I.Ae. 30 Ñancú

The I.Ae. 30 Ñancú was a fighter and escort aircraft designed at the Military Aircraft Factory (FMA) of the Argentine Republic by the Italian engineer Marqués Cesare Pallavicino, who arrived in that country in 1946 under the contract of General Juan Domingo Perón.. The plane was designed for the escort of Avro Lincoln strategic four-engine bombers that the Argentine Air Force had in those years. It was one of the fastest piston-powered planes reaching 740 kilometers per hour.

History

In 1947, the Special Projects Division of the Aerotechnical Institute (I.Ae.), in charge of the FMA designs, undertook the development of the model by order of the Argentine government's Secretariat of Aeronautics. Cesare Pallavicino led a team of Argentine aeronautical technicians and engineers, who delivered the plans for a single-seater, twin-engine monoplane, of entirely metallic construction.

The project was identified with the nomenclature I.Ae. 30, and later baptized as "Ñancú", following the custom within the FMA of identifying combat aircraft designs with an indigenous word. In this case, the Mapuche denomination of a variety of harrier native to Patagonia.

Given the completeness of the project delivered by the Pallavicino team, the works progressed rapidly, so that by the end of 1947 the FMA had a prototype finished at 30% and another two at 10%.

On July 9, 1948, the first prototype left the factory to begin the taxi tests and on July 18 of that same year, the Ñancú made its first flight under the command of test pilot Edmundo Osvaldo Weiss, proving very good flight characteristics. Given the success of these tests, it was decided to present the model in Buenos Aires before President Juan Domingo Perón together with the first South American jet plane, the I.Ae. 27 Pulqui I.

I.Ae.30 Ñanco in pyloneum test with its Rolls-Royce Merlin engines to the maximum.

On the flight from Córdoba to Buenos Aires, the Ñancú reached a horizontal speed of 780 km/h, achieving a new speed record for piston aircraft in the South American country, which has not been surpassed to date.

The prototype continued to fly for a while longer, until in 1949, during a landing approach, its pilot Carlos Fermín Bergaglio let the machine stall without noticing that it was still too high above the runway. When it tried to recover its flight line, the Ñancú turned on its longitudinal axis and capsized, partially destroying itself, although without consequences for its occupant. ^{[citation required]}

Originally, a large series of 210 aircraft of this model had been considered for the Argentine Air Force, but new opportunities arose that made the project reconsider, leaving aside the repair of the prototype or the completion of two copies to a different degree determination. Particularly notable was the idea of starting the production under license of the Rolls-Royce Nene jet engine, a set that - imported - drove the prototypes of the I.Ae.33 Pulqui II fighter developed by Professor Kurt Tank at the facilities of the Institute at that time. Agreement negotiations had been reached with the British firm, but this would consume resources that made it impossible to develop both aircraft at the same time. Finally, the coup d'état of the self-proclaimed Liberating Revolution annulled the Nene reactor manufacturing project.

Features

The wings, of the cantilever type, had one-piece spars along the span. The socket of the wing with the fuselage was carried out by means of a continuous union; the flaps were conventional and the ailerons were divided into three hinged sections in order to achieve perfect alignment. The fuselage, with a "pear shaped" and very close to the triangular one, it was specially adapted to accommodate the maximum number of weapons in the lower part with a minimum frontal surface. The structure was semi-monocoque, totally metallic; the fuselage was built in two sections. front and rear and was integrated with the drift. All moving surfaces had static and dynamic balance. The retractable landing gear was made of cast aluminum alloy and the forks of the main wheels incorporated oleo-pneumatic dampers. The legs of the gear had the particularity of turning 90º, at the same time that they folded back and up, which allowed improving the aerodynamic lines of the engine nacelle. The gates of the train were activated by the same descent of the assembly, through a rigid transmission and arranged in such a way that they could be closed both in the retracted position and in the gear down position; it had mechanical brakes and the tailwheel was retractable.

I.Ae.30 Ñancú. His cuatripala Rotol propellers are appreciated.

The power plant consisted of two Rolls Royce Merlin engines, 12-cylinder V-shaped, liquid-cooled, with a two-stage, two-speed compressor, which developed a power of 1,800 CV at 3,000 rpm each. The radiators were located on the leading edge of the wings, between the fuselage and the engine nacelle. Rotol four-bladed propellers with variable pitch, constant speed and rotated in a counter-rotational direction mutually canceling the drive couple of both engines, and were 3.66 m in diameter, hydromatic control and feathering device.

The armament would consist of four 20 mm Oerlikon automatic cannons under the bow, although later it was decided to install the heavier Hispano Suiza 804, also 20 mm. As launchable weapons, the installation of a 250 kg bomb under the fuselage and two batteries of five 83 mm rockets each hanging under the wings were planned. However, they were not installed on the prototypes.

Variants

I.Ae 30 Ñancú

Fighter / Interceptor / Heavy fighter / variant of attacker three prototypes built, one tested and crashed, two incomplete fuselage after the program was cancelled.

I.Ae.30 Pallavicino I

The modification of the IAe-30 Ñancú jet, also designed by Cesare Pallavicino should be a single-seat combat aircraft in a class similar to that of the Gloster Meteor. It presented the same fuselage as the normal IAe.30 Ñancú, but its online motor gondolas were replaced by motor to reaction, each with a Rolls-Royce Derwent engine each with a static thrust of 3500 lb. Its cabin was replaced by an elongated with a complete metal nose instead of the Ñanco glazed nose. It is where to have four 20 mm Hispanic-Switzerland automatic cannons "in" the nose instead of the 6 automatic 20 mm cannons that appear in the Ñancú that is "below" of the nose. None built.

I.Ae.30 Pallavicino II

Similar to Pallavicino I but it had extended wings and a more square tail. It would be a light bomber / attacker with two crew members: a pilot and a browser. The browser should be sitting on a glazed nose or behind the pilot (after a solid nose). The armament included four 20 mm Hispano-Switzerland automatic cannons and two 900 or 1,000 kg bombs each in an internal pump bay. It could also transport twenty 75 mm air-to-ground rockets. None built

Specifications (I.Ae. 30 Ñancú)

Variants of Ñancu IA-30

General Features

• Triple: 1 (pilot)
• Length: 11,52 m
• Scope: 15,0 m
• Height: 5.2 m (16.9 ft)
• Elong surface: 35,32
• Empty weight: 6.208 kg
• Weight loaded: 7,600 kg
• Motriz plant: 2× V Rolls-Royce Merlin 134/135 12 cylinders in V cooled by liquid.
  • Power: each.
• Propellers: 1× Quadruple inverse sense shovel, constant speed, hydromassage control and flag by motor.
• Propeller diameter: 3,66 m

Performance

• Maximum operating speed (Vno): 740 km/h (460 MPH; 400 kt) at 6,400 m altitude
• Cruise speed (Vc): 500 km/h (311 MPH; 270 kt)
• Scope: 2.700 km
• Flight board: 8000 m (26 247 ft)

Weaponry