The I.Ae. 30 "Ñancú" was an
Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
twin
piston engine
A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is typically a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common featu ...
d
fighter designed by the ''
Instituto Aerotécnico'' (AeroTechnical Institute) in the late 1940s, similar to the
de Havilland Hornet,
["Aviation 1806–1982."](_blank)
''militariarg.com.'' Retrieved: 14 August 2010. but made of metal rather than wood. Only one prototype was completed; the project was abandoned in favour of the
FMA I.Ae. 27 Pulqui I
The I.Ae. 27 Pulqui I was an Argentine jet designed at the " Instituto Aerotecnico" (AeroTechnical Institute) in 1946. Only one prototype was completed; unsatisfactory performance led to the aircraft being superseded by a later design.
Design ...
jet aircraft.
Design and development
The I.Ae. 30 "Ñancú", named after an indigenous eagle of
Patagonia, was designed by
Italian engineer
Cesare Pallavicino
Cesare Pallavicino (Rome, 1893 - Bergamo, 1976) was an Italian aeronautical engineer, heading the design department at Caproni from 1935 to 1941. He designed several important Italian aircraft, including the Breda Ba.15, Breda Ba.18, Breda Ba.1 ...
, who had come to Argentina in 1946. Pallavicino led a team of Argentine technicians and engineers in developing the concept of a high-speed escort fighter, intended to be operated in conjunction with the
Avro Lincoln
The Avro Type 694 Lincoln is a British four-engined heavy bomber, which first flew on 9 June 1944. Developed from the Avro Lancaster, the first Lincoln variants were initially known as the Lancaster IV and V; these were renamed Lincoln I and ...
bombers used in the
Argentine Air Force.
The I.Ae. 30 had a metal structure, its powerplants consisted of two
Rolls-Royce Merlin 604 engines, each developing 1,800 hp at 3,000 RPM, and four-bladed
propeller
A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...
s. The armament would consist of six 20 mm
Oerlikon automatic cannons mounted in the nose, although later plans called for 20 mm
Hispano-Suiza cannons as well as a 250 kg bomb under the fuselage and two batteries of five 83 mm rockets fitted underneath the wings. Nevertheless, the prototypes were unarmed.
By the end of 1947, a contract was received for the first of three projected prototypes. On 9 June 1948 the first prototype was ready for ground tests and on 17 July 1948, the I.Ae. 30 took to the air for the first time, piloted by Captain Edmundo Osvaldo Weiss.
Operational history
The test results proved that the aircraft possessed good flying characteristics as well as meeting performance specifications. During a cross country flight, from
Córdoba to
Buenos Aires, the Ñancú reached a level speed of 780 km/h, setting a new piston-engined speed record in South America, an achievement that has not been surpassed. Although the prototype was achieving design goals, the Fuerza Aérea Argentina was already considering the
jet
Jet, Jets, or The Jet(s) may refer to:
Aerospace
* Jet aircraft, an aircraft propelled by jet engines
** Jet airliner
** Jet engine
** Jet fuel
* Jet Airways, an Indian airline
* Wind Jet (ICAO: JET), an Italian airline
* Journey to Enceladus a ...
I.Ae. 27 Pulqui I
The I.Ae. 27 Pulqui I was an Argentine jet designed at the " Instituto Aerotecnico" (AeroTechnical Institute) in 1946. Only one prototype was completed; unsatisfactory performance led to the aircraft being superseded by a later design.
Design ...
as their future fighter program.
With official interest diminishing, in early 1949, the sole flying prototype was badly damaged in a landing accident when test pilot Carlos Fermín Bergaglio misjudged a landing and crashed. Although the pilot was uninjured and the aircraft could have been repaired, the
Fabrica Militar de Aviones made a decision to abandon the project with the wrecked prototype, as well as the two unfinished prototypes still at the factory being scrapped.
Variants
;I.Ae 30 Ñancú:
Fighter/
Interceptor
Interceptor may refer to:
Vehicles
* Interceptor aircraft (or simply "interceptor"), a type of point defense fighter aircraft designed specifically to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft
* Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, a police car
* ...
/
Heavy fighter/
Attacker variant, three prototypes built, one tested and crashed, two incomplete airframes later scrapped after the program was cancelled.
;I.Ae.30 Pallavicino I: Jet modification of the IAe-30 Ñancú, also designed by
Cesare Pallavicino
Cesare Pallavicino (Rome, 1893 - Bergamo, 1976) was an Italian aeronautical engineer, heading the design department at Caproni from 1935 to 1941. He designed several important Italian aircraft, including the Breda Ba.15, Breda Ba.18, Breda Ba.1 ...
, was to be a single-seat
fighter plane in a class similar to the one of the Gloster Meteor. It featured the same fuselage as the normal IAe.30 Ñancú but its inline engine nacelles were replaced with jet engine nacelles each having a
Rolls-Royce Derwent engine each producing 3.500 lb static thrust. Its cockpit was replaced with a lengthened one featuring a full metal nose instead of the glazed nose of the Ñancú. It was to have four
20 mm Hispano-Suiza autocannon
An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary shells, as opposed to the smaller-caliber kinetic projectiles (bull ...
s "in" the nose instead of the 6 20 mm autocannons featured on the Ñancú which were located "beneath" the nose. None built.
;I.Ae.30 Pallavicino II: Similar to the Pallavicino I but it featured lengthened swept wings and a more square looking tail. It was to be a
light bomber
A light bomber is a relatively small and fast type of military bomber aircraft that was primarily employed before the 1950s. Such aircraft would typically not carry more than one ton of ordnance.
The earliest light bombers were intended to dro ...
/
attacker with two crew: a pilot and a navigator. The navigator was to be seated either in a glazed nose or behind the pilot (then with a solid nose). Armament included four 20mm Hispano-Suiza autocannons and two bombs of 900 or 1,000 kg each in an internal bomb bay. It could also carry twenty 75mm air-to-ground rockets. None built.
Specifications (I.Ae. 30)
See also
Notes
Bibliography
* ''Aero Fan'' n. 61 (in Italian), April–June 1997.
"Article online on the 75th Anniversary of the 'Fabrica Militar de Aviones'. ''aeroespacio.com,'' Buenos Aires: Aerospacio, 2002.
* Burzaco, Ricardo. ''Las Alas de Perón: Aeronaútica Argentina 1945/1960'' . New York: Ed. Da Vinci, 1995. .
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External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:I.Ae. 30 Nancu
1940s Argentine fighter aircraft
Abandoned military aircraft projects of Argentina
FMA aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1948
Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft