ANT-31
Arado Ar 234 V16 1/48 scale
Product Description
| The Arado Ar 234 V 16 was an interesting prototype developed for testing the revolutionary crescent wing planform designed by Arado´s chief aerodynamicist Rüdiger Kosin. With the crescent wing the Ar 234 V 16 would have had a leading edge sweep of 37° inboard, decreasing in two steps to 25° outboard. Thrust would have been supplied by twin BMW 003 R composite turbines.”R” meaning rocket drive. A single HWK 509 bi-fuel liquid rocket drive had been attached to the 003 to help inproviding additional thrust during take off and/or rapid climb during night fighting. In April 1945 the experimental crescent wing was ready to be attached to the fuselage of the V 16 (Wr.Nr 130026, coded PH+SX), but before that could be accomplished the Arado assembly facility was overrun by British troops and the new wing and the aircraft itself was destroyed during the fighting. However, wind tunnel test data and design plans were salvaged and in 1951 the Handley Page Company of England resurrected the crescent wing idea for use on its Victor bomber. |
