TOM-8 | |
---|---|
Role | Training aircraftType of aircraft |
National origin | Czechoslovakia |
Manufacturer | VZLU |
First flight | 23 April 1956 |
Status | Prototype |
The TOM-8 was a prototype Czechoslovak single-engined two-seat training aircraft of the 1950s. It was designed by the VZLU, the Czechoslovak national aeronautic research institute for the Czechoslovak Air Force, with a prototype flying in 1956, but production plans were abandoned in 1960.
Design and development
In the mid-1950s, the Czechoslovak Air Force had a requirement to replace its Aero C-11 trainers, a licence-built version of the Soviet Yakovlev Yak-11. The design of the new aircraft was allocated to a team at the VZLU,, led by Karel Tomáš, who had previously served as chief designer for Tatra's aviation department, and later for Zlín, where he designed the Zlín Z 26 trainer.
The resulting design, designated TOM-8 after Tomáš, and also known as the L-8, was a low-winged monoplane of all metal construction, powered by a single 235 hp (175 kW) Praga Doris C air-cooled six-cylinder horizontally-opposed piston engine. Student and instructor sat in tandem in an enclosed cockpit, with the student in the front seat, and were provided with dual controls. The aircraft had a retractable tricycle landing gear.
The first TOM-8 made its maiden flight on 23 April 1956, but development was slowed by engine problems, and plans for production at the Moravan Otrokovice works (where Zlín aircraft were built) were abandoned in 1960.
One TOM-8 is preserved at the Kbely Aviation Museum.
Specifications
Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1958–59
General characteristics
- Crew: 2
- Length: 9.37 m (30 ft 9 in)
- Wingspan: 10.93 m (35 ft 10 in)
- Height: 3.17 m (10 ft 5 in)
- Wing area: 17.255 m (185.73 sq ft)
- Aspect ratio: 6.94:1
- Empty weight: 1,060 kg (2,337 lb)
- Gross weight: 1,380 kg (3,042 lb) (normal)
- Fuel capacity: 180 L (40 imp gal; 48 US gal)
- Powerplant: 1 × Praga Doris C air-cooled six-cylinder horizontally opposed piston engine, 175 kW (235 hp)
- Propellers: 2-bladed metal variable-pitch propeller, 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) diameter
Performance
- Maximum speed: 285 km/h (177 mph, 154 kn)
- Cruise speed: 240 km/h (150 mph, 130 kn) at 1,000 m (3,280 ft)
- Range: 720 km (450 mi, 390 nmi)
- Endurance: 3 hr
- Service ceiling: 6,050 m (19,850 ft)
- Rate of climb: 5.41 m/s (1,065 ft/min)
- Take-off distance to 20 m (65 ft): 455 m (1,493 ft)
- Landing distance from 20 m (65 ft): 430 m (1,410 ft)
Notes
- Czech:Vyzkummy a Zkusebni Letecky Ustav, the Czechoslovak national aeronautic research institute.
- The first prototype had a steel tube structure, but it was planned for later aircraft to have a monocoque fuselage.
References
- Gunston 2005, p. 491
- ^ "VZLÚ TOM-8 OK-08, výr. č. 4". Vojenský Historiký Ústav Praha (in Czech). Retrieved 2 August 2020.
- ^ Němeček 1956, p. 656
- Němeček 1956, pp. 656–657
- ^ Bridgman 1958, pp. 133–134
- Gunston 2005, p. 529
- ^ Němeček 1956, p. 657
- Bridgman, Leonard (1958). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1958–59. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd.
- Gunston, Bill (2005). World Encyclopedia of Aircraft Manufacturers (2nd ed.). Stroud, UK: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-3981-8.
- Němeček, Václav (16 October 1956). "Představujeme vám letadlo TOM-8". Křídla vlasti (in Czech). Vol. 1956, no. 21. pp. 656–657. Retrieved 2 August 2020.