Now this is a Piglet candidate....

[lazarus]

Way OT.....Never heard of it! High speed bomber design from Kurowashi. It turns out it was a dissinformation job planted in a war-time Japanese Aviation magazine. It apparently caused quite a stir in the Air Technical Branch, untill they figured out it was a hoax. Looks pretty cool, though more like a joint Dornier-Marchetti project!

[Piglet]

Where's the gear? Does look peculiar.

[Gibbage]

Considering it was a late war Japanese concept, I doubt landing was even a consideration!

[lazarus]

I've been unable to locate any other information, yet. I would guess tricycle gear, like a Annselbar, or maybe Mixmaster style- I like the coupled powerplants and contra-props. As a end to end what if, I suppose there is lots of latitude for artistic license!

[Cag40Navy]

This one just scream's piglet.

[lazarus]

A bit more information: The S-31 Kurowashi ("Black Eagle") was a fictional aircraft design that appeared in Japanese Sora magazine, 1944...
The artists web site is here:http://digitalaviationart.com/skyraider3d/jsp_profiles_2.htm
Skyraiders3D Aviation art. some funky stuff!

Addemdum: to quote...'The S-31 Kurowashi (Black Eagle) was probably the most spectacular. It appeared in a Japanese aviation magazine (Sora, in a regular ection called 'dreams of future designers') & it doesn't seem to have gone much further than initial concept and may have been speculative or an attempt at disinformation. It looks like a Do.335 on steroids. It would have had four 2,500hp X-24 engines, two in the nose, two in the tail. It would have had eight 7.7mm guns in four pairs & four 23mm cannon (not actually avaialbe for mounting on aircraft at the time) mounted on barbettes in the wings, remotely controlled from defensive positions in the fuselage. It would have been 5.88m high, with a length of 21.09m & a wingspan of 32.82m, very similar to a B-17.'
http://www.geocities.jp/ramopcommand/_geo_contents_/070504/kakuusono3.html
A bit more here on related projects, and some wild photographs....and here...http://http://www.geocities.jp/ramopcommand/_geo_contents_/070504/kakuusono3.html


Type: Heavy Bomber
Crew: Five
Powerplant: Four 24-cylinder, liquid-cooled X-engines, each developing 2,500hp, each pair driving two, metal, 3-bladed contra-rotating propellers
Dimensions
Span: 32.82m/107.7ft
Length: 21.09m/69.2ft
Height: 5.88m/19.3ft
Wing Area: 133.00 sq.m/1,431.6 sq.ft
Weights
Loaded: 17,850kg/39,352lb
Performance
Max speed: 690km/h/429mph
Cruise speed: 589km/h/366mph
Landing speed: 145km/h/90mph
Range: 5,900km/3,666 miles
Ceiling: 15,100m/49,540ft
Fuel Weight: 8,000kg/17,636lb
Armament
Eight 7.7mm machine guns and four 23mm cannons; up to 8,000kg (17,636lb) of bombs

The plane had a novel defensive armament scheme, using remote fired ball turrets in the leading and trailing edge of the wings.(note sighted by television ...Ambitious!)


Thats about all that fell out on a quick search. I'll have to see if there is any thing in the microfisch archive. I remember seeing an index of 'Sora'(Eagle?) magazine.

[peter12213]

lovely looking bird that, 4 engines mounted inline too very peculiar.

[pilottj]

Where's the gear? Does look peculiar.

Well I would guess that it isn't a taildragger:icon_lol: It looks awesome, like somthing that could have been in that Skycrawlers anime.

[kilo delta]

Going by the top pic...I reckon it'd look even nicer if it was flown inverted all the time! :)

[Bjoern]

Oh dear, getting two engines to work on one propeller is kind of a nightmare. Just ask He-177 technicians.

[Walter]

Looks pretty cool, though more like a joint Dornier-Marchetti project!

I must agree - It has the smooth lines of a Dornier!

Great find/idea! :applause:

Walter

[CWOJackson]

Not much range or bomb load capability.

[grunau_baby]

Great find, Reminds me of a strange mix between a Do335 and a Fokker G1.

How about this for something peculiar:
40649

40650

Alex

[Mathias]

Great find, Reminds me of a strange mix between a Do335 and a Fokker G1.

How about this for something peculiar:
40649

40650

Alex

Not sure where you see the resembleance to the G.1 but that's truely an awesome ass(-)ender.

[Hurricane91]

The "AT-27" (top) and the "Suzukaze 20" (bottom) appeared in the April, 1941 issue of Sora.
40756

England's Flight magazine published the drawings sourced from a German magazine in the December 1941 issue saying, "To show the possible trend of modern Japanese design, we publish drawings of two fighters. There is no confirmation that they have gone into service, but they do seem to indicate the lines on which Japanese designers are thinking."

Flight then proceeded to describe the aircraft in detail. Both designs had twin engines and turned contra-rotating propellers. The "AT-27's" 1025 hp V-12 engines were steam-cooled, one fore and one aft of the cockpit. Top speed was to be 400+mph. The "Suzukaze 20" had tandem 1200 hp air cooled engines with a top speed of 478 mph(!).

Despite the disclaimer, Colonel Frank Mac Coy of the USAAF Air Technical Intelligence Unit, was sufficiently impressed to allocate the Allied code names of "Gus" to the "AT-27", and "Omar" to the "Suzukaze 20". Drawings of both aircraft appeared in the official aircraft recognition manuals throughout the war.

After the war, inquiries to the Japanese aircraft industry in regards to these aircraft turned up nothing. No one had ever heard of either the "AT-27" or the "Suzukaze 20".

Then, in the 1960's, aviation writers Richard Bueschel and Shorzoe Abe tracked the drawings back to Sora and found a copy of the April 1941 issue. They described Sora as, "...an aero publication appealing to young readers and model builders." Each month, a selection of drawings submitted by readers was published in a regular feature called "Dreams Of Future Designers".

In the U.S., there were similar features in magazines such as Popular Aviation and Air Trails. These articles have always fascinated me because of the creativity, forward thinking, and dreams of these amature designers.

[grunau_baby]

Not sure where you see the resembleance to the G.1Simply the different compartments and canopies across the fuselage. Off course the overall layout is different.