Škoda-Kauba P14

The Škoda-Kauba SK P14 was a ramjet-powered emergency fighter project for the Luftwaffe. It was designed by the Škoda-Kauba industries towards the end of World War II as part of the Third Reich defense effort against the devastating allied bombing raids.

SK P14
Skoda-Kauba SK P14.01
Role Interceptor
National origin Occupied Czechoslovakia
Manufacturer Škoda-Kauba
Status Terminated by end of war
Primary user Luftwaffe
Number built 0

Design and development

Engineer Eugen Sänger worked on this ramjet fighter project after his Silbervogel proposal for a suborbital glider to the Reich Air Ministry was rejected. The fighter was an approved project in line with the 1944 designs of the High Command of the Luftwaffe for basic interceptors.[1]

The Škoda-Kauba Aircraft Industries, located in a suburb of Nazi-occupied Prague,[2] designed the SK P14 as a single-seat monoplane powered by a Sänger ramjet engine. Since the ramjet had a diameter of 1.5 m and a length of 9.5 m, the massive engine and its tubular air-intake duct formed most of the fuselage structure. The cockpit had the pilot flying the aircraft in a prone position. Its landing gear was a retractable skid. In order to bring the ramjet to a speed where it would work, take off was by means of booster rockets fitted to a three-wheel detachable dolly. Only parts of the aircraft had been built when the project was terminated.[3]

Variants

The Skoda-Kauba SK P14 project had two different variants. Both of them would be powered by a single Sänger ramjet that would give the aircraft a speed nearing 1000 km/h.

SK P14.01

Ramjet-powered interceptor with a wingspan of 7 m and a length of 9.85 m. Its armament was a MK 108 cannon located above the cockpit.[3]

SK P14.02

A similar interceptor project similar to the Sk P.14.01 but with a shortened fuselage and wings set in a more forward position.[3]

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

Related lists

References
  1. Titz, Zdenek and Zazvonil, Jaroslav; "Kauba's Dwarfs", Flying Review International, November 1965, pp.169-172.
  2. Skoda-Kauba Flugzeugbau
  3. Skoda-Kauba Sk P.14 - Luft'46
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