The Arado Ar TEW 16/43-13 was a design concept envisioned as a rocket-propelled interceptor for the German Luftwaffe. The design was put forth by Wilhelm van Nes as one of three possible developments that also included a twin-jet powered aircraft and a jet/rocket-powered hybrid foray.
Design was conventional featuring a low-set monoplane swept-wing arrangement with slight dihedral and affixed to a somewhat portly fuselage. The pilot was seated nearly extreme forward in the design, with good views to the left and right of his aircraft. The forward windscreen view contained some framing and the rear view was blocked by the upper rear fuselage. The nose was capped with an aerodynamic cone assembly. The fuselage was essentially designed to house as much fuel as possible, consisting of the volatile T-Stoff and C-Stoff rocket propellants (also used in the more well-known Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet rocket-propelled interceptor). Power was to be derived from a single Walter-brand HWK 509A series rocket booster taking up the rearward portions of the inner fuselage aft. The tail section was adorned with a single vertical tail surface and appropriate horizontal plane, all with swept surfaces. The rocket propellant exhausted just aft of the tail fin base. Proposed armament for the TEW 16/43-13 was to be a pair of MG 151/20 20mm cannons along with a pair of MK 108 30mm cannons, all mounted in the lower fuselage nose. The armament was spaced in pairs to either side and below the cockpit seating position.
The undercarriage was completely retractable and differentiated from the conventional "tail-dragging" designs by fitting a tricycle arrangement. The arrangement was dominated by two main landing gears mounted under each wing near the wing roots and a nose landing gear recessing forward under the forward cockpit floor. The wheels of this system deserved mention for they were envisioned as spherical implements designed to save space and weight. Each "wheel" was crossed directly through its center at its x-axis and attached on either side to landing gear struts. As such, each landing gear (nose included) was allotted just a single wheel. This design was so unique that it was patented.
Nazi Germany
