Romantic Technofreak
30th October 2005, 01:22
When it became obvious that in WWII huge amounts of aircraft standing around everywhere, emergency-landed, worn-out or grounded because of (sometimes slight) technical defects, there were considerations done to get these aircraft usable again.
When Estonia was occupied by German troops in 1941, an Estonian aircraft engineer, Taki Myks, went into German service. Myks´ idea was, not to scrap all aircraft mentioned above, but to get them in a usable status again by combining them!
Taki Myks´ first masterpiece was the Messerschmitt Bf 109 CCS:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v475/Coridano/362d967e.jpg
It uses the engine and propeller of a Bf 109 E, cockpit section of a test-stopped Italian Caproni-Campini turbine experimental prototype and rear section of a captured Spitfire. It was intended to function as very effective long-range reconnoisater following the concept of the Tupolev ANT-25.
When the aircraft was tested over the Atlantic Ocean, Taki Myks himself was on board. In bad weather, the crew lost orienation and the aircraft emergency-landed in Iceland. Myks was taken in prison, interviewed by the British Intelligence Service and then offered his ideas to the British side.
So it came, Myks was the driving power in the development of the Blackburn Blackbear:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v475/Coridano/12e53dcd.jpg
The idea behind this aircraft was to produce it only from captured Axis aircraft. The bow is of a Dornier Do 217 N nightfighter. Wings and main fuselage section are from a Savoia-Marchetti SM-79. The tail section is from a Nakjima J1N Gekko. A separate upper cockpit was taken from a Fiat G.50 for to improve visual recce.
The aircraft was intended to clear mine fields in the Sahara desert, but production did not take place because it was considered too expensive to gather "Japanese" tails from very much scattered Pacific islands.
For his services for Britain, Taki Myks was awarded the canopy of a Messerschmitt Me 262. With this and being released from prisonership, Myks went to Finland shortly after the war. There, an Arado Ar 234 was fled, but the tail section was damaged.
Following Myks´proposals, the famous Finnish Firm VL constructed the Myksymyrsky (what means "wind from different directions"):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v475/Coridano/05a75b9a.jpg
With the canopy Myks had brought with him, an upper cockpit for the pilot was foreseen, while the original pilot now functioned only as bomb aimer. For the tail section, the one of a leftover Heinkel He 111 was used. The cockpit arrangement was considered basically good by the testing crews, but there was never an agreement about removing the rear gun periscope from the pilot´s sight, because, for whatever reasons, the Finnish responsibles insisted the foremost crew member being responsible for the rear defence of the aircraft.
Taki Myks, so it is said, in the 50s influenced the development of the Potez 75, especially the cockpit arrangement:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v475/Coridano/79383068.jpg
The pictures, except the last, were provided by our good friend Jacek Czarny (if you know whom I mean!) and were transferred without kind permission from forum.axishistory.com.
Yours sincerely,
Lunatic Technofreak
When Estonia was occupied by German troops in 1941, an Estonian aircraft engineer, Taki Myks, went into German service. Myks´ idea was, not to scrap all aircraft mentioned above, but to get them in a usable status again by combining them!
Taki Myks´ first masterpiece was the Messerschmitt Bf 109 CCS:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v475/Coridano/362d967e.jpg
It uses the engine and propeller of a Bf 109 E, cockpit section of a test-stopped Italian Caproni-Campini turbine experimental prototype and rear section of a captured Spitfire. It was intended to function as very effective long-range reconnoisater following the concept of the Tupolev ANT-25.
When the aircraft was tested over the Atlantic Ocean, Taki Myks himself was on board. In bad weather, the crew lost orienation and the aircraft emergency-landed in Iceland. Myks was taken in prison, interviewed by the British Intelligence Service and then offered his ideas to the British side.
So it came, Myks was the driving power in the development of the Blackburn Blackbear:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v475/Coridano/12e53dcd.jpg
The idea behind this aircraft was to produce it only from captured Axis aircraft. The bow is of a Dornier Do 217 N nightfighter. Wings and main fuselage section are from a Savoia-Marchetti SM-79. The tail section is from a Nakjima J1N Gekko. A separate upper cockpit was taken from a Fiat G.50 for to improve visual recce.
The aircraft was intended to clear mine fields in the Sahara desert, but production did not take place because it was considered too expensive to gather "Japanese" tails from very much scattered Pacific islands.
For his services for Britain, Taki Myks was awarded the canopy of a Messerschmitt Me 262. With this and being released from prisonership, Myks went to Finland shortly after the war. There, an Arado Ar 234 was fled, but the tail section was damaged.
Following Myks´proposals, the famous Finnish Firm VL constructed the Myksymyrsky (what means "wind from different directions"):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v475/Coridano/05a75b9a.jpg
With the canopy Myks had brought with him, an upper cockpit for the pilot was foreseen, while the original pilot now functioned only as bomb aimer. For the tail section, the one of a leftover Heinkel He 111 was used. The cockpit arrangement was considered basically good by the testing crews, but there was never an agreement about removing the rear gun periscope from the pilot´s sight, because, for whatever reasons, the Finnish responsibles insisted the foremost crew member being responsible for the rear defence of the aircraft.
Taki Myks, so it is said, in the 50s influenced the development of the Potez 75, especially the cockpit arrangement:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v475/Coridano/79383068.jpg
The pictures, except the last, were provided by our good friend Jacek Czarny (if you know whom I mean!) and were transferred without kind permission from forum.axishistory.com.
Yours sincerely,
Lunatic Technofreak