Author Topic: Canadian Cobras  (Read 15277 times)

Re: Canadian Cobras
« Reply #25 on: September 07, 2013, 06:59:03 AM »
Interesting. You've certainly taken the Cobra off in a unique direction!

Offline apophenia

  • Perversely enjoys removing backgrounds.
  • Patterns? What patterns?
Re: Canadian Cobras
« Reply #26 on: September 09, 2013, 07:55:23 AM »
Thanks EH. And the next direction change gets wierder still ... promise  ;)
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Offline apophenia

  • Perversely enjoys removing backgrounds.
  • Patterns? What patterns?
Re: Canadian Cobras
« Reply #27 on: September 13, 2013, 04:02:16 AM »
Canadian Cobras (Part Thirteen)

CCF experiments with a solid-propellant rocket booster had not been very successful. A new concept emerged with the revelation that the Government's Turbo Research unit had
produced a successful turbojet engine suitable for aircraft propulsion.

CCF submitted a turbojet-boosted Super Cobra concept to the RCAF. This fighter was to have a TR-2 Suêtes centrifugal turbojet fitted to the rear fuselage of the Super Cobra. But the RCAF was more interested in the more powerful TR-3 engine as the prime mover for future fighters. To answer that requirement, CanCar's Advanced Projects Design Group devised a Cobra-derived fighter with a radical new layout.

The APDG Turbo Cobra would mount twin TR-3 jet engines on either side of the nose. Steel plates running back to the cockpit would protect the fuselage from the jet's efflux. The two engines straddled the barrel of a single 37mm MDAC backed up by wing-mounted .5" machineguns. This APDG design faltered as soon as it was reviewed by Turbo Research staff. Not only would the TR-3 accessory gearboxes have insufficient power to drive the  MDAC, the first round fired by such a gun would certainly stall both engines!

Elsie MacGill's team quickly designed a 'least mod' replacement. This new Turbo Cobra  design took advantage of stress work done on wingtip-mounted radiators and fuel tanks. Since the TR-3 engine (by then dubbed the Squamish after the BC coastal wind) weighed only slightly more than a 90 gallon drop tank, it was concluded that a slightly
strengthened Super Cobra wing could accommodate an engine on each tip.

Since the TR-3 Squamish turbojet produced only 1200 lb.st, the Turbo Cobra F.Mk.I was to retain the solid rocket booster for take off. That changed with the appearance of the Japanese Fu-Go balloon bombs over North America. Turbo Cobras on the production line were hurriedly finished as unboosted Turbo Cobra F.Mk.IIs and rushed to the West Coast.

No.111 (Fighter) Squadron flew the first operational mission in early August 1945 from  Annette Island, Alaska to protect Northern BC and the Alaskan Panhandle from the 'fire
balloons'. No.113 was working up on the Turbo Cobra at Sea Island (to protect BC's Lower Mainland) but Japan surrendered before the unit was fully operational.

To be continued ...
-----------------------
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Offline jschmus

  • Aims to please.
Re: Canadian Cobras
« Reply #28 on: September 13, 2013, 04:58:19 AM »
Love the Nelvana nose art.
"Life isn’t divided into genres. It’s a horrifying, romantic, tragic, comical, science-fiction cowboy detective novel. You know, with a bit of pornography if you're lucky."-Alan Moore

Offline raafif

  • Is formally accused of doing nasty things to DC-3s...and officially our first whiffing zombie
  • Whiffing Insane
Re: Canadian Cobras
« Reply #29 on: September 13, 2013, 05:50:36 AM »
would love to see the top turbo-cobra in plastic but with a standard tail instead of the V.

Offline apophenia

  • Perversely enjoys removing backgrounds.
  • Patterns? What patterns?
Re: Canadian Cobras
« Reply #30 on: September 13, 2013, 09:46:05 AM »
Thanks folks!

jschmus: Poor old Nelvana seems to be almost forgotten today (I wonder if anyone ever tried to revive the Inuit heroine?). She seemed appropriate to an Alaskan-based fighter.

raafif: The standard Cobra horizontal tail might get a bit roasted. Maybe a cruciform tail instead?
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Re: Canadian Cobras
« Reply #31 on: September 13, 2013, 06:49:58 PM »
Quote
Poor old Nelvana seems to be almost forgotten today


Perhaps not that forgotten.....



Great stuff (as usual).

Offline apophenia

  • Perversely enjoys removing backgrounds.
  • Patterns? What patterns?
Re: Canadian Cobras
« Reply #32 on: September 14, 2013, 08:56:20 AM »
Perhaps not that forgotten.....

Heh heh. I came across a discussion group doing what-if updates of Nelvana's look. The most dramatic version is attached.

A couple of points stick out in this Nelvana update. Very alluring but not all that typically Inuit. My vote for a movie Nelvana would be Annabella Piugattuk!
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Offline apophenia

  • Perversely enjoys removing backgrounds.
  • Patterns? What patterns?
Re: Canadian Cobras
« Reply #33 on: September 21, 2013, 07:06:39 AM »
Canadian Cobras (Part Fourteen)

The final evolution of the CanCar Cobra was the post-war Model 120/Model 122 JetCobra proposals. The prompt for these designs was Turbo Research's shift from centrifugal turbojet designs to the more powerful axial-flow TR-4.

