FMA I.Ae. 24 “Kalkin” ( Spanish FMA I.Ae. 24 Calquín , “Royal Eagle”) - Argentine multipurpose bomber aircraft, which was in service with the Argentine Air Force . Built on the basis of the English bomber de Havilland Mosquito . The first twin-engine strike aircraft designed and manufactured in Argentina and Latin America [1] [3] .
| FMA I.Ae. 24 Calquín | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type of | bomber fighter bomber |
| Developer | Instituto Aerotécnico |
| Manufacturer |  Fábrica militar de aviones |
| Chief Designer | Juan Ignacio San Martin |
| First flight | June 5, 1946 [1] [2] |
| Start of operation | 1947 |
| End of operation | 1961 (Air Force) |
| Status | decommissioned |
| Operators |  Argentine Air Force |
| Years of production | 1947-1950 |
| Units produced | 100 + 1 (prototype) |
| Base model | de Havilland Mosquito |
| Options | FMA I.Ae. 28 Super Calquín |
Content
Construction History
With the outbreak of World War II, Argentina, which was sympathetic to the Axis countries , declared neutrality on September 4, 1939, which it maintained until the beginning of 1944. By this time, the United States , after long attempts to persuade Buenos Aires to its side, began to consider the option of the invasion of Brazilian troops in Argentina. Since Argentina did not fall under the Lend-Lease Act , amid the shortage of military equipment and the inability to acquire it, the government in Buenos Aires felt an external threat. The country began the development and production of weapons and military equipment. For example, in 1944, the serial production of the first nationally developed Nahuel tank was established [4] .
In 1944, at the FMA design bureau in Cordoba , under the leadership of the engineer and director of the company, Juan Ignacio San Martín ( Spanish: Juan Ignacio San Martín ), the design of a twin-engine bomber began. The plane received the name "Kalkin", which is translated from the language of the Araucans Indians - the natives of the west of Argentina, means "Royal Eagle". Before World War II, the country had limited aluminum smelting capabilities, and relatively large production of this metal began only in 1974 with the opening of the Aluar plant in Madrid . This, as well as a reduction in the import into Argentina of other strategic metals used in the aircraft industry, led to the fact that the corps of the bomber I.Ae. 24 Calquín and Landing Glider I.Ae. 25 Mañque were made of wood.
Design was carried out with an eye on the British-designed Mosquito bomber. The first prototype flew on June 5, 1946 [1] [2] , under the direction of the leading FMA test pilot Edmundo Osvaldo Weiss ( Spanish: Edmundo Osvaldo Weiss ) [3] . After successful tests, during which the prototype flew for 100 hours without any incident, Kalkin was launched into small-scale production. I.Ae. 24 could perform almost all aerobatics [3] .
After the war ended, the Argentines studied the Mosquito obtained from Britain and introduced I.Ae. 24 series of improvements. A total of 100 units were produced in the 1947-1950s. Later, 5 of them were converted into combat training , equipped with dual controls [3] .
After successful tests I.Ae. 24 at the Institute of Aerotechnics, design work began I.Ae. 28 “Super Kalkin” - an improved version of the “Kalkin” with a Rolls-Royce Merlin III engine [5] , which would increase the speed by 200 km / h [3] . It was planned to release 100 units, but the capacity utilization of the FMA did not allow two projects to be conducted. For example, because of this, the production of the Boyero light aircraft was transferred to the capital company Petrolini Hermanos [1] . Project I.Ae. 28 Super Calquín was closed.
Design
It was a twin - engine midplane with retractable landing gear . The fuselage of the semi-monocoque design and its power set were made of wood - cedar , birch and balsa . Motor hoods are made of light alloy [1] . Wings - two side members , wooden. Crew seats were located in the cockpit nearby. Behind the seats was a bomb bay that could hold up to 740 kg of combat stock; the caliber of bombs could vary from 15 to 350 kg. Engines - American double - row star - shaped R-1830-G Twin Wasp company Pratt & Whitney , equipped with three-blade metal propellers Hamilton Standart [1] [3] . Initially, it was planned to install British Rolls-Royce Merlin 25 engines with a capacity of 1,620 liters on a plane. pp., however, due to wartime export restrictions , these plans were not implemented [1] [2] . Chassis tricycle, with a tail wheel.
