Well done Graeme … you are correct.
Here's a bit on the aircraft:
The Leduc 0.10 was a research aircraft built in France, one of the world's first aircraft to fly powered solely by a ramjet.
Designed by René Leduc in 1938, it was built at the Breguet Aviation factory after a protracted, semi-secret construction phase kept at arm's length from German occupation authorities, and was finally completed in 1947. The aircraft featured a double-walled fuselage, with the pilot controlling the aircraft from within the inner shell. The circular gap between this and the outer, cylindrical shell provided the inlet for the ramjet.
It could not take off unassisted (ramjets cannot produce thrust at zero airspeed and thus cannot move an aircraft from a standstill) and was therefore intended to be carried aloft by a parasite aircraft mother ship, first attempted by the four-engine AAS 01A & -B German-origin designs, which were replaced later in 1953, by examples of the French-designed Sud-Est Languedoc four-engine airliner, and released at altitude.
Following test flights of the AAS 01/Leduc 0.10 composite, independent unpowered gliding tests began in October 1947. After three such flights, the first powered flight from atop an AAS 01 mother ship was made on 21 April 1949 over Toulouse. Released in a shallow dive at an altitude of 3,050 m (10,010 ft), the engine was tested at half power for twelve minutes, propelling the aircraft to 680 km/h (420 mph).
In subsequent tests, the 0.10 reached a top speed of Mach 0.85 and demonstrated the viability of the ramjet as an aviation powerplant, with a rate of climb of 40 m/s (7,900 ft/min) to 11,000 meters (36,000 ft), exceeding that of the best jet fighters of the time.
Of the two 0.10s originally built, one was destroyed in a crash in 1951 and the other severely damaged in another crash the following year. Both pilots survived with serious injuries.
Graeme, your turn.
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Topic: Quest: Guess what is depicted here (Read 1000544 times)
