Edgar Brooks
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« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2011, 11:20:33 PM » |
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1942 is a bit early, according to my information; a rear view fuselage, for the VIII, was discussed, in the Local Technical Committee, 26-1-43, and JF299 was modified, with trials undertaken at Boscombe Down from 16-9-43. Further discussions took place in the L.T.C. 11-1-44, this time including the IX & XIV; at that time it looks as though the VIII was dropped from the equation (maybe not needed in the Med?) Finding out what, and why, things happened, isn't easy, but, so far, I've found that a decision was taken, to fit fuselage tanks behind the pilot, in all IXs & XVIs, in late 1944, but this was immediately challenged, due to the degredation of performance, at height, which was going to be vital, if, as expected, jets were going to be encountered at around 30,000'. It appears (no proof yet) that it was decided to keep the mods to low-level Marks (which included the R.V. XVI & IX,) and this delayed things even more, since the tanks meant that the wings had to be converted to "E" configuration, since the compressed-air bottles were displaced, and had to go into compartments formerly occupied by 2 .303". The other two compartments were "highjacked" by an extra pair of oxygen bottles, needed for the longer flights. The IID gyro gunsight was now available, but the "black boxes" had to be fitted before the tanks (another delay,) and the extra weight also meant that the aircraft had to have metal elevators. It's possible (again, no proof) that the XVIs had the altered u/c tracking, so needing more wing mods, and definitely needed stronger (4-spoke) wheels to cope with the under-wing bombs (more mods needed for the fittings.) All of this meant that the R.V. airframes weren't cleared for service until January (at the earliest) 1945. Edgar
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