Copyright 2012 by Brandon Cope
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Fokker A.IV heavy gyrocopter bomber
As the A.III neared production, it was decided an aircraft with
longer range and a heavier bomb load was desired to 'take the fight to
the enemy'. The resulting autogyro was a massive design, with wings to
support four engines and improve agility (which was still poor). While
it was the most impressive autogyro at the time it entered service, it
was too ambitious of a design and wasa sked to do too much for the
technology.
The A.IV had the range to hit any target in German with 4,000 kg of
bombs. A major problem was, that with it's low speed, it would
take it a long time to reach targets as far as Berlin, Dresden or
Munich. Perhaps to fend off German concerns, the Dutch pointed out that
the A.IV could also reach London or Paris, although no one (especially
the Germans) really believed that the autogyro would ever bomb these
two cities.
Crew of the A.IV is
7: pilot, navigator/radio operator, bombardier (who also operates the
nose LMG), and four gunners
(tail, ventral, and port and starboard beam positions). The A.IV uses
144 gallons of aviation fuel per hour.
Subassemblies: Gargantuan Helicopter Chassis +4, Heavy
Fighter wings with High Agility option +3, 3xLarge Weapon engine pods
[Wings:F], Rotors +1,
three
fixed Wheels +1
P&P: 4x800 kW turbo HP gasoline engines w/4x800-kW
props, 1,170 gallon
standard tanks [Wings and Body]
Occ: 7
CS
Cargo: 75.
| Armor |
F |
R/L |
B |
T |
U |
| Body |
2/2 |
2/2 |
2/2 |
2/2 |
2/2 |
| Rotors |
3/10 |
3/10 |
3/10 |
3/10 |
3/10 |
| Wheels |
3/5 |
3/5 |
3/5 |
3/5 |
3/5 |
Weaponry
Aircraft LMG [Body:F] (1,000)
Aircraft LMG [Body:R] (1,000)
Aircraft LMG [Body:L] (1,000)
2*Aircraft LMG [Body:B] (1,000 each)
Aircraft LMG [Body:U] (1,000)
Equipment
Body: Long range radio receiver and transmitter, bomb sight,
navigational
instruments, 8,800-lb bomb bay..
Statistics
| Size: 90'x5\70'x12' |
Payload: 8.5 tons |
Lwt: 19.1 tons |
Volume: 800
|
Maint.: 29 hours |
Price: $46,500 |
HT: 7
HP: 450 [body], 72 [rotor], 240 [each wing], 120 [each
engine pod], 45 [each wheel]
aSpeed: 146
|
aAccel: 5
|
aDecel: 8
|
aMR: 1.25
|
aSR: 1
|
Stall: 27 mph |
Take-off roll (loaded): 27 yards. Landing roll (loaded): 7 yards
Take-off roll (no bombs, max fuel): 18 yards. Landing roll (no bombs,
10% fuel): 5 yards
Design Notes
The autogyro can sacrifice internal bomb load for more fuel. For each
1,100 lbs of bombs not carried, 17- gallons of auxiliary fuel tanks can
be fitted.
To better match historical autogyros, rotor area was raised to the 1.75
power in stall calculations and 1.5 power in speed calculations.
Takeoff was divided by 3 and landing distances by 10.
Variants
The A.V was the transport version, with 28 passengers or 700
cf (140 vsp) of cargo. The bomb bay was removed, the four gunners but
their positions were retained. Large oval doors were added to the
port and starboard sides and the nose was hinged to fold down and serve
as a loading ramp. A dozen were built and most A.IV's that survived the
German invasion were converted to A.V's, where they proved useful
short-field transports.