Tremulis Zero Fighter (1944)
Rocket-Powered High-Altitude Interceptor Project
STATUS: RETIRED
Production Run: 2013-2022
STATUS: RETIRED
Production Run: 2013-2022
About the Design
Alex S. Tremulis is best known as an automotive designer. However, he enlisted in the Army following Pearl Harbor and, in 1944, joined the Army Air Corps' R&D team at Wright Field outside Dayton, Ohio, to design advanced concept aircraft. One of these, dubbed the "Zero Fighter," was a rocket-powered vertical take-off fighter intended to operate at extreme altitudes.
Tremulis envisioned a one-man rocket plane launched atop a liquid-fueled booster. (This was before the Allies were aware of Germany's V-2.) The booster would propel the fighter on a sub-orbital or even orbital trajectory. Upon completion of the mission, the swept-winged aircraft would glide back to earth and land like a conventional airplane. Although the Zero Fighter never made it beyond the design stage, many of its concepts helped the Air Force develop the X-20 Dyna-Soar 15 years later. |
About the Model
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What You Get