The Payen PA-22 was a French

experimental aircraft An experimental aircraft is an aircraft intended for testing new aerospace technologies and design concepts. The term ''research aircraft'' or ''testbed aircraft'', by contrast, generally denotes aircraft modified to perform scientific studies, ...

Nicolas Roland Payen Nicolas Roland Payen (2 February 1914 in Athis-Mons, France – 8 December 2004) was a French aeronautical engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two ...

. The aircraft had an unconventional design: it had a set of

delta wing A delta wing is a wing shaped in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta (Δ). Although long studied, it did not find significant applications until the Jet Age, when it proved suitabl ...

s, in front of which were a set of short conventional wings. It had a fixed front landing gear and the cockpit was further back than usual.

Design and development

In 1935 the prolific aircraft designer Roland Payen developed a radical tandem-wing configuration aircraft which he dubbed the "Fléchair" (Arrow). The PA 22/1R was to be powered by an early form of

ramjet A ramjet, or athodyd (aero thermodynamic duct), is a form of airbreathing jet engine that uses the forward motion of the engine to produce thrust. Since it produces no thrust when stationary (no ram air) ramjet-powered vehicles require an ass ...

known as the Melot 1R engine. This design was to participate in the 1939 Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe air race. Unfortunately the Melot engine was not able to develop the required thrust and the 1939 Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe was cancelled due to the start 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 ...

.Payen PA-22 / PA-112
All-Aero.com. Retrieved April 11, 2015 Payen redesigned the aircraft around a Regnier 180 hp 6B-01 six-cylinder, air-cooled inverted in-line engine, which was designated PA 22/2, and was completed in 1939. During its testing in the

wind tunnel Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...

Chalais-Meudon Chalais-Meudon is an aeronautical research and development centre in Meudon, to the south-west of Paris. It was originally founded in 1793 in the nearby Château de Meudon and has played an important role in the development of French aviation. B ...

(Paris), the Germans invaded France and confiscated it. The German occupation forces were intrigued by the design and completed the wind tunnel testing. Redesignated the PA 22 V5, painted in German colors and coded BI+XB, the aircraft was transferred to Villacoublay. In October 1942 Payen's test pilot Jacques Charpantier, completed the first flight. A flight test program was started, but before it was completed Payen convinced the German authorities that modifications were necessary and had the prototype returned to his factory at Juvisy. Improvements including a variable-pitch propeller and supplementary fuel tanks were started but in 1943 an Allied air raid on the Juvisy railway yard also struck the factory, destroying the PA 22.

Specifications

Payen_Pa-112_3-view_L'Aerophile_October_1938

References

Bibliography

* * {{Payen aircraft PA22 1940s French experimental aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Tandem-wing aircraft Delta-wing aircraft

Design and development

Specifications

See also

References

Bibliography