Lippisch P.13b
Encyclopedia
The Lippisch P.13b was a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
ramjet
Ramjet
A ramjet, sometimes referred to as a stovepipe jet, or an athodyd, is a form of airbreathing jet engine using the engine's forward motion to compress incoming air, without a rotary compressor. Ramjets cannot produce thrust at zero airspeed and thus cannot move an aircraft from a standstill...
powered fighter aircraft designed by Alexander Lippisch
Alexander Lippisch
Alexander Martin Lippisch was a German pioneer of aerodynamics. He made important contributions to the understanding of flying wings, delta wings and the ground effect. His most famous design is the Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket-powered interceptor.Lippisch was born in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria...
. Designed in December 1944, the P.13b was a further development of the similarly delta-winged Lippisch P.13a
Lippisch P.13a
The Lippisch P.13a was an experimental ramjet-powered delta wing interceptor aircraft designed in late 1944 by Dr. Alexander Lippisch for Nazi Germany...
, which was also a ramjet fighter. The cockpit was located in the nose of the fuselage, and was mounted forward of the delta wing, which featured downturned wing tips. Main landing gear comprised a retractable skid, while the rear of the aircraft would rest on the reinforced wing tips.
Air intakes were sited on either side of the cockpit in the leading edges of the wings. Due to the increasing shortages of fuel by the latter stages of the war, it was proposed to use coal (or paraffin
Paraffin
In chemistry, paraffin is a term that can be used synonymously with "alkane", indicating hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n+2. Paraffin wax refers to a mixture of alkanes that falls within the 20 ≤ n ≤ 40 range; they are found in the solid state at room temperature and begin to enter the...
-coated lignite
Lignite
Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad,is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat...
dust) as a fuel. A central mounted round or hexagonal shaped combustion chamber constructed from ceramic
Ceramic
A ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...
materials was to be mounted in the wing's interior, designed to be refuellable from above. The aircraft was accelerated to ramjet speeds by rockets attached to the wings and speeds of 1200+km/h were attained
Officially work ceased on the concept before armament was planned, and officially no tests were ever carried out either of the airframe design or the unique power source. Flight data pertaining to this aircraft is on record and also a P13b is listed on the American forces manifest of aircraft shipped to the USA as war booty at the end of WWII.