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Arado Ar TEW 16/43-15

1943 SECRET WEAPONS OF THE LUFTWAFFE WORLD WAR 2 X-PLANE

History

The Arado Ar TEW 16/43-15 concept arose out of an internal research project investigating the possibilities of a jet fighter. The design, which appeared as early as March 1943, was yet another example of the forward-thinking aircraft technology promoted by many German engineering firms during World War II.

The Ar TEW 16/43-15 was designed to combine jet engines with rocket power to complement overall performance beyond 32,800 feet. However, the design never moved beyond the "paper" stage.

The entire design is Arado and uses some special features. A pair of low swept wings were mounted in the center of the fuselage on the side of the tubular panels. The wings are V-shaped and have curved tips. The lone pilot will sit in a pressurized cockpit mounted aft of a short nose cone assembly.

Front quadrant visibility under the one-piece glass roof would be excellent. The fuselage tapers at the stern, where a high-position "T" tail with two vertical fins is installed. The horizontal tail is swept, while the vertical tail is almost triangular. Perhaps the most notable design element of the TEW 16/43-15 is the location of the jet engines, mounted on the fuselage spine, with air intakes wrapping around and behind the canopy.

The nacelle was at some distance aft midship and was exhausted between the two vertical stabilizers. The fuel for the two engines is distributed inside the fuselage, in the middle and aft.

The TEW 16/43-15 is intended to be another Arado design, using the patented DVL 1940 spherical tire. The aircraft will use these special space-saving wheels in a tricycle arrangement with two main gear legs and one nose gear leg.

The nose gear retracts below and forward of the cockpit floor, while the main legs retract at each wing root. Each landing gear system retracts forward into its respective compartment.

These emerging Luftwaffe fighter designs have never neglected armament, and the TEW 16/43-15 did not disappoint. Weapons of choice are a pair of MG 151/15 15mm cannons or a pair of MG 151/20 20mm cannons. Additional weapons could be a MK 103 30mm cannon or a pair of MK 108 30mm cannons.

Weapons will be concentrated on the sides of the fuselage in front of the wings.

Performance figures are of course estimates. Power may come from a Heinkel-branded He S 011 series jet engine with 2,866 pounds of thrust. The rocket motor will be a Walter HWK 509A series dual-fuel rocket motor. The fuel for the engine consists of the volatile fuel combination C-Stoff and T-Stoff.

Top speed is 572 mph, top speed is 61,600 feet, and range is 745 miles.

However, like many possible Luftwaffe programs throughout the war, the TEW 16/43-15 remained a German dream. It was never pursued, and a prototype was never completed, let alone tested - leading one to imagine what, if any, impact the fighter might have had on the outcome of the war.

Needless to say, this is a complex design with many hurdles to overcome, best left on the engineer's drawing board, that's all. The idea of ??a jet/rocket fighter lingered for a while in the postwar years, but the theory was quickly superseded by the advent of afterburner jet engines to achieve the desired effect.