FMA IAe 33 Pulqui II, more commonly known as the Pulqui II, was a
jetA jet aircraft is an aircraft propelled by jet engines. Jet aircraft generally fly much faster than propeller-powered aircraft and at higher altitudes — as high as 10,000 to 15,000 meters . At these altitudes, jet engines achieve maximum efficiency over long distances...
fighter aircraftA fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets by dropping bombs. Fighters are small, fast, and maneuverable...
developed between the years 1950–53, in
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
, during the
PerónJuan Domingo Perón was an Argentine general and politician, elected three times as President of Argentina, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency. He was overthrown in a military coup in 1955...
government. Although it never proceeded beyond prototype stage, the Pulqui II program was one of the
first generationAircraft classified as first generation jet fighters are the first attempts at creation of military aircraft using jet engines. A few were developed during the closing days of World War II but saw very limited combat operations...
jet fighters to appear in the postwar years.
In the years following
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Argentina approached different
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
scientists and offered them a chance to rebuild their professional lives, not unlike what was done by other countries like
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
or the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
.
FMA IAe 33 Pulqui II, more commonly known as the Pulqui II, was a
jetA jet aircraft is an aircraft propelled by jet engines. Jet aircraft generally fly much faster than propeller-powered aircraft and at higher altitudes — as high as 10,000 to 15,000 meters . At these altitudes, jet engines achieve maximum efficiency over long distances...
fighter aircraftA fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets by dropping bombs. Fighters are small, fast, and maneuverable...
developed between the years 1950–53, in
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
, during the
PerónJuan Domingo Perón was an Argentine general and politician, elected three times as President of Argentina, after serving in several government positions, including the Secretary of Labor and the Vice Presidency. He was overthrown in a military coup in 1955...
government. Although it never proceeded beyond prototype stage, the Pulqui II program was one of the
first generationAircraft classified as first generation jet fighters are the first attempts at creation of military aircraft using jet engines. A few were developed during the closing days of World War II but saw very limited combat operations...
jet fighters to appear in the postwar years.
Design and development
In the years following
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Argentina approached different
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
scientists and offered them a chance to rebuild their professional lives, not unlike what was done by other countries like
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
or the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
. One of these scientists was arguably the most talented of all German aircraft engineers and designers:
Kurt TankKurt Waldemar Tank was a resourceful German aeronautical engineer and test pilot, heading the design department at Focke-Wulf from 1931-45. He designed several important aircraft of World War II, including the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter aircraft.-Early life:Tank was born in Bromberg , Province of...
.
Famous for the
Focke-WulfFocke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG was a German manufacturer of civil and military aircraft during World War II. Many of the company's successful fighter aircraft designs were slight modifications of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190.-History:...
Fw 190 /
Ta 152The Focke-Wulf Ta 152 was a World War II Luftwaffe high-altitude fighter-interceptor. The Ta 152 was a development of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 aircraft, but the prefix was changed from "Fw" to "Ta" to recognize the contributions of Kurt Tank who headed the design team...
series of fighters, Tank quickly collected a large team originating from that aircraft's design bureau, and established himself in
CórdobaCórdoba is a city located near the geographical center of Argentina, in the foothills of the Sierras Chicas on the Suquía River, about northwest of Buenos Aires. It is the capital of Córdoba Province....
in 1947.
Tank's assignment was to design a far better airplane than the
I.Ae. 27 Pulqui IThe I.Ae. 27 Pulqui I was an Argentine jet fighter designed at the "Instituto Aerotecnico" in 1946.-Design and development:...
, the first Argentine prototype for a national jet fighter. It had been decided from the beginning that the new fighter would be named the Pulqui II (
pulqui meaning "arrow"' in
MapudungunMapudungun is a language isolate spoken in central Chile and west central Argentina by the Mapuche people. It is also known as Mapudungu, Mapuche, and Araucanian...
).
For that Tank was well prepared for the job. From late 1944, his team had been working on a 2nd generation jet fighter for the
LuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1933 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956.Schweizer Luftwaffe is also the name of the Swiss Air...
under the designation
Focke-Wulf Ta 183 HuckebeinThe Focke-Wulf Ta-183 Huckebein was a jet-powered fighter aircraft, designed during World War II as the successor to the Messerschmitt Me 262 and other day fighters in Luftwaffe service. It was developed only to the extent of wind tunnel models when the war ended, but the basic design was further...
. It was an advanced jet, extraordinarily compact in size and aerodynamically clean, sporting a 32° swept wing, and accommodating a
HeinkelHeinkel Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturing company founded by and named after Ernst Heinkel. It is noted for producing bomber aircraft for the Luftwaffe in World War II and for important contributions to high-speed flight.-History:...
