Heinkel P.1079B Single-Seat, All-Weather Heavy Fighter Proposal

Specifications

Year: 1946
Status: Cancelled
Manufacturer(s): Heinkel - Nazi Germany
Production: 0
Capabilities: Fighter; Interception; X-Plane;

Crew: 1
Length: 29.53 ft (9 m)
Width: 42.65 ft (13 m)
Height: 13.12 ft (4 m)
Weight (Empty): 11,023 lb (5,000 kg)
Weight (MTOW): 22,046 lb (10,000 kg)

Power: 2 x Heinkel HeS 011 turbojet engines developing 2,866lb of thrust each.

Speed: 575 mph (925 kph; 499 kts)
Ceiling: 32,808 feet (10,000 m; 6.21 miles)
Range: 1,647 miles (2,650 km; 1,431 nm)

Operators: Nazi Germany (abandoned)

Drawn up as a possible all-weather and night-fighter, the P.1079B was the natural progression of a line of design studies undertaken by Heinkel engineers during the latter World War 2 (1939-1945) period that began with the P.1079A (detailed elsewhere on this site) of early-1945. In its original form, the aircraft carried a two-person crew (seated in tandem, back-to-back) and the aircraft sported large, swept-back wing mainplanes along with a "V-tail" plane arrangement. A side-by-side twin engine configuration would power the machine.

In the "P.1079B" revision, the aircraft was modified extensively by becoming a near-flying-wing design. The larger surface area of the delta-wing arrangement meant that no horizontal tailplanes were needed. The V-tail was given up in favor of a more traditional single fin. Furthermore, the wing mainplanes, sweptback at 45-degree angles, were now cranked to become "gull-wing" in form, giving the possible fighter a futuristic appearance. Again a twin turbojet engine configuration would be used for propulsion and a tricycle undercarriage for ground-running. The crew was reduced to a single person in this new design approach and his position was set under a lightly-framed cockpit near the nose of the aircraft. Each engine was aspirated through a circular intake located at each wing root and would be exhausted near the wing trailing edges, ahead of the tail unit. Structural measurements included a running length of 29.6 feet and a wingspan of 42.8 feet.

Power would come from 2 x Heinkel Hirth HeS 011 turbojet engines providing for an estimated maximum speed of 630 miles-per-hour.

In any event, the P.1079B was not progressed any further than paper drawings and may have been a product of the early post-war period following the capitulation of Germany in May 1945.

A subsequent P.1079B design, the so-called "P.1079C", took on many of the same qualities listed above and added heavier sweep to the mainplanes, deleted the vertical tail fin altogether, and reverted to a crew of two (in tandem, back-to-back). The same armament was retained as was the twin turbojet layout.

Armament

PROPOSED:
4 x 30mm MK108 automatic cannons in nose section (two guns per fuselage side).

Graphical image of an aircrat automatic cannon

Variants / Models

• P.1079B - Base Project Designation.