The I. Ae. 38 Flying Wing Transport
General Ojeda was removed from his post soon after the work started, but his successor did allow us to continue. The aircraft was basically a double size Ho II. The fuselage pod had double cargo doors in the rear, that could be partially opened in flight, to allow parachute drops. 30 cubic meters of cargo space were available. A vertical fin was installed on top of each wing at Y = 0.8, with a rudder that only moved in an outboard direction. Only a servo tab moved the rudder, since we had found it impossible to have hydraulic servo controls manufactured. A fixed five wheel landing gear was attached to the pod through a system of shock absorbers, arranged and indexed to show the c/g location after cargo loading was completed. We planned to use four 750 HP "Indio" engines with pusher propellers. These were domestic engines, that suffered from continuing development troubles, and consequently, they were never delivered. Imported engines were out of the question for "prestige" reasons. We finally installed 320 HP "El Gaucho" engines instead, with severe performance penalties. In 1960, ten years after its conception, the I. Ae. 38 finally flew. It was demonstrated to a group of dignitaries on its first flight by test pilot Capt. Ballado. Afterwards, the aircraft was simply scrapped, and my employment with the Institute terminated. |