Service
The first flight the first production aircraft performed July 4, 1947 [1] . A batch of one hundred vehicles ordered by the Air Force was delivered by April 1951 [3] . Airplanes used assault and reconnaissance units. Airplanes received baptism of fire in September 1955 , during the " Liberation Revolution ", which overthrew Juan Peron . So, on the morning of September 16, five I.Ae. 24 and the four Meteor fighters from the Moron air base attacked three landing ships of the fleet transporting cadets of the Naval School from Martin Garcia to help the rebels at the Rio Santiago naval base. The Kalkins carried out an unsuccessful bombing , and only the fire of the Meteor machine guns had an effective effect on the sailors - the ships, having received damage, were turned back [6] . One Kalkin paired with the Lincoln attacked the Muratur and King corvettes . However, the fire from the anti-aircraft guns of the ships reflected the attack [7] . According to unconfirmed reports, the Kalkin was shot down [6] . In addition, a number of government I.Ae. 24 went over to the side of the rebels, and participated in battles against the Peronists . So, the A-70 was bombarded by napalm bombs on the positions of government troops in the Cordoba region, later, such sorties took place several more times [6] .
The high accident rate of aircraft associated with their wooden structure was noted. So, back in 1947, two planes died in catastrophes. By 1958, 21 aircraft remained in service. In total, 41 aviators died in accidents [3] . “Kalkins” were operated as part of the Air Force until 1961, and the latter, which was supposed to be transferred to the museum, burned down during fire fighting exercises in 1967 [3] .
They were not exported. Periodically, aircraft were used to test various weapons systems of national design. For example, the AM-1 Tábano [3] air-to-air cruise missile , the first of its class in South America [8] .
Flight performance
Data source: World Aviation Magazines No. 132 [1] and Aviation and Time Magazines No. 4 (122) [3]
- Specifications
- Crew : 2
- Length : 12 m
- Wing span : 16.30 m
- Height : 3.40 m
- Wing Area: 38.2 m²
- Empty weight: 5,340 kg
- Normal take-off weight: 7,200 kg
- Maximum take-off weight : 8 165 kg
- Powerplant : 2 × PD Pratt & Whitney R-1830-G Twin Wasp
- Engine power: 2 × 1,050 hp (2 × 783 kW)
- Flight characteristics
- Maximum speed: 440 km / h
- Cruising speed : 380 km / h
- Combat radius: 2655 km
- Practical range: 1200 km
- Practical ceiling : 10,000 m
- Rate of climb : 750 m / min
- Armament
- Shooting and cannon: 4 × 20 mm Hispano Suiza 804 or 12.7 mm machine guns (American Browning M3 / Argentinean DL)
- Unguided missiles : 12 × 75 mm
- Bombs : up to 800 kg
Operators
- Argentina
- Argentine Air Force [9]
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 FMA I.Ae. 24 Calquín // World Aviation: Journal. - 2011. - No. 132 . - S. 21 . - ISSN 2071-1131 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 Mansur, Sergio I.Ae. 24 Calquín (Águila real en mapuche) (Spanish) . Crónicas y Testimonios. Date of treatment November 9, 2013. Archived October 26, 2013.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Kotlobovsky A. Wooden “Eagle” from the shores of La Plata (Russian) // Aviation and Time: magazine. - Kiev, 2011. - No. 4 (122) . - S. 30-32 .
- ↑ Nikolaev V. Production of weapons in Argentina // Foreign Military Review. - M .: Red Star, 1982. - No. 2 . - S. 26 . - ISSN 0134-921X .
- ↑ Mansur, Sergio Proyecto I.Ae. 28 D-710 (Spanish) (link not available) . Crónicas y Testimonios. Date of treatment November 9, 2013. Archived October 26, 2013.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Kotlobovsky A. Explosions of bombs to the sounds of tango (part 2) (Russian) // Aviation and Time: magazine. - Kiev, 2011. - No. 5 (123) . - S. 25-27 .
- ↑ ARA King (P-21) (Spanish) . Historia y Arqueologia Marítima. Date of treatment November 9, 2013.
- ↑ Colon, Raul Operacion Soberania . Aeroflight (May 14, 2010). Date of treatment November 9, 2013.
- ↑ World Air Forces - Historical Listings Argentina (ARG) Archived July 4, 2013.