Design and Development
During 1943, following the success of CAC and chief designer Fred David, in rapidly designing and mass producing the small Boomerang fighter for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), CAC began design work on a fully fledged interceptor and bomber escort.
Although the CA-15 bore a superficial resemblance to the North American P-51 Mustang, the CAC design was not based directly on the U.S. aircraft and had quite different performance objectives and dimensions. For instance, David had been impressed by assessments of captured Focke-Wulf Fw 190s and intended using a radial engine (see below) rather than the inline engines used in fighters like the Mustang. In fact, development of the CA-15 was slowed by a recommendation from CAC head Lawrence Wackett, that the company build Mustangs under licence, rather than bear the cost of developing a unique design. By the later stages of its development, it was believed that the CA-15 would have capabilities enabling it to replace the P-51.
At first, the CAC designers planned to use the 2,300 hp (1,715 kW) radial Pratt & Whitney R-2800, with a turbocharger. However, that engine became unavailable, causing further delays in development, and it was decided to fit an in-line Rolls-Royce Griffon Mk 61 (2,035 hp/1,517 kW). Engines for a prototype were leased from Rolls-Royce. It was intended that any production engines would have a three-speed supercharger.
Read more about this topic: CAC CA-15
Famous quotes containing the words design and/or development:
“Teaching is the perpetual end and office of all things. Teaching, instruction is the main design that shines through the sky and earth.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“This was the Eastham famous of late years for its camp- meetings, held in a grove near by, to which thousands flock from all parts of the Bay. We conjectured that the reason for the perhaps unusual, if not unhealthful development of the religious sentiment here, was the fact that a large portion of the population are women whose husbands and sons are either abroad on the sea, or else drowned, and there is nobody but they and the ministers left behind.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)