Author Topic: Heston Type 9 "Adder"  (Read 15265 times)

Offline perttime

  • The man has produced a Finnish Napier Heston Fighter...need we say more?
Heston Type 9 "Adder"
« on: June 10, 2013, 04:04:43 AM »
Some background:

German forces were defeated in the Ardennes in 1940, and Nazi Germany was defeated by the end of 1941. The expansionism of the Soviet Union was seen as the next major threat and Western Europe united to put an end to it. That fight was not over so quickly....
Some more on that history in my "Erryplanes" thread

On 12 May 1944, the British Air Ministry requested proposals for single seat fighters powered with a single Rolls-Royce Derwent turbojet. To save time, Heston Aircraft based their new design on the successful Basilisk piston-engined fighter (itself developed from the Heston Dragon interceptor).

The piston engine was removed and the jet engine mounted underneath the forward fuselage so that its exhaust exited underneath the middle of the fuselage. To protect the fuselage, a steel heatshield was added to its bottom.
---

Below are the earlier Heston fighter designs, and my first lines for turning the Basilisk into an Adder.
« Last Edit: June 17, 2013, 09:48:26 PM by perttime »

Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder"
« Reply #1 on: June 10, 2013, 04:07:09 AM »
Interesting...
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline father ennis

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Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder"
« Reply #2 on: June 10, 2013, 06:55:08 AM »
Very Kool ... !!!!!!
I may be old but I'm not dead ... yet anyway ... !!!    And NO I did not know Richard III !!!!!!

Offline perttime

  • The man has produced a Finnish Napier Heston Fighter...need we say more?
Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder"
« Reply #3 on: June 10, 2013, 07:09:46 PM »
With a bit of color and a cockpit...


Offline perttime

  • The man has produced a Finnish Napier Heston Fighter...need we say more?
Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder"
« Reply #4 on: June 10, 2013, 08:42:34 PM »
A little more paint and a top view:

Offline perttime

  • The man has produced a Finnish Napier Heston Fighter...need we say more?
Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder" - the 1945 prototype
« Reply #5 on: June 10, 2013, 10:59:49 PM »
On 12 May 1944, the British Air Ministry requested proposals for single seat fighters, powered with a single Rolls-Royce Derwent turbojet. To save time, Heston Aircraft's chief designer George Cornwall based his new design on the successful Basilisk piston-engined fighter (itself developed from the Heston Dragon interceptor).

The piston engine was removed and the jet engine mounted underneath the forward fuselage so that its exhaust exited underneath the middle of the fuselage. The aircraft's nose was recontoured to allow for the engine placement, the armament of four 20 mm guns, and an additional fuel tank. In the tail, the ducting for the radiator of the piston-engined Heston fighters was removed, allowing a slimmer tail cross section. No changes were made to the wings other than the elimination of the air intakes, and reshaping of the front spar to clear the engine. The vertical stabilizer was redesigned to keep its bottom end out of the blast of the engine, and its top part was correspondingly enlarged. To protect the fuselage, a steel heatshield was added to its bottom.

Taxi tests began in November 1944, but the heatshield proved to be too short and the heat from the engine exhaust scorched the surface of the rear fuselage as well as the rubber tire of the tailwheel. Modifications to rectify the problems took until January 1945. The first prototype was ready for flight testing on 11 February, followed by a second one in April.

The tests revealed a number of problems: the engine exhaust damaged the surface of the airfield, the cockpit sometimes filled with smoke from oil that had dripped onto the engine, and the aircraft was short-ranged. However, the aircraft now named "Adder" proved to be easy to fly, and with a top speed of 848 km/h - or 527 mph - it was significantly faster than any propeller driven aircraft. The reshaped nose of the "Adder" also gave the pilot an improved view forward, compared with single-engined propeller fighters.

In July 1945, the Air Ministry ordered 150 Heston Type 9 "Adder" Mk. I fighters which were to be used both operationally and for converting pilots to flying jet aircraft. Only 36 production aircraft were completed to Mk.1 standard, the subsequent ones being upgraded to Mk. II.


Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder"
« Reply #6 on: June 11, 2013, 02:25:48 AM »
Mmmmmm..... :-*
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline perttime

  • The man has produced a Finnish Napier Heston Fighter...need we say more?
Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder"
« Reply #7 on: June 11, 2013, 04:13:45 AM »
Now I need to put together something that was flying in '46 and later. Mk.II - but it needs some minor modifications...

Offline Dr. YoKai

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Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder"
« Reply #8 on: June 11, 2013, 05:27:59 AM »
 Very attractive!   I also appreciate your going the extra mile and doing a
 top view.


Offline perttime

  • The man has produced a Finnish Napier Heston Fighter...need we say more?
Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder"
« Reply #9 on: June 11, 2013, 02:33:15 PM »
I also appreciate your going the extra mile and doing a top view.

When I started making these drawings, I wanted to see at least the top view too. The front view is often the one that I find hard to do.

The top view of this one was pretty easy, as it is very much based on my earlier propeller fighters: http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=2970.15

Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder"
« Reply #10 on: June 11, 2013, 10:44:47 PM »
The Adder is absolutely gorgeous!!!  :-*

Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder"
« Reply #11 on: June 13, 2013, 03:40:55 AM »
The Norwegian one is especially spiffy!

Great stuff, perttime!

Brian da Basher

Offline perttime

  • The man has produced a Finnish Napier Heston Fighter...need we say more?
Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder"
« Reply #12 on: June 13, 2013, 02:48:29 PM »
Thanks for the compliments!
Myself, I'm really happy with the prop fighters that I put in the first post. They are my last year's stuff, though. So, in context of the GB they only serve as background material.

Adder Mk.II is in progress, and it will go into the 1946 - 1952 period.

Offline perttime

  • The man has produced a Finnish Napier Heston Fighter...need we say more?
Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder"
« Reply #13 on: June 14, 2013, 11:05:32 PM »
"Color" scheme for Adder Mk.II.

Somebody suggested wing tip tanks to improve the range.

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Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder"
« Reply #14 on: June 15, 2013, 03:13:09 AM »
 :)
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline perttime

  • The man has produced a Finnish Napier Heston Fighter...need we say more?
Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder" - Heston Adder Mk.II
« Reply #15 on: June 15, 2013, 02:24:26 PM »
Before Adder Mk.I became operational, it was decided that something should - and could - be done about its shortcomings. Heatshielded fuselage bottom and an all-metal tailwheel were adequate to keep the fighter from scorching itself when running the engine on the ground. That only left the problem of setting fire to grass airstrips and melting the tarmac ones. A tricycle landing gear was the obvious solution, and Heston engineers quickly designed a retractable nosewheel, and mainwheels with an altered geometry that put them behind the aircraft's center of gravity. These changes were first tested on the second Adder prototype - and then rushed into production aircraft that were not yet too far finished on the production line. An additional benefit was improved forward visibility during taxiing.

The range of the Adder was adequate for training and point defence purposes but more would have been better for allround fighter performance. The use of tip tanks had already been demonstrated by the US P-80 fighter, and others, and it was decided to make them available on Adder Mk.II. However, it was felt that in many circumstances the additional weight of the tanks would decrease aircraft performance. The solution was to deliver them with both conventional and tank wing tips. Tips tanks could then be fitted - or removed - in operational units, as needed.

Denmark had been looking for a fighter aircraft to replace their Spitfire Mk.IX fighters that were becoming outdated by 1945. In discussions with the British Air Ministry in September 1946, it was discovered that the RAF was willing to let go part of their Adder fighters and focus on the Gloster Meteor. The Royal Danish Air Force received the news with enthusiasm and sent over instructor pilots for conversion to the type. The first eight of 60 Danish Heston Adder Mk.II aircraft landed at Kastrup airport on 21 February 1947, and a conversion course for operational pilots from Eskadrille 725 was started the next day. Danish Adders protected the small country and its surrounding sea areas until 1952 when they were replaced with SAAB 29 aircraft. In that time, they were used to shoot down 164 Soviet aircraft, for the loss of 18 Adders.


