UPDATE: There has been a slight mix-up in the designation. X-5 has actually already been used by the Bell X-5, so Mach Breaker's designation has been switched to "X-52" instead since its unused.
This is probably one of the most ridiculous aircraft Rainier Aerospace has ever conceived. This, is the X-5, otherwise known as "Mack Breaker". Mach Breaker is a pure-bred experimental aircraft powered by a single highly modified Packard V12 Merlin utilizing a quad-turbo set-up that drives 4 counter-rotating propeller fan blades in the rear tail-pipe. The X-5 has 4 main air inlets, 1 goes for air cooling the V12 (as well as a source for air for the engine itself; combustion), the other goes for the turbos, and the 2 main box-inlets on the side feed air to the 4 fans in the duct so they can compress it and blow it out of the rear duct-nozzle to provide thrust. Not exactly sure how realistic this all would be IRL, but I was thinking of how a piston-engine aircraft could go supersonic and knew the biggest limitation was the exposed propellers that caused lots of issues at near-Mach 1 speeds. So I thought, "What if the propellers were in a duct and air was feed to the propellers via supersonic air inlets like on a normal jet aircraft?"; and this contraption was born. Took me about 2 days to complete it in SP.
This is purely an experimental aircraft and has no intention on production, even as a kit-plane, and only 2 or 3 prototypes will be constructed. It would be interesting to see if this could race at the Reno Air Races in Unlimited Class, but I think it just might be to fast for the course. Mach Breaker's first official "canonical" flight will be this weekend some time, and yes, there will be a video of it. ;)
Anyways enjoy some teasers.
Gonna be released some time this weekend. Comment T if you would like to be tagged.
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@exosuit
True, but this plane is using piston power solely for the purpose of breaking a record. In other words its not supposed to be practical or efficient, which is why only 2 or 3 of them will only be built for research & record-setting/breaking purposes.
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@GeneralOliverVonBismarck jet engine have "propellers", wink wink
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you were to place the propellers in a duct, wouldn't it be more efficient to just use jet engines instead?
@GeneralOliverVonBismarck
Oh don't worry I'll have a version without the modded parts (the instrumentation).
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Tee
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@DeezDucks
Yes it is indeed retractable landing gear. I mean its supposed to go super sonic solely on piston power, so you'd want as little drag as possible.
I want 50
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This is a very interesting looking design for sure, the gear will be retractable right? If not that seems like it would negate the looks of the rest of the build.