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The Focke-Wulf Fw 159 was an experimental
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
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**Ge ...
fighter of the 1930s, designed by Kurt Tank
Kurt Waldemar Tank (24 February 1898 – 5 June 1983) was a German aeronautical engineer and test pilot who led the design department at Focke-Wulf from 1931 to 1945. He was responsible for the creation of several important Luftwaffe aircraft of ...
which never reached production, as it was considered inferior to the He 112 and Bf 109
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War an ...
. It was a heavier variant of the Focke-Wulf Fw 56, with several improvements, such as a retractable landing gear and enclosed cockpit.
Design and development
The Focke-Wulf company designed the aircraft as one of the four entries for the ''Rüstungsflugzeug'' IV ("Armed Aircraft IV") 1934 fighter competition. Its parasol wing configuration was based on the company's successful trainer product, the Focke-Wulf Fw 56 ''Stösser'', and it used a Junkers Jumo 210 engine. The plane had an enclosedcockpit
A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a pilot controls the aircraft.
The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls that e ...
and a rearward-retracting lever-action suspension main undercarriage which retracted completely into the lower fuselage
The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...
. This mechanism was complicated, fragile and endlessly troublesome. The first prototype
A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and software programming. A prototype is generally used to ...
, the Fw-159 V1, was ready in the spring of 1935 but was destroyed when it crash-landed following the failure of the main undercarriage to deploy properly.
The second prototype, the V2, had a reinforced undercarriage. The general flight characteristics were good but the rate of climb and rate of turn were unsatisfactory, and the aircraft suffered greater drag than its competitors in the contest, the Arado Ar 80
The Arado Ar 80 was a pre- World War II fighter aircraft, designed by Arado Flugzeugwerke to compete for the ''Luftwaffe''s first major fighter contract. The Ar 80 was uninspiring in terms of performance and also suffered a number of failures. T ...
, Heinkel He 112 and Messerschmitt Bf 109. The competition was won by the Bf 109.
Specifications (V2)
See also
References
External links
* * * {{RLM aircraft designations 1930s German fighter aircraft Fw 159 Single-engined tractor aircraft Parasol-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1935