With the war in the Pacific over, CanCar took the opportunity to completely redesign  their first jet fighter. The Turbo Cobra's wingtip engine mounts were to be abandoned but  it was not yet clear what the RCAF's postwar requirements would be. As a result, the JetCobra series consisted to two distinct designs evolved in parallel.

The first was the CCF Model 120 JetCobra (1). This was a twin-boomed fighter design to be  powered by a single 2,600 lb.st TR-4 Chinook. Until a flight-ready TR-4 was available, it was assumed that a captured German Junkers Jumo 004B could serve as a substitute (the two engines were of the same diameter, although the Jumo was slightly longer and heavier).

The second was the CCF Model 120 JetCobra (2). This was a twin-engined interceptor with longer range. In this case, the TR-4 Chinook turbojets were to be mounted above a new wing centre section. All gun armament was to be mounted in the fuselage, the wings being sealed for fuel with tip tanks added.

Both JetCobra designs were to have fuselages incorporating elements of the Turbo Cobra.  Initially, the wing was to be a standard Super Cobra outer panel. In 1947 that changed and entirely new wings based on aerodynamic knowledge from the Me-262 were developed. With that, all connection with the original CCF Cobra design ended.

In the end, the RCAF chose cheaper, imported DeHavilland Vampires as day fighters and the much larger, two-seat Avro CF-100 as its interceptor. By then, Elsie MacGill - the Queen of the Cobras' - had joined her husband at Avro Canada. Soon after, Avro bought out CCF and CanCar abandoned aircraft production in favour of the peacetime production of city buses.
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Re: Canadian Cobras
« Reply #34 on: September 21, 2013, 06:52:16 PM »
Well now, doesn't the 122 look like a mini-CF-100. I really like that. There's just enough of a hint of Cobra left in there. I get the impression you are winding down this lineage but the 122 makes me think why would the RCN go for Banshees when they could go the indigenous route instead.

I'll confess I've felt your twin-booms are a little out of left field for a Cobra evolution but the 120 is very, very attractive! So I'll shut up!  ;)

Ultimately, very engaging!

Offline apophenia

  • Perversely enjoys removing backgrounds.
  • Patterns? What patterns?
Re: Canadian Cobras
« Reply #35 on: September 25, 2013, 10:37:25 AM »
Too good an idea to pass up EH! ...

Canadian Cobras (Part Fifteen)


With WWII over, the CanCar Cobras began to fade from RCAF quickly. Stocks of Cobras, and later Super Cobras, were converted into aerial targets using simple autopilots. After their withdrawl from Auxiliary squadrons, the Turbo Cobras suffered the same fate. In 1948, some of the RCAF's remaining 'QF' Cobra target aircraft were turned over to the Royal Canadian Navy.

The RCN also received Turbo Cobras from RCAF stocks. After use as jet pilot trainers, the Turbo Cobras were also converted to 'QF' targets. Most retained their canopies (as QF.Mk.IAs) but the RCN also operated a handful of 'cockpit-less' ex-RCAF QF.Mk.IIAs

Top: This Turbo Cobra QF.Mk.IIA was a former RCAF 417 (Composite) Squadron aircraft (who's unit markings are faintly visible). Turbo Cobra 1328 was dispatched off Nova Scotia by practice AA fire from HMCS Haida on 20 September 1952.

Eager for jet fighters of its own, the RCN also pursued the CCF Model 122 JetCobra (2) concept. A navalized version was developed which first flew in early 1947. The first production Sea Cobra F.Mk.1 landed aboard HMCS Magnificent (CVL 21) in October 1948.

Bottom: The Sea Cobra equipped VF-870 aboard CVL 21 when the 'Maggie' departed for Korea in March 1951. Note that this aircraft has had its tail stripes removed but the Canadian flag has yet to be added.

Sea Cobra 1350 suffered battle damage on 13 June 1951 and was forced to ditch in the Yellow Sea. The pilot was successfully recovered by the destroyer, HMCS Cayuga.
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Offline raafif

  • Is formally accused of doing nasty things to DC-3s...and officially our first whiffing zombie
  • Whiffing Insane
Re: Canadian Cobras
« Reply #36 on: September 25, 2013, 02:01:00 PM »
like the target-drone :)  think it would look better with regular Meteor engines than the shortened ones tho.

Re: Canadian Cobras
« Reply #37 on: September 25, 2013, 06:19:14 PM »
The Sea Cobra is a stunner!!  :-*

Offline apophenia

  • Perversely enjoys removing backgrounds.
  • Patterns? What patterns?
Re: Canadian Cobras
« Reply #38 on: September 27, 2013, 10:45:48 AM »
Thanks folks!

raafif: I know what you mean. The tricky bit with the Airacobra is that only the front and centre were 'true' spars (with a third, 'false' spar just in front of the flaps/ailerons). So that was the reason for the short cowling on the TR-4 turbojet.

BTW, The TR-4 was a real world turbojet and it was named Chinook. AFAIK, Turbo Research's centrifugal-flow engines never had names ... so I just made 'em up. Les Suêtes are strong southeastlies that blow into the Cape Breton Highlands. The Squamish is a gusty wind that blows down Howe Sound to the Strait of Georgia (appropriate for a West Coast fighter, I thought).
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."