service during 1954. The type had been replaced in front line squadrons by multiple more capable jet-propelled fighters, including the Hawker Sea Hawk and de Havilland Sea Venom . For several further years,

817-427: The FAA; the first squadron to receive production aircraft was 800 Naval Air Squadron , based at RNAS Ford . Following the introduction of the Attacker F.1, two further variants of the aircraft were developed and produced for the FAA. The Attacker FB.1 was a fighter-bomber that differed little from the original F.1 model, except that it was expected to operate as a ground attack aircraft . The third, and last, variant

860-525: The Meteor had performed its first flight. During November 1949, production orders on behalf of the FAA were received by Supermarine. On 5 May 1950, the first production variant of the aircraft, designated Attacker F.1 , performed its first flight; one year later, deliveries of the type commenced. The Supermarine Attacker was a navalised jet-propelled fighter aircraft, the first jet-powered aircraft to be introduced into FAA service. While originally designed to

903-471: The RAF and the remaining 18 (to Specification E1/45 ) for the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), was placed. Handling problems with the Spiteful prototype delayed progress on the jet-powered version, leading to the pre-production order of 24 being stopped, although work on the three prototypes continued. In January 1945 Supermarine had been ordered to stop work on their Seagull air-sea rescue amphibian and give

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946-547: The RAF's first two operational jet aircraft. Following the design's rejection by the RAF, Supermarine decided to approach the Admiralty with an offer of developing a navalised version of the project. On 27 July 1946, the maiden flight of the type was performed by prototype Type 392 serial number TS409 , a land-based version, by test pilot Jeffrey Quill . The Air Ministry issued Specification E.1/45 to cover production aircraft; meeting its various requirements necessitated

989-559: The Type 392 maximum priority. Due to the delay, the FAA instead ordered a batch of 18 de Havilland Vampire Mk. 20s for the purpose of gaining experience with jet aircraft. After evaluating both the Jet Spiteful and the E.1/44, the RAF decided to reject both designs since neither aircraft offered any perceptible performance advantage over contemporary fighters such as the Gloster Meteor and the de Havilland Vampire, which were

1032-434: The craft was moving while taxiing or beginning the takeoff run, before there was enough airflow over the rudder for it to become effective. Another form of control, which is less common now than it once was, is to steer using " differential braking ", in which the tailwheel is a simple, freely castering mechanism, and the aircraft is steered by applying brakes to one of the mainwheels in order to turn in that direction. This

1075-462: The design being officially named Attacker , the aircraft had was referred to as the "Jet Spiteful" with "Jet Seafang" for a naval version. E.10/44, (issued February 1945 ) specified a maximum speed of 550 mph (885 km/h) up to 30,000 ft (9,100 m). As originally intended, the Type 392 was supposed to provide an interim jet fighter to equip the RAF while another aircraft, the Gloster E.1/44 , that

1118-520: The engines at a high angle, causing their jet blast to bounce off the ground and back into the air, preventing the elevators from functioning properly. This problem occurred with the third, or "V3" prototype of the German Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter. After the first four prototype Me 262 V-series airframes were built with retracting tailwheel gear, the fifth prototype was fitted with fixed tricycle landing gear for trials, with

1161-454: The intake had several louvres to regulate pressures during starting; they automatically closed to seal the engine bay after starting. The engine bay incorporated a pilot-operated fire extinguisher system. Although an automatic fuel transfer system was not originally incorporated, experience with the initial prototypes led to its incorporation. In terms of armament, the Attacker F.1 had four 20 mm (.79 in) Hispano Mk. V cannon ; at

1204-472: The laminar flow predicted from wind tunnel tests. Flight attributed the laminar-flow wing to enabling the Attacker to exceed the maximum speed of the Spiteful by more than 100 mph. However, other reports claim that the Attacker's wing was aerodynamically inferior to the original elliptical wing of the Spitfire, possessing unfavourable characteristics such as a lower critical Mach number . The Attacker

1247-622: The pilot to land the aircraft on the mainwheels while maintaining the tailwheel in the air with elevator to keep the angle of attack low. Once the aircraft has slowed to a speed that can ensure control will not be lost, but above the speed at which rudder effectiveness is lost, then the tailwheel is lowered to the ground. Examples of tailwheel aircraft include: Several aftermarket modification companies offer kits to convert many popular nose-wheel equipped aircraft to conventional landing gear. Aircraft for which kits are available include: Supermarine Attacker The Supermarine Attacker

1290-616: The sixth prototype onwards getting fully retracting tricycle gear. A number of other experimental and prototype jet aircraft had conventional landing gear, including the first successful jet, the Heinkel He 178 , the Ball-Bartoe Jetwing research aircraft, and a single Vickers VC.1 Viking , which was modified with Rolls-Royce Nene engines to become the world's first jet airliner. Rare examples of jet-powered tailwheel aircraft that went into production and saw service include

