throughout aviation history there have been various experimental and specialized aircraft that were not mass-produced but sered specific purposes such as the testing of equipment exploring different Design Concepts or attempting to break records this focus on highspeed record-breaking and the development of specialized prototypes was characteristic of pre-World War II Aviation competitions where Nations sought to Showcase their engineering achievements and gain Prestige Germany was one of these competitors entering the competition field for the highest speed during the late 30s they successfully achieved this with the Meine N9 but before we continue with our record Setter airplane a word from today's sponsor spam of course you've already heard of spam it fills your inbox and phone with unwanted messages selling you counterfeit products scams and all other sorts of Unholy things but how did these spammers get your email address or your phone numbers through data Brokers how does that 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came to power in 1933 huge Investments were made to build one of the most modern air forces in the world thanks to this the Germans introduced a series of excellent aircraft designs that would Dom at the Skies over Europe in the first years of the war not all of these were intended for combat as some were specifically designed to be used for propaganda to show off German industrial and technological Excellency to the world this could be best displayed by breaking various World Records in aviation in order to win worldwide prestige in the field of aviation in 1937 meses Schmidt was instructed by the Reich luath ministerium rlm German air Ministry to begin the development of an experiment aircraft a production order of four prototype aircraft was given villy mmid and his team of Engineers began working on this project designated me29 the 209 was designed as a low-wing all metal single seat experimental record-breaking aircraft the fuselage and the wings were made of a metal frame covered in aluminum sheets the rear tail unit had an unusual design with the rudder being greatly enlarged to help the aircraft cope with the propeller torque this aircraft used a standard landing gear that retracted inward from the wings to the rear a sliding skid was placed at the bottom part of the large tail fin the skid was connected with a spring to the tail unit and could be completely retracted to reduce the drag the cockpit was placed to the rear of the aircraft fuselage this design had a huge flaw as it severely restricted the Pilot's frontal view the canopy of this cockpit opened outwards toward the right and in an emergency it could be jettisoned the me29 was to be powered by the Deb 600 Zs aot 12 cylinder liquid cooled engine the engine cooling system was rather unusual as the meses Schmid Engineers wanted to avoid using a standard radiator to avoid unnecessary drag they came up with a new design the engine was cooled with water which was nothing unusual but the way the water itself was cooled was quite a new and complicated process the hot water the steam from the engine was redistributed to the wings through pipes Once In the Wings through a series of specially designed openings the steam would be condensed back to a liquid state the cooled water would then be brought back to the engine where the process would be repeated again and again the negative side of the system was the constant loss of water due to evaporation which depending on the conditions like speed varied from 4 to 7 l or 1.05 to 1.8 us Gall per minute due to this huge loss in a short amount of time the aircraft had to be equipped with a 200 L 53 US gallon water container with this water load capacity the me29 had an endurance time of only 35 minutes the Prototype made its Maiden flight at the start of August 1938 this flight was rather short lasting only 7 Minutes flown by the meses Schmid chief engineer JH Vera initially it was planned to use the experimental 1,8 00 horsepower DB 601 arj engine as it was not yet available a 1,100 horsepower DB 601a engine was used instead almost from the start the me29 was shown to be a Troublesome design with numerous issues detected during flight testing some of these included the aircraft's tendency to abruptly dive midf flight the controls being heavy and hard to work with either in the air or on the ground ventilation was poor engine overheating problems were evident due to insufficient Cooling and cockpit visibility was quite limited during Landings the Prototype showed that it had a high sinking rate which usually led to a harsh Landing potentially causing damage to the landing gear despite all of this which would in other circumstances lead to a guaranteed cancellation of the project the rlm officials urged that the me29 development continue the second prototype type was completed in early 1939 it was flight tested for the first time on the 8th of February 1939 at that time verer gave up his position as mesurment test pilot to Fritz vendel on the 4th of April there was an accident during which this aircraft would be lost after a short flight the pilot Was preparing for a landing approach suddenly and without warning the engine stopped working and the aircraft rapidly lost altitude the pilot was unable to