Falcus Designs Me-500

Falcus Designs Me-500
Falcus Designs Fe-500
Role	Fighter
Manufacturer	Falcus Designs
Designer	Regarius Falcus
First flight	1954
Introduction	1955
Retired	1971
Status	retired
Primary user	Orun Redisus
Number built	250
Developed from	Falcus Designs Fe-440

The Falcus Designs Me-500 was the first in the Me Series aircraft. It was the first supersonic jet aircraft to be produced by the Orun Redisus. The design would only be produced from 1960 to 1965 but would serve the Air Force for 11 years after leaving production until all of the aircraft were finally retired in 1971. The Me-500 was used by many poorer nations long after it left Redisan service.

Operators

• Orun Redisus
• Yisrael

Operational History

The final aircraft were retired in 1971 from the 23rd Noviomagus Fighter Regiment and subsequently sold, reverted to training roles, or scrapped.

Variants

Block 1

• FE1 - Prototype developed for testing and configuring. Six were produced before production was greenlighted.
• Me-500A - Initial production variant featuring early production R50 turbojets. The engines soon revealed that they overheated rapidly midflight, to the point where critical components would be rendered inoperable through heat damage. Production halted after twenty airframes had been produced and all A variants were removed from service or retrofitted to the B standard.
• Me-500B - Upgraded A variant featuring the newly released R100 turbojets. Fixed the reliability issues of the A variant and introduced an upgraded radar and avionics suite.
• Me-500C - Introduced in 1959 as a primary upgrade for remaining front line fighters. With the Me-510 being rolled out, the 500C was rolled out to extend the service life of the design. It featured additional avionics upgrades and utilized the R213 turbojet over the older R100. This increased performance capabilities slightly. Additional strengthening measures to the airframe were also included due to the increased lift capacity from the improved engine.
  • Me-500CNa - Specialized naval and ground support variant designed to strike enemy ships and ground formations. Contained hardpoints for missiles and a larger main cannon.

Block 2

• Me-500D - Modernization program introduced in 1965 to Orun aircraft potent. Improved the avionics suite significantly and introduced slightly improved R213F engines, which would serve as a test design for the R213U.
• Me-500Es - Service life extension program introduced in 1970 by Falcus to give the aircraft an additional decade of service. Only 5 airframes were produced before serial production was cancelled in 1971. Featured further improvements to avionics as well as R213U turbojets. Lighter weight hydraulics systems improved the aircraft's climbing rate slightly.

Block 3

• Me-500G - Prototype produced by Falcus in early 1971 shortly before the program was cancelled. Featured the core systems of the newly released Me-530 as well as R214 turbojets which Falcus developed specifically for the design. Only one production aircraft was ever produced.
  • Me-500Gn - Naval attack variant proposed in early 1972 to convert D, Es, and G airframes that were being retired and sold. Only 2 aircraft were constructed as proposals but the Air Legion had little interest in keeping the 500 in service.

Specifications

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 12.54 m (41 ft 2 in) less pitot boom; 14.64 m (48.0 ft) with pitot boom extended
• Wingspan: 9 m (29 ft 6 in)
• Height: 3.885 m (12 ft 9 in)
• Wing area: 25.16 m² (270.8 sq ft)
• Empty weight: 5,172 kg (11,402 lb) to 5,447 kg (12,009 lb)
• Gross weight: 7,560 kg (16,667 lb) clean
• Max takeoff weight: 8,662 kg (19,096 lb) with drop tanks
• Fuel capacity: internal:2,170 l (570 US gal; 480 imp gal); drop tanks 2x 760 l (200 US gal; 170 imp gal)
• Powerplant: 2 × 2x R100 Turbojets axial flow afterburning turbojets, 25.5 kN (5,730 lbf) thrust each dry, 31.8 kN (7,160 lbf) with afterburner

Performance

• Maximum speed: 1,452 km/h (902 mph; 784 kn) at 10,000 m (33,000 ft)
• Maximum speed: Mach 1.355
• Range: 1,390 km (864 mi; 751 nmi)
• Ferry range: 2,200 km (1,367 mi; 1,188 nmi) with drop tanks
• Endurance: 1 hour 43 minutes clean ; 2 hours 38 minutes with drop tanks
• Service ceiling: 15,600 m (51,200 ft) dry : 17,500–17,900 m (57,400–58,700 ft) wet
• g limits: +8
• Rate of climb: 180 m/s (35,000 ft/min)
• Thrust/weight: 0.86

Armament

• Guns: 3x 30 millimetres (1.181 in) Reaper R-30 cannon (75 rpg for wing-root guns, 55 rounds for the fuselage gun)
• Bombs: 2x 50–250 kg (110–550 lb) bombs or 2x FFAR rocket pods

Avionics
Grad gun ranging radar, Computing gun-sight and a UHF radio