Hunting H126
Serial Number:
XN714
Period:
Post-WWII
Collection Ref: 85/A/63
Location: RAF Museum Cosford, Research & Development
This unusual looking research aircraft was capable of
flight at speeds as low as 51.5kph (32mph) by virtue of its 'jet flaps'
which used thrust ducted from the main engine to increase lift.
The 'jet flap' was intended to improve take-off and landing performance,
i.e. to enable aircraft to use shorter runways. To generate more lift,
a system of sixteen nozzles positioned along the trailing edge of the
wing directed more than half the engine's exhaust gases over the upper
surface of the flaps. Another 10% of the engine's exhaust was directed
through small nozzles in the wing tips and tail to provide control at
low speeds.
In order to test the concept, Hunting Aircraft was awarded the contract
in 1959 to build two aircraft. The first of these, XN714, flew on 26 March
1963.
Over one-hundred experimental flights were made by the manufacturers at
Luton and by the Royal Aircraft Establishment's Aerodynamics Flight at
Bedford between 1963 and 1967. In 1969 the aircraft was shipped to the
USA for full scale wind tunnel tests by the National Air and Space Administration
(NASA). The second H126 was not completed. Upon its return in May 1970,
XN714 was placed in storage until struck off charge in September 1972.
Due to the impracticalities of the nozzle system's complex ducting and
its adverse effect on engine power, the jet flap was not developed further.
