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Old January 11th 04, 12:50 PM
robert arndt
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Charles Gray wrote in message . ..
Here's a question-- the Germans had several forward swept wing designs
in the works during WWII.
However, I recall reading that even in the 1980's the strain on the
airframe made such a design very difficult to successfully carry off.
That being the case, was there any realistic chance that such fighter
designs could have been successfully fielded, or is this a case of a
severe underestimation of the problems by the engineers?


A partial list of the projects:

He p.1076
Bv p.209/II
Ju EF 122
Ju EF 125
Bv P.188.01 (variable incidence wing)

Of course there were swept-forward proposals for the Ar 234, He 162,
Me-262, and the Misteln too. The only real aircraft with forward sweep
that the Germans got into the air was the Ju-287 jet bomber which flew
well enough for the Soviets to copy it in the USSR.
Postwar, West Germany had the MBB HFB 320 Hansa jet that worked well
too, the US toyed with the X-29, and today the Russians have the Su-47
Berkut (aka Firkin).

Rob