"Charles Talleyrand" wrote in message ...
Lets suppose you get to give a single new airplane design and a single prototype
to a participant of World War One. You can offer the Austro-Hungarians the
design for a B-52 if you wish. However, that might prove a manufacturing
challenge to them (and one can only wonder about their supply of jet fuel).

Your goal is to change history. You can hope for a German victory or just
that the Allies win faster. It's up to you.

So, what design do you offer, remembering that this design must be
manufactured, fueled, and armed by the natives?

My first guess, a Fairey Swordfish in 1914 should be buildable and dominate
the skies. The speed, range and bombload would be simply unknown at
the time. With a thousand mile range and a 1,600 lb bomb it would be a
great strategic bomber. It should hold its own even in 1918 though I would
not expect the war to last so long. Again, it's no F-16 but it should be
buildable.

Or for a more advanced plane how about a Grumman F-4 without the turbocharger.
I'm not sure the industry of the time was able to build large
complex machines of sheet aluminum, but if so this is a nice plane for
world war one.

Junkers had already pinoneered All alloy construction monoplanes in
WW1. The Junkers J1 is generaly accorded that honour and by all
accounts it was a succesfull designe extremely difficult to shoot
down.

My feeling is that knowledge of materials for engine development was
what kept engine weight up and kept down the performance of most of
these aircraft. For instance an engine of the quality of the cyclone
seen on Charles Lindbergs Spirit of St Louise would have immeasurably
improved the performance of these aircraft especially if fitted with
NACA style cowlings. It most certainly was easily buidable by the
fabrication techniwques of the day. Prior to that engines were bulky
liquid cooled models or clumsy rotaries.

I suspect if an engineer of the capability of Hugo Junkers had of
produced a light weight air cooled radial for mating with an Junker J1
style airframe an immensly fast and tough aircraft would have
resulted. (I would say speeds of 160-170mph). Higher speeds with
knowlege of the wing sections & aerodynamics that were developed
between the wars. Armed with machine gun and perhaps the 20mm cannon
that were appearing (and capable of punching through any armour of the
day) an effective air superiority, reconaisence and ground attack
aircraft would have resulted. Reconaisence is a particularly critical
mission.

An larger two engined aircraft capable of delivering bombs and
torpoedoes would also have been required to damage the British Fleet
and break the naval blockade strangling and starving Germany and
Austria-Hungary and it might require some higher quality bomb sights.

Such a technical leap probably would have been possible if luck had
placed the right managerial and technical people in the right
postions. The Germans and Austro-Hungarians were an inventive lot.
Had someone decided that aircraft were the way to go an invested a
little extra time. Where was that someone but?

The inventor of Radar was a German called Christian Husselmeyer. (He
called it a telemobilscope) patented in 1899 and demonstrated in 1903
it was rejected by Gross Admiral Tirpitz whom said "my people have
other ideas". Husselmeyer had been motivated by witnessing the deaths
of many people due to a collision of barges on the Rhine during a fog.
His designe had a very effective directional antena.

I have no doubt that had he received funding (and had users of Marconi
radio network not erroneously though that it interfered with Marconis
patents) the Germans could have developed radar with ranging abillity
by 1914 for opperation from capital ships for detection of the enemy.
It would have simplified high speed night time opperations. It may
have been decisive at the battle of Jutland.


It would have also changed the whole Titanic saga as its primary
purpose was collision avoidence.

However the secret is to ascertain what technolgy is advantageous and
then meld it appropriatly. The Germans repeatedly gave up technical
leads, even in microwave techniques, through bad managment and bad
luck. Doenitz had been warned in 1935 that submarine coning towers
were bing picked up by experimental german radars at 2 km range. They
could have optimised their submarines for underwater attack at that
time, instead of waiting for the type XXI but they didn't. It cost
him his son and Germany the war.