Convair Model 200
{{short description|American VTOL fighter proposal}}
| {{Infobox aircraft begin
| name= Model 200 | image= File:Convair Model 200 Main.png | caption= Convair Model 200 }}{{Infobox aircraft type | type= Fighter | national origin= United States | manufacturer= Convair | designer= | first flight= | introduced= | retired= | status= | primary user= | produced= | number built= | program cost= | unit cost= | developed from= | variants with their own articles= }} |
The Convair Model 200 was a design for a supersonic vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) fighter requirement for the United States Navy Sea Control Ship.{{cite book |first1= Robert |last1= Bradley |title= Convair Advanced Designs II |place= Manchester, UK |publisher= Crécy Publishing |year= 2013 |ISBN= 978-0-8597917-0-0}} Further versions were planned for conventional catapult launches and landing using arresting gear.
Design and development
The Convair Model 200 was designed in 1973 as a single-jet fighter, that could be built in both vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) (model 200A) and conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) configurations (Model 201A). For the CTOL, the single Pratt & Whitney JTF22A-26A with tail hook, canard with flap, and CTOL tail cone. For the VTOL operations, the single Pratt & Whitney JTF22A-30A with a jet exhaust pipe tiltable by 90 degrees using a three-bearing swivel nozzle, and two additional lifting engines with 46.7 kN thrust each were provided behind the cockpit. The lifting engines and the swiveling nozzles were eliminated in the CTOL versions. The top speed was Mach 2. The wingspan was {{convert|27|feet|10.5|inches|m}}; the length was {{convert|51|feet|1.5|inches|m}}. The Model 200 had a cruise engine, a swept tail, two ventral fins under the fuselage, delta wings and delta canards directly behind the rectangular air intakes.
The Model 200 was proposed in a US Navy competition for a small VTOL fighter that could be carried by the Sea Control Ship, the small aircraft carriers that the US Navy was planning at the time. Neither the Model 200 nor the SCS were built.{{cite web |title=Sea Control Ship |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/scs.htm |website=GlobalSecurity.org |accessdate=8 June 2020}} However, a competitor of the Model 200, the Rockwell XFV-12 fighter aircraft, was built. The XFV-12, which could not demonstrate vertical flight, was far from meeting expectations, and the project was canceled before the second XFV-12 was completed.{{cite web |title=XFV-12 |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/xfv-12.htm |website=GlobalSecurity.org |accessdate=8 June 2020}} Various models for wind tunnel tests were built for the Convair Model 200, as well as a model for researching the air currents during vertical takeoff and landing. Furthermore, a 1:1 front fuselage model including a complete cockpit layout was built.
The JTF22A-30A's swivel nozzle design would lay the groundwork for nozzle design of the F135-PW-600 on the Lockheed Martin F-35B.{{cite web |last=Renshaw |first=Kevin |url=https://www.codeonemagazine.com/f35_article.html?item_id=137 |title=F-35B Lightning II Three-Bearing Swivel Nozzle |work=Code One Magazine |date=12 August 2014}}
Variants
;Convair Model 200A: single-seater vertical take-off with two lifting engines behind the cockpit and swiveling main engine exhaust, nose gear with one wheel.
;Convair Model 201: single-seat carrier aircraft, without lifting engines, in this version there is additional internal fuel with conventional afterburning engine, nose gear with two wheels and catapult launch bar and an arrestor hook for arrested landings. In the case of the vertical take-off version, the nose landing gear moves forward into the landing gear shaft under the cockpit, the nose landing gear of the CTOL version retracts to the rear.
;Convair Model 201 Trainer: just like Convair Model 201, instead of the fuel tank behind the cockpit, enlarged cockpit for two crew in tandem arrangement.
Gallery
File:Convair Model 200A peculiar modifications.png|Convair Model 200A Modifications
File:Convair Model 200 Series.png|Convair Model 200 Series
File:Convair Model 200A lift plus lift-cruise general arrangement (front view).png|Convair Model 200A (front view)
File:Convair Model 200A lift plus lift-cruise general arrangement (side view).png|Convair Model 200A (side view)
File:Convair Aerospace VSTOL Fighter-Attack.jpg|Convair Model 200
Specifications (Model 200A)
{{Aircraft specs
|ref=General Dynamics Aircraft and their Predecessors{{cite book |last1=Wegg |first1=John |title=General Dynamics aircraft and their predecessors |date=1990 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, Md. |isbn=0-87021-233-8 |edition=1st |page=247}}
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|eng1 name= Pratt & Whitney F401-PW-400
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|eng2 name= Rolls-Royce/Allison XJ99
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References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |last1=Buttler |first1=Tony |title=American secret projects : fighters & interceptors, 1945-1978 |date=2008 |publisher=Midland |location=Hinckley, England, UK |isbn=978-1-85780-264-1}}
- {{cite book |last1=Yenne |first1=Bill |title=The world's worst aircraft |date=1993 |publisher=Dorset Press |location=New York |isbn=0-88029-490-6}}
External links
{{commons category|Convair Model 200}}
- {{cite web |last1=Haines |first1=Lester |title=Flights of fantasy |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/04/18/flights_of_fantasy |website=www.theregister.com |accessdate=8 June 2020 |language=en |date=18 April 2001}}
- :de:Allison/Rolls-Royce XJ99
{{Convair/GD aircraft}}
Category:1970s United States fighter aircraft
Category:Single-engined jet aircraft
Category:Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United States
Category:Carrier-based aircraft