\ said:
Looking good Trey. Does anyone else reckon the Ta154 is reflected in the later Douglas A26 Invader? Very similar airframe shapes.
Despite the superficial similarity the A-26 actually predates the Ta 154. Their first flights were almost exactly a year apart. 10 July 1942 for the A-26 and 1 July 1943for the Ta 154.
The Ta 154 was not based on the De Havilland Mosquito either,despite the name. The arrival of the Mosquito in the skies over Germany did have a bearing on the choice to develop and produce the Ta 154 over some of its rivals. The Germans were also attracted to a largely wooden design due to looming shortages of light metals.
In March 1944 the first 22 Ta 154 A-0 pre-production night fighters were delivered. Tank persuaded Adoph Galland (General der Jagdflieger) and Werner Streib (Inspekteur der Nachtjagd) to fly one. Both expressed disappointment at the performance of the aircraft and Streib specifically doubted the ability of the Ta 154 to match the British Mosquito.
There followed the well documented series of failiures and crashes leading Tank to stop production of the aircraft. Goering was not happy and even accused Tank of sabotaging his own product!
The entire project was now on the verge of cancellation when,on 17th July 1944,having received the RLM's instruction to look at Mistel combinations,Herr Schoffel from the Focke-Wulf Entwurfsburo visited Junkers at Dessau to see how they went about such projects.
He produced a feasibility study for a Ta 154 A/Fw 190 A8 combination. The RLM backed this project and Focke-Wulf saw it as a sort of salvation for the Ta 154. According to Schoffel Herr Emmert of the RLM stressed the urgent need for this Mistel combination saying "...the RLM expects the first conversion by the end of August 1944."
It seems that the further problems with the Ta 154 and the loss of seven "Moskitos" during a USAAF bombing raid on Hannover-Langenhagen airfield may have diminished interest in the project though some sources maintain that six Mistels were completed for use against allied bomber formations. These aircraft were supposedly test flown at Eschwege but no more details are known.
Cheers
Steve
by any chance do you have a clue about the color of the wires and fiddly bits in the cannon bay? I'm geussing the wires would be yellow not sure about the boxes they are connected too.cheers Trey