do anything thing and the aircraft hit the ground the second prototype was lost but surprisingly vendel who was piloting the aircraft survived the forced Landing without injury in the meantime with the loss of this aircraft the testing continued using the first prototype which was finally equipped with the DB 601 arj Engine with the loss of the second prototype and the remaining two being under construction it was decided to use the first prototype for the anticipated world record flight on the 26th of April 1939 while piloted by vendel the me29 reached a phenomenal speed of 755 kmph or 470 mph German minister of propaganda ysf gobl was quick to exploit this successful flight goal's propaganda machine soon published this news as a great success of the German aviation industry to hide the experimental nature of the me 209 in propaganda news it was renamed the M109R this was also done to deceive the foreign general public into believing that this was an actual operational fighter shortly after that all further work on beating the speed record was strictly forbidden following this success the third prototype was completed and flight tested in May 1939 its flight career would end shortly as its frame was mostly used for various testing and experimental duties and the whole project lost momentum in May 1939 the fourth prototype was flight tested while the previous prototypes were to be used for beating International World Records this one was planned to be adopted for potential military use it was not requested by the rlm but was instead a private Venture by meses Schmidt its design was modified to include new and enlarged wings and the racing engine was replaced with a more reliable 1,1 100 horsepower DB 6601 due to limitations of the wing-mounted cooling system it had to be replaced with conventional radiators which were changed several times the wing design was also changed as it was somewhat larger and longer than that used on the original me29 these were also provided with an automatic Leading Edge slat given its new role Armament was to be included this would consist of 2 7.92 mm or 0 .3 in mg1 17s placed in the wings or above the engine compartment depending on the source in addition at least 1 2 cm or 0.78 in Cannon was also to be used firing through the propeller shaft some sources also mention the use of two 3 cm cannons positioned in the wings but this seems highly unlikely installation of a light machine gun inside the wings proved impossible and was abandoned during testing of the much modified me29 it was shown to have weaker General flight performance than the already in production me109 attempts to further improve it by installing a stronger engine failed despite all this work the me29 was simply not suited for use as a fighter and the project thus had to be abandoned following the completion of its original goal the Prototype was given to the Berlin Air Museum in April 1940 initially the mes Schmid worked simply kept the natural aluminum color for the me29 this was not appropriate for an exhibit it would be repainted in dark blue with its code painted on the fuselage sides interestingly during its brief service the me29 was often nicknamed by its crew as Fant Eber in English flying bore in 1943 the Berlin Air Museum was hit during an Allied bombing raid and many aircraft were lost the me 209 was damaged but its fuselage was left relatively intact it and other exhibits were moved to Poland for saf keeping where it was simply forgotten it wasn't until 1967 that Norman Wiltshire from the International Association of Aviation historians discovered its remains during his visit to the Polish air museum in kco the preserved me29 fuselage is still located at the Polish Museum despite many attempts by the Germans to repurchase it the third prototype was destroyed in one of many Allied bombing raids on Germany while the last aircraft was scrapped at the end of 1943 despite it being obvious from the start that the me29 would not enter production a Japanese atache showed interest in the project in 1943 he approached the rlm officials with a request for technical data and that one aircraft be shipped to Japan in the end it appears that nothing came of this and no m209 was ever sent to Japan as the war progressed Mees Schmidt Engineers were trying to design a new piston powered aircraft that would replace the me109 in 1943 a new project was initiated also named me29 this project besides having the same name had nothing to do with the me29 world speed record aircraft the Prototype of this new design was designated me29 V5 to avoid confusion with the previous plane and shared many components with the already existing me109 G it had a fairly sound design the few prototypes built would receive the designation me29 a despite its promising performance it was not adopted for service this concludes our look at the me29 world speed record aircraft what do you think about this record breaker should it have remained just a record holder or did it have any chance of being refitted as a fighter aircraft let us know in the comments if you like what we do and want to see more remember to subscribe so you don't miss a single video also don't forget to take a look at our extensive collection of articles on our website plan- encyclopedia.com thank you
