The Ho VIII, Transport Aircraft and Flying Wind Tunnel

Usage
 

Experimental

Fuselage Construction

Steel Tube
 

Wing Construction
 

Wood
 

Capacity
 

Three people
 

Motor type
 

Six Argus As 10 engines
 

Power
 

6 x 176 kW (6 x 236 HP)

Span
 

40.0 m
 

Sweep Angle
 

33.7 degrees
 

Taper Ratio
 

8.1
 

Wing Root Thickness
 

18% chord
 

Wing Root Depth
 

6.5 m
 

Rib Spacing
 

0.4 m
 

Wing Area
 

146.0 m2
 

Aspect Ratio
 

11.0
 

Pilot position
 

Seated
 

Mid-section width
 

4.0 m
 

Cockpit width
 

0.80 m
 

Cockpit height (from seat)
 

1.1 m
 

Empty weight
 

5000 kg
 

Ballast (water)
 

---
 

Additional payload
 

240 kg
 

Fuel
 

2760 kg
 

Maximum weight
 

82000 kg
 

Wing loading
 

55 kg/m2
 

Engine loading

(5.55) 7.6 kg/kW
 

Stall speed
 

80 km/h
 

Landing speed
 

80 km/h
 

Cruise speed
 

250 km/h
 

Maximum speed (horizontal)

280 km/h
 

Maximum speed
 

430 km/h
 
I was invited to attend a high level meeting with Goering, where the prospect of a long range bomber was discussed. The official demand was: 4000 kg bombs, and 4000 mile range. The Junkers 287 was to be compared with other proposals. Messerschmitt submitted one, we another. Six Jumo 004 jet engines were suggested as powerplants for all.

 After three days of discussions, it became clear that our flying wing would have far better range than the others, although short of the required 4000 miles. Thus it appeared that an order for a large bomber would come our way, so we decided to build an intermediate size aircraft to gain experience.

To minimize the risk of aerodynamic surprises, we simply doubled the dimensions of the trusty Ho III. This improved the calculated L/D to 30, since the friction drag coefficient was reduced through a fivefold increase in the Re numbers.

 All our calculations needed verification in a wind tunnel. As they remained unavailable, we decided to help ourselves, and put a tube shaped fuselage in the Ho VIII, to make it a flying wind tunnel.

 The Argus engine used in the Ho VII would be used, with six units mounted in the wings driving pusher propellers. The wing would have a box spar, with all control rods and cables inside the spar, to free the remaining wing space for fuel tanks.

 The construction progressed quickly through the spring of 1945, and the aircraft was half finished when the American forces reached Gottingen.

ho_vii_linkage_sm

Control linkage for the Ho VIII