The Messerschmitt MBB Lampyridae [FireFly] info needed

Hi all Finally I found one as bought one a wooden model of it.

East Germany's Top Secret Stealth Fighter max speed Mach 4:
[Blockierte Grafik: http://www.abload.de/img/fireflyllb.jpg]
http://cgi.ebay.nl/ws/eBayISAPI.d…:MEWN:IT&ih=002

[Blockierte Grafik: http://www.hitechweb.genezis.eu/stealth4e_soubory/image011.jpg]

Here a diagram of how it would look like from the insides , as you can see where it holds it two Air to Air Missiles:
[Blockierte Grafik: http://www.hitechweb.genezis.eu/stealth4e_soubory/image010.jpg]

There is little information about the this FireFly If any of you have more info or if there is someone that can translate this page, that would be very helpfull
http://www.hitechweb.genezis.eu/stealth4e.htm

Zitat

Original von ChristianTHB
LOL....Stealthfighter?
Radar was at its beginning and a Speed of Mach 4, can only be a hoax

Well the Mach 4 part may not seem true but this plane does seem to have been in construction as the Germans did make 15 successful flights with it.

here more info I found on it:
http://dailylark.blogspot.com/2007/07/german…th-fighter.html

"Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA) has revealed details of a previously top-secret Stealth aircraft research programme conducted in Germany during the 1980s. The programme, known as Lampyridae (Firefly), or Medium Range Missile Fighter (MRMF), was run from 1981 to 1987 by what was then Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB), under a contract from the German air force.The work led to the eventual development of a three-quarter scale piloted windtunnel model of a multi-faceted Stealth fighter. Former project leader Dr Gerhard Löbert claims that the design “very probably†had better radar characteristics than the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, despite the F-117 having more than twice the number of radar-scattering facets.Windtunnel testing began on a 1:3.5-scale low-speed model and a 1:20-scale transonic model in 1985. According to Löbert, these tests demonstrated high-quality aerodynamic properties, despite the disadvantages of the polyhedral airframe desig"

[Blockierte Grafik: http://www.f-104.de/exponates/lampyridae/lampy01.jpg]

"Following preparatory simulator work, the manned ¾-scale model, 12m long, with a 6m wing span, was “flown†15 times in 1987, in the German-Dutch windtunnel at Emmeloord. Complete flight cycles were simulated in the tunnel’s 9.5m² test section, with the aircraft flying at up to 120kt (220 km/h) and performing small-amplitude movements about all axes.The project was driven by the idea that a future fighter could be lighter and cheaper if it were so superior at mid-range that it could avoid close-in dogfighting. The engineers’ task was to develop a configuration with a forward radar cross-section in the X-band some 20-30dB below that of a conventional fighter. Like Lockheed in its development of the F-117, MBB used the principle of a polyhedral airframe, avoiding right angels and curved surfaces which produced lift by generating a system of vortices from its sharp leading edges.In parallel to the design work, the company also developed a computational method of calculating radar cross-section, which has since been used to compare the Lampyridae design with available information about the F-117. The radar cross-section was also tested on a full-scale, 16m-long model. Details of the radar-signature tests are classified, but radar cross-section targets “were metâ€."

[Blockierte Grafik: http://www.f-104.de/exponates/lampyridae/lampyridae01.jpg]

That second picture is amodel of the second revision of the Lampyridae

Anyways when my Lampyridae arrives I will make ultra high res shots of it and show you it in this topic Something Special from a german Stealth Project of the 1980's

Do keep in minds that the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, A12 as YF-12 were Stealth Interceptors and these monsters flew at speeds till Mach 3.5+, So Mach 4 might of been possible for the Lampyridae, since it's form looks that it is made for high extreme velocities.

Here more info I found about it
http://home.xmsnet.nl/hdejong/curious/Lampyridae.htm
[Blockierte Grafik: http://home.xmsnet.nl/hdejong/curiou…ternational.jpg]

"The Germans spent 9 million D-mark (US$ 4.5 million) on the project. There are two prototypes. One was used for RCS measurements, the other for aerodynamics tests.

The aerodynamics testbed is an unpowered 3/4 scale model (length 12 m, span 6 m), which was 'flown' by a test pilot inside a 9.5 x 9.5 m2 wind tunnel of the Deutsch-Niederländischen Windkanal (German-Dutch-Wind-Tunnel) consortium. Before the tethered model was flown to speeds up to 225 km/h (120 kts) followed by a safe landing, the pilot trained several hours in a flight simulator.

The RCS-measurement model was built at full scale (length 16 m, span 8 m) in 1987, and it confirmed the predictions made with the software program, showing a lower RCS than even the F-117. Here is a 3-view drawing.

The project ended in 1987 when MBB had proved it could design a stealthy aircraft. The research has since been used in other aircraft designs (presumably the Eurofighter Typhoon, EADS MAKO and various weapons). According to some people, the Americans were responsible for ending the project.

The Lampyridae aerodynamics testbed is now located at the F-104 museum."

This is the second version of the Lampyridae with the domed canopy:
[Blockierte Grafik: http://home.xmsnet.nl/hdejong/curiou…bed%20front.jpg]

The Model I bought iis of the cooler looking first model

So as it seems There was a project for a German Stealth Fighter and they were buisy with it! This is very cool.

This is what came after the Lampyridae Project, The Barracuda Project and it seems that they left out the Cockpit feature thereby making it a UCAV an Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle
http://www.bizbuzzmedia.com/Admin/ImageGal…%20-%20EADS.jpg