Offline perttime

  • The man has produced a Finnish Napier Heston Fighter...need we say more?
Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder" - Lithuanian Mk.1
« Reply #16 on: June 17, 2013, 07:19:47 PM »
When Lithuania was liberated from six years of Soviet occupation in 1946, most of its Air Force pilots had been serving in Western, mainly British and French, forces. An own Air Force was seen as a necessity for the liberated nation, from both the practical point of view and for building national spirit. For some time Lithuania coped with older fighter models like Spitfire Mk.V and  Avia B.135.

Technology had developed rapidly and the older aircraft did not have the speed and firepower of only a few years later models. The latest fighter aircraft were not easy to get in a time of war, though, and funds were short. In 1948, British Air Ministry informed their Lithuanian counterparts that they would be willing to donate a number of Heston Adder Mk.I jet fighters. With the taildragger landing gear, the Mk.I was hard on airfields but the Lithuanians decided that they would cope.

28 Adders were flown to Kaunas airfield between 17 and 29 October 1948, and Lithuanian fighter pilots and mechanics were soon converted to operating jet fighters. In addition, 15 sets of wing tip tanks were acquired to extend the range of at least some of the aircraft. Inspired by the Norwegian "coastal camo", Lithuania's Air Force decided to paint their aircraft in a two-tone shape-disrupting camouflage scheme.

« Last Edit: June 17, 2013, 07:32:35 PM by perttime »

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Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder"
« Reply #17 on: June 18, 2013, 02:10:55 AM »
 :)
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder"
« Reply #18 on: June 19, 2013, 04:03:48 AM »
Well done, perttime! The Lithuanian one is a stunner.

Brian da Basher

Offline perttime

  • The man has produced a Finnish Napier Heston Fighter...need we say more?
Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder"
« Reply #19 on: June 21, 2013, 06:49:08 PM »
As the GB is extended - - - I might add a variant. Or maybe two, if I manage to make a two-seater that I like.

Offline perttime

  • The man has produced a Finnish Napier Heston Fighter...need we say more?
Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder"
« Reply #20 on: June 22, 2013, 07:48:52 PM »
A name for a night figter was suggested to me....

Offline perttime

  • The man has produced a Finnish Napier Heston Fighter...need we say more?
Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder" - Blackadder night fighter - RAF
« Reply #21 on: June 23, 2013, 05:46:34 PM »
Even in late 1940s, Heston Adder was not quite up to the speeds of the latest jet fighters like Gloster Meteor, MiG-9, and Yak-23. It was quite capable of intercepting any bomber, though, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with the concentrated firepower of its 4 20 mm Hispano guns. As Soviet night bombing raids of Western cities had become a concern, RAF rotated most of their remaining Adders through a conversion to Mk. III nigh fighters. The conversion mainly consisted of installing a Telefunken radar system and painting the aircraft black. The "color" scheme prompted a new - first unofficial - name for the night fighter: the "Blackadder".

« Last Edit: June 24, 2013, 12:03:23 AM by perttime »

Offline perttime

  • The man has produced a Finnish Napier Heston Fighter...need we say more?
Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder" - Blackadder night fighter - Eire
« Reply #22 on: June 23, 2013, 05:48:10 PM »
As Armstrong Whitworth got up to speed producing the night fighter version of the Meteor in 1950, RAF's Blackadders were offered to allies who did not yet have radar equipped night fighters. 18 of them went to Ireland where the Air Corps mainly stationed them at the Casement Aerodrome (Aeradróm Mhic Easmainn), not too far from Dublin. The Casement Aerodrome had, and has, generally more favorable weather conditions than Dublin Airport, allowing better availability of interceptors.


Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder"
« Reply #23 on: June 24, 2013, 01:55:29 AM »
I can see one of these being built with the crew chief being Baldrick...with a cunning plan! ;D
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline Dr. YoKai

  • Was in High School when mastadons roamed the plains...
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Re: Heston Type 9 "Adder"
« Reply #24 on: June 24, 2013, 09:41:16 PM »
 Just don't let Percy on the tarmac... I have to say thats the most nearly perfect combination of color
 scheme/National insignia that I have ever seen.