1333-443: The tail on the ground. In most modern aircraft with conventional landing gear, a small articulated wheel assembly is attached to the rearmost part of the airframe in place of the skid. This wheel may be steered by the pilot through a connection to the rudder pedals, allowing the rudder and tailwheel to move together. Before aircraft commonly used tailwheels, many aircraft (like a number of First World War Sopwith aircraft, such as

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1376-435: The time, this was viewed as the standard armament for a frontline RAF fighter. These cannon were fired using electronically operated Maxifiux-Star units. The inboard cannon had a maximum capacity of 167 rounds of ammunition each, while the outboard cannon had up to 145 rounds each. External stores included two 1,000 lb bombs or four 300 lb rockets . During August 1951, the Attacker entered operational service with

1419-492: The top and bottom, with no stiffening members; it gave armour protection to the pilot and carried pressurisation loads. The tip of the nose was detachable to accommodate a gun camera or ballast ; between this and the cockpit was an avionics bay. Aft of the cockpit was the semi- monocoque fuel tank, followed by the engine bay. In terms of its aerodynamics, the Attacker was well streamlined, described by Flight as being "perhaps more perfect than any other fighter". The fuselage

1462-469: The wing was largely unchanged from the Spiteful, save for being slightly enlarged to match the bigger Attacker. It used split flaps along the trailing edge , as well as slotted ailerons and electrically operated trim tabs . With a single main spar and one auxiliary spar, the wing was bolted directly onto stub spar booms as there was no centre-section. The exterior skins were flush- riveted and manufactured with considerable care in an attempt to achieve

1505-445: Was also powered by the same Rolls-Royce Nene engine, completed development; the expectation was that, with the wing already designed, the remaining work required for the aircraft would be completed quickly. On 30 August 1944, an order for three prototypes was placed with Supermarine; it was stipulated that the second and third prototypes were both to be navalised . On 7 July 1945, a follow-on order for 24 pre-production aircraft, six for

1548-530: Was based on the Yakovlev Yak-3 propeller fighter. Its engine was mounted under the forward fuselage. Despite its unusual configuration, the Yak-15 was easy to fly. Although a fighter, it was mainly used as a trainer aircraft to prepare Soviet pilots for flying more advanced jet fighters. A variation of the taildragger layout is the monowheel landing gear . To minimize drag, many modern gliders have

1591-437: Was continuously curved with no straight lines. It was shaped to have some of the wing's laminar flow characteristics and its lines were interrupted only by the faired cockpit canopy and the engine air intakes on either side of the cockpit. The intakes diverted the front fuselage boundary layer to prevent it entering the engine; tests with the diverters faired-over gave reduced engine performance including thrust. The design of

1634-424: Was due to increasingly advanced aircraft harnessing the jet engine being rapidly developed during the 1950s and 1960s. Despite its retirement from front line service by the FAA during 1954, only three years following its introduction, the Attacker would be adopted by the newly formed Pakistan Air Force , who would continue to operate the type possibly as late as 1964. The origins of the Attacker can be traced back to

1677-520: Was neither the only nor the first jet aircraft to be equipped with such an undercarriage, which was also used on the experimental Heinkel He 178 and several early Messerschmitt Me 262 aircraft. The chief designer at Vickers-Supermarine, Mr. Joseph Smith, claimed that testing had validated the performance of the tail-dragger undercarriage as acceptable. On 17 June 1947, the first navalised prototype, Type 398 TS413 , conducted its first flight, flown by test pilot Mike Lithgow ; occurring four years after

1720-548: Was powered by a single Rolls-Royce Nene Mk. 101 turbojet engine; at the time, the Nene was the most powerful jet engine in the world, with a thrust of 5,000 lb. The engine was supported by a heavy box-section rear spar frame, which was braced fore and aft to the main spar. As the jet-pipe was relatively long, a manually operated variable exhaust outlet was used during engine starting to prevent jet-pipe resonances and excessive turbine temperatures. The exterior skin surrounding

1763-534: Was the Attacker FB.2 , which was powered by a more capable model of the Nene engine that was accompanied by various modifications to its structure. On this model, the Supermarine Attacker was furnished with a total of eight underwing hard points , which could carry a pair of 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs or a maximum of eight unguided rockets . Across the three variants to be adopted by

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1806-560: Was using the Spiteful tail-wheel undercarriage rather than a nose-wheel undercarriage, a configuration that resulted in the Attacker being considerably more difficult to land on an aircraft carrier . According to aviation author Bill Gunston, this tail-dragger undercarriage meant that, when operating from grass airfields, the jet exhaust would create a long furrow in the ground that "three men could lie down in". However, according to aviation periodical Flight , claims of scorched or ploughed surfaces, even grass, were exaggerated. The Attacker

1849-417: Was well-received, and provided an exceptionally good view for the pilot. The Attacker had a relatively strong structure, making extensive use of heavy-gauge materials, principally aluminium alloy , which were used with stressed-skin construction and supported by 24 closely spaced stringers and formers . The nose had an unusual lobster-claw structure, comprising thick laminated aluminium-alloy sheet at

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