TA 154 Impact

[16KJV11]

Does anyone have an opinion as to whether the TA 154 would have made a significant impact on the Axis air war effort had the program not come to an early demise?

Did the TA 154 ever get to tangle with the British Mosquito?

[Erich]

although enlisted into NJG 3's ranks the TA 154 as far as I know never flew on operations. tested thouroughly it was a total failure, the LW had much better a/c already in it's night line-up

E ~

[merlin]

Unlike De haviland German industry didn't seem to get the hang of using wood for aircraft construction!
I have a memory that Goring was on an ego trip about the Mosquito - if the British acan build a wooden fighter/bomber - we will build a better one!? Hence the RLM insisted on the extensive use of wood in the construction of the new machine specified in Sept. '42. An initial batch of 250 machines were ordered in Nov '43, with the first two of the production model Ta 154A-1 being built at Erfut and later aircraft at Posen, but on June 28, 1944 the second aircraft disintegrated during high-speed runs. Following the crash of the first Ta 154A-1 it was found that the glue bonding the wood contained too much acid which weakened the joints! Thus the accidents resulted in their cancellation - only a further seven were completed.

[Kurfürst]

Originally Posted by merlin

Unlike De haviland German industry didn't seem to get the hang of using wood for aircraft construction!

Hmm, unlike De Haviland the German industry didn`t have to cope with limited of aluminium supplies... makes you wonder why the HECK the Ta 154..!

Never quite understood the Ta 154, along with the He 219. Both IMHO totally unneccessary projects overhyped by some post war authors. I believe Eric implied that the Ju 88 could do the job of either, and would be much simplier to produce just one airframe than three.

[Graeme]

Originally Posted by merlin

Unlike De haviland German industry didn't seem to get the hang of using wood for aircraft construction!

De Havilland didn't always get it right. The Albatross had a disastrous career because of its wooden construction. During its acceptance trials at Marltesham Heath it exhibited many problems, and even in 1938 AAEE were scathingly critical of its "all-wood construction"




The history of the licensed production of the DH.98 in Australia was almost equally disastrous. Crashes and fatalities were attributed to poor woodworking skills and glue. So much so Major Geoffrey De Havilland had to come out to Australia to supervise new productions methods.
It had a poor serviceability record in tropical conditions, the steamy wet seasons played havoc with the all-wood construction. The plywood would swell and separate from the aircraft, taking any fabric attached with it.

[Chocks away!]

Why is the He-219 overhyped? It had loads of firepower and was the only succesful purpose built nightfighter in the Luftwaffe. The problem I do see is that it was a it underpowered. But it was a design advanced for it's time, and it was even planned to be fitted with jets at some point.

[johnbr]

Yes the He-219 was to get the ju222 engines.But we now no how that came out.They made over 200 of them and steal was was not put in to production.

[Erich]

re-read the best night fighter and you can read my views........the He 219 had dismal success and was outdone by the Ju 88G-6

[Kurfürst]

Originally Posted by Chocks away!

Why is the He-219 overhyped? It had loads of firepower and was the only succesful purpose built nightfighter in the Luftwaffe. The problem I do see is that it was a it underpowered. But it was a design advanced for it's time, and it was even planned to be fitted with jets at some point.

Because everything it could do could be done by the Ju 88 nightfighters. Besides, it appears it wasn`t as hot as publications suggest. As Erich said, the late Ju 88G-6 was simply better in just about every way.

At this point, however good the He 219 could be, you`re just overcomplicating production by producing two airframes instead of one, and bothering with yet another engine type. It was just redundant, the job was already taken.