He S011A jet engine which would bring it to calculated maximum speed of 967 km/h at an altitude of 7000 metres.
Like the MiG-15, being developed in the Soviet Union at the same time, the chosen powerplant for the Pulqui II was the
Rolls-Royce NeneThe Rolls-Royce Nene was a 1940s British centrifugal compressor turbojet engine. It was named after the River Nene in keeping with company tradition for jet engines.-Development:...
II. The Nene was more powerful than the He S011A but required a redesigned new fuselage with a larger cross-section due to its having a centrifugal rather than axial
compressorA gas compressor is a mechanical device that increases the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume.Compressors are similar to pumps: both increase the pressure on a fluid and both can transport the fluid through a pipe. As gases are compressible, the compressor also reduces the volume of a gas...
. The resulting product was the IAe.33 Pulqui II.
The high-mounted anhedral wings were swept back 40°, even more than the Ta 183. The long
fuselageThe fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...
was circular in section with the engine buried inside near the center of gravity. The airframe was finished off with a graceful swept-back T-shaped
tailEmpennage is an aviation term used to describe the tail portion of an aircraft. The empennage is also known as the tail or tail assembly; all three terms may be interchangeably used. The empennage gives stability to the aircraft and controls the flight dynamics of pitch and yaw...
. The pilot sat in a
pressurizedCabin pressurization is the active pumping of compressed air into an aircraft cabin when flying at altitude to maintain a safe and comfortable environment for crew and passengers in the low outside atmospheric pressure....
cockpitA cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft, from which a pilot controls the aircraft. Most modern cockpits are enclosed, except on some small aircraft, and cockpits on large airliners are also physically separated from the cabin.It is a place where from which flight...
under a teardrop canopy. Armament would include four fuselage-mounted 20 mm cannon. Contrary to the previous Pulqui I designed by
Émile Dewoitine- Prewar industrial activities :Born in Crépy-en-Valois, Émile Dewoitine entered the aviation industry by working at Latécoère during Word War I. In 1920, he founded his own company, but facing little success at home, went to Switzerland where his Dewoitine D.27 fighter was accepted for operational...
, many design elements incorporated into the Pulqui II were new in the fields of aeronautical construction, placing the Argentine aero industry amongst the forefront of aviation technology during those years.
Testing and evaluation
The first flight of the IAe.33 Pulqui II no. 2 took place on 16 June 1950 with Osvaldo Weiss at the controls. The second flight which took place three days later was entrusted to ex-Focke Wulf test pilot Otto Behrens. Kurt Tank also completed a good number of the test flights undertaken during the following weeks. The new aircraft proved relatively successful in some respects, but it displayed severe handling difficulties at various points of the flight envelope - specifically deep stall problems at high angles of attack. Behrens personally characterized the handling characteristics of Pulqui II as, "the worst he had ever experienced as a test pilot" – a fact that was borne out by the fatal crashes of two prototypes during testing, one of which killed Behrens. Lack of operational range was another problem which wasn't solved until the fifth prototype.
Meanwhile, the economic crisis that hit Argentina beginning in 1953 forced the slowing down of armament development programs. The high-cost high-profile Pulqui II project was halted, first temporarily, but the fall of the Peron administration in 1955 meant the project would never recover. The final blow for the Pulqui II project was the availability of cheap combat-proven surplus
F-86 SabreThe North American Aviation F-86 Sabre was a transonic jet fighter aircraft. The Sabre is best known for its Korean War role where it was pitted against the Soviet MiG-15 and obtained UN air superiority...
s from the end of the
Korean WarThe Korean War is a war that started between North Korea and South Korea on 25 June 1950 and paused with an armistice signed 27 July, 1953...
, at a fraction of the cost of the expensive and troubled Argentine aircraft. Kurt Tank moved on to other projects, first trying to return to
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
but then moving on to
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
. Most of his team ended up leaving Argentina to find work in the United States and other countries. Kurt Tank himself was not to return to his life and work in Germany until the 1970s, where he died in 1983.
Today, the sole Pulqui I and the Pulqui II no. 5 are preserved at the
Argentine Air ForceThe Argentine Air Force is the national aviation branch of the armed forces of Argentina. As of 2007, it had 14,606 airmen and 6,854 civilans on duty.-History:...
’s Museum in
MorónMoron may refer to:* Moron , disused term for a person with a mental age between 8 and 12* Idiot slang for an idiotic person* "Moron" * "Moron"...
.
Specifications
See also
External links