Curious, do you have any sources that you suggest to be read as far as yaw issues with the Ho-229?
I read bits and pieces about the problems but arguing with somebody who is making claims against the yaw issues and wondering what I could present against it?
Sorry for the lateness, Desert Fox. I just listened to the latest Skeptoid and it held a reminder that got me into the bookshelf to dredge up the only text I have regarding the Horten IX V-2
The most daring of all the German jet bomber designs was a flying wing, developed by the Horten brothers who had achieved fame as designers of elegant flying wing sailplanes.
Like most devotees of drag reduction, the Hortens thought in terms of speed and fighters. So the first approach to their ninth design was to consider it as a jet propelled fighter. They drew plans for a first prototype, the Ho IX V-1. (German identification of prototypes used the V-number designation; V in this case was the converting [sic] the Ho IX to a fighter-bomber. On that basis, the new aircraft - redesignated Gotha 229 - is included in this history.
Gotha began a prototype line, which included an all-weather fighter and a trainer version as well as the fighter-bomber, and the Horten brothers continued to work to complete their powered prototype. That aircraft, the Horten IX V-2, flew a very conservative flight research programme, gradually working up from the low speed end of the spectrum to higher speeds. By the spring of 1945 it was ready for high speed tests, and did achieve one run at close to 500 mph. but in the approach to the field after that test, one engine flamed out and the aircraft slammed into the ground in a ball of flame.
The programme never progressed further. The Gotha prototypes were not completed in time to fly before the end of the war, although one of them was almost ready when the factory was reached by Allied troops advancing into Germany.
Had the war lasted longer, there might have been other designs to describe. The combination of jet propulsion, new radar, sweepback and other technological advances had spurred German designers to a wide variety of proposed aircraft. And given Hitler's desire to see bombs strapped under the wings of everything that could fly, one must assume that bomber and fighter-bomber designs would have proliferated.
But they didn't, and that is perhaps the fortunate aspect of the German jet bomber programme. It only produced a limited number of operational bombers of one model, plus two flying prototypes of two others. In no sense did it make a major contribution to aeronautical progress.
Anderton, D.A. 1975
Jet Fighters and Bombers, Chartwell Books, Secaucus NJ, p 69.
The author also notes that the YB35 flying wing relied on its propellers for vertical stability, and that the YB49 development required four vertical stabilizers and leading fins when the propulsion was switched to Allison turbojets.
I am reading "The Airplane" by Jay Spenser and its mosey through the history of discrete aspects of aero-engineering is a refreshing change to the usual fare on this topic. Something Spenser mentions had never been brought to my attention before. The modest sweep of the wing of the Me 262 was an attempt to balance the airframe when the proposed engines didn't come to production in time, not an attempt to improve critical Mach performance. This, in addition to the placement of the engines where the piston equivalents would have to go to allow clearance for propellers, reduced my admiration for what I'd previously thought of as an example of design ahead of its time.
You see the same habit of placement in the engines on the Arado 234. What, sir, what were you thinking?
I once helped bring a Jumo 004 engine up to static display for an air museum. The LAME I was working under was well versed in the development and use of early jet engines. He told me that the state of metallurgy and manufacturing at the time meant that the average Jumo engine would get ten hours operation before needing overhaul. X-ray machines being unavailable for the task, crack checking in the rotors was performed by piano tuners, hitting each fan blade with their mallet and listening for bum notes. The engire we worked on had a two stroke starter motor that was used by the ground crew to spin the engine up to starting speed. All up the thing was frighteningly primitive, and the thought of relying on two such units set so far apart gave me the heebie jeebies.
The engines on the Ho IX were closer set than in the Me 262 or the Ar 234, but assymetrical operation in an aircraft with no tail and a wing likely to produce at least some adverse yaw - no thanks. The test pilot had things stacked against him.
