Messerschmitt Me 334

German fighter project
Messerschmitt Me 334
Model of the Me 334
Role Piston engine Fighter
Type of aircraft
Manufacturer Messerschmitt
Designer Alexander Lippisch

The Messerschmitt Me 334 was a proposed German piston-engined fighter, designed by Alexander Lippisch. No examples were built.[1]

Design and development

Alexander Lippisch was noted for designing tailless aircraft, with a certain amount of success. Along similar lines as the rocket-powered Me 163, Lippisch designed a tailless fighter to be powered by a Heinkel turbojet. The slow pace of development of reliable turbojets forced Lippisch to redesign the aircraft to be powered by a single Daimler-Benz DB 605 inverted V-12 piston engine, mounted in the nose and driving a pusher propeller at the rear of the fuselage pod, via an extension shaft.[1]

The mid-mounted wings would have been swept back 23.4°, housing the skinny retractable main landing gear with elevons inboard and ailerons outboard on the trailing edge. Slots in the outboard leading edges would have improved slow speed performance and handling.[1]

The intended armament of two 13 mm (0.512 in) MG 131 machine guns was to have been housed in the wing roots. Designated Me 334 by the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM), development was abandoned by Lippisch with the advent of the Lippisch P.20.[1]

See also

Related lists

Specifications

Data from Geheimprojekte der Luftwaffe : Jagdflugzeuge 1939-1945[1]

General characteristics

  • Crew: one
  • Length: 7 m (23 ft 0 in)
  • Wingspan: 9.3 m (30 ft 6 in)
  • Height: 3.72 m (12 ft 2 in)
  • Wing area: 17.3 m2 (186 sq ft)
  • Aspect ratio: 5
  • Gross weight: 3,000 kg (6,614 lb)Powerplant
  • Powerplant: 1 × Daimler-Benz DB 605 inverted V-12 liquid-cooled piston engine, 1,085 kW (1,455 hp)

Armament

  • Guns: 2x 13 mm (0.512 in) MG 131 machine guns

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Meyer, Walter Schick ; Ingolf (1994). Geheimprojekte der Luftwaffe : Jagdflugzeuge 1939-1945 (in German) (1. Aufl. ed.). Stuttgart: Motorbuch-Verl. ISBN 978-3613016316.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Messerschmitt Me 334.
  • Me 334 with 3-view
  • Emmanuel Gustin's aircraft background notes
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Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW) and Messerschmitt aircraft
BFW Idflieg designations
  • CL.I
  • CL.II
  • CL.III
  • CL.IV
  • N.I
BFW/Messerschmitt
company designationsRLM designations 1933–1945Project numbersUSAAC designationsRAF assigned names
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1 to 100
101 to 200
201 to 300
301 to 349
Post-349 (non-sequential)
  • 1 Not assigned
  • 2 Unofficial/proposed
  • 3 Assigned, but not used before RLM was dissolved
  • 4 Assigned to captured aircraft
  • 5 Unconfirmed
  • 6 Propaganda/cover designation

Note: Official RLM designations had the prefix "8-", but this was usually dropped and replaced with the manufacturer's prefix.