The Cornelius XFG-1 was an American military fuel transporting towed glider, without a tailplane and with a
forward-swept wing
A forward-swept wing is an aircraft wing configuration in which the quarter-chord line of the wing has a forward sweep. Typically, the leading edge also sweeps forward.
Characteristics
The forward-swept configuration has a number of character ...
. Two were built but development ended in 1945.
Design and development
The Cornelius XFG-1, developed under the project designation MX-416
was an aerodynamically unusual aircraft intended for an unusual military role.
George Cornelius had been experimenting with aircraft featuring differentially variable incidence since the 1920s.
His first two machines were otherwise conventional but the third, the
Cornelius Mallard
The Cornelius Mallard was a single-engined light aircraft of very unusual configuration, tailless and with a swept forward wing of variable incidence. It flew between 1943-4.
Design and development
The Mallard was the third aircraft type produce ...
from 1943 was not, being without a horizontal tailplane and having low aspect ratio and strongly forward swept wings. Though very different in detail, the XFG-1 built on the Mallard experience. A 1/4 scale model of the XFG-1 was built for wind tunnel tests.
The ''FG'' in its designation stood for fuel glider and its role was as a fuel transport. It was to be towed behind another aircraft rather like contemporary troop carrying gliders, but its two fuselage tanks held of
avgas
Avgas (aviation gasoline, also known as aviation spirit in the UK) is an aviation fuel used in aircraft with spark-ignited internal combustion engines. ''Avgas'' is distinguished from conventional gasoline (petrol) used in motor vehicles, w ...
.
Unlike other troop carrying gliders, e.g.
Waco CG-4
Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...
, the XFG-1 could be towed by modern bombers or transports at a cruise speed of . Proposals seem to have included a piloted tow version behind a large transport, the glider landing loaded on skids having jettisoned its wheels after takeoff; or a pilot-less version towed behind a B-29 bomber, disconnected and abandoned after fuel transfer was completed;
the intent of the scheme being for the glider to act, essentially, as a giant, winged
drop tank
In aviation, a drop tank (external tank, wing tank or belly tank) is used to describe auxiliary fuel tanks externally carried by aircraft. A drop tank is expendable and often capable of being jettisoned. External tanks are commonplace on modern ...
for extending the range of the towing aircraft.
The XFG-1 was a high-wing monoplane, its wing set far back towards its vertical stabilizer. The wing was quite high aspect ratio and of modest forward sweep. Though the earlier Cornelius aircraft had wings that had their incidence variable in the air, the incidence on the XFG-1 could only be adjusted on the ground, with two settings of 3˚ and 7˚.
There was no horizontal tail. It had a simple fixed tricycle undercarriage and a conventional single seat cockpit; two examples of the type were built.
Operational history
Two prototypes were built (44-28059 and 44-28060) and 32 flights were made between them in 1944–45,
although the first was lost to a spin, killing the pilot. On many of the flights, but not the fatal one, the pilot was Alfred Reitherman.
The fuel glider concept was abandoned at the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Specifications (XFG-1)
References
Further reading
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External links
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{{US glider aircraft
1940s United States military transport aircraft
1940s United States military gliders
Aircraft first flown in 1944
FG-1
Forward-swept-wing aircraft
Tailless aircraft