Messerschmitt Me P.08-01 (Amerika Bomber)

History

As early as 1938, Nazi Germany was making plans for an eventual war against the United States. Assuming that if the US reached out to its European allies to draw attention to its own defense (and thus steal resources from its French and British allies), the US would be a direct target of German bombers.

The main problem for the Luftwaffe at the time was the lack of long-range heavy bombers capable of such monumental trips with a full war load. This set the stage for the American Bomber program, which required a bomb-delivery platform that could travel across the Atlantic and return homewith an inherent range of 3,600 miles being the listed project goal.

Targets of particular interest are the US East Coast - New York, Washington DC, Boston, etc.

In the end, many people supported the project - Holden, Messerschmitt, Fokker-Wolff, Heinkel, Junkers, all of them put their hats in one way or another but the project didnt officially gain momentum until early 1942, when the United States formally committed to the war. For his part, Messerschmitt developed the "Me P. 08-01", a large multipurpose "flying wing" that emerged from design work in 1941.

The large aircraft is considered a worthwhile investment if it performs beyond its intended heavy bomber role - providing the Luftwaffe with heavy transport, an airspace blockade platform, a long-range reconnaissance/sea patrol system and possibly a towed "mother ship" glider.

The design is a full-wing approach without any real, well-defined tail unit other than a single vertical tail. The cockpit sits on top of the "arrow" shape, and the wing plan shape has been turned to the leading edge with a partially rearward trailing edge design (the area near the center mass is the straight edge).

All crew members are concentrated in the middle of the aircraft, and the cargo compartment separates the flight deck from the rear. The cargo compartment provides enough interior space to load the main battle tank, which is loaded onto the aircraft via the rear-facing ramp. Therefore, a tricycle landing gear is a design requirement to provide adequate ground clearance for the rotating propeller blades and adequate headspace clearance for cargo to leave the aircraft belly during loading and unloading.

It is assumed that there will be various defensive weapon positions in the form of turrets - either on the nose or tail of the aircraft (or both) - although nothing is defined in this regard.

Four engines are required to lift the aircraft and maintain a usable cruising speed - this power goes down to four Daimler-Benz DB9-615 piston engines located in the wings of the aircraft's hybrid fuselage. In addition, the engines were arranged in a "propeller" configuration - that is, the propellers were driven behind the engines rather than in front ("tractors") - and air entered through rectangular air intake slots on the leading edge of the wing.

Estimated speeds reach 400 miles per hour, and range varies by battlefield role.

Recommended dimensions for P. 08-01 include a wingspan of 50.6 meters, a length of 15.35 meters and a height of 8.6 meters. Its crew will be fourth. The loaded weight is estimated at 90,000 kg.

The design direction of the flying wing adds a number of inherent advantages to this aircraft. Lift is naturally generated by the large wing area, which also positively affects the rate of climb. At the expense of drag, the wing hybrid provides ample interior volume for cargo, fuel (extended operating area), and other interior components and spaces. For expected bomb action, the internal bays can carry up to 20,000 kg of conventional temporary storage.

The range listed between tactical and strategic bombers varies depending on the fuel supply to be carried - 2,500 km vs 15,000 km. For airspace denial missions, the aircraft can be armed with 4 x 88mm anti-aircraft (AA) anti-aircraft guns, and as a dedicated heavy transport aircraft, the P. 08-01's cargo bay can hold an impressive 25 tons of war materiel.

The tactical reconnaissance version will outperform them in terms of range - it has a range of about 27,000 kilometers.

Me P. 08-01 Like many other American proposed bombers, only a design study was carried out, nothing more. Ultimately, many of these initiatives proved too complex and expensive under wartime pressures, and were detrimental to the German war effort at a time of dwindling strategic resources and materiel. In fact, as the Luftwaffe now faced an air defense war against Allied bombers, a directive issued by the Luftwaffe in 1943 prohibited investment in heavy bombers - leading to the development of various emergency fighters and interceptor. the end of the war.

Only a few of them saw the light themselves.

Specification

Basic

Production

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Dimensions

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Performance

Performance

Armor

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