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History Brief, by Johan Visschedijk

March 21, 2004

Instituto Aerotécnico I.Aé.33 Pulqúi II


The Pulqúi (Arrow) II was designed for the Instituto Aerotécnico (I.Aé.) at Córdoba in Argentina by a German team led by the former Focke-Wulf chief designer Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Kurt Tank. The I.Aé.33 was envisaged as the successor to the Meteor in service with the Fuerza Aérea Argentina and embodied much of the experience gained by the German aircraft industry during WW II.

Five prototypes were ordered, the first being the static test vehicle so the types first flight was made by prototype number two on June 27, 1950. Various difficulties were encountered and it crashed near Córdoba; subsequently a second prototype was also lost and this protracted the program to such an extend that the last prototype did not fly until September 18, 1959.

A Rolls-Royce Nene 2 turbojet installed behind the cockpit in a relative short fuselage powered the Pulqúi. The shoulder-mounted wing was swept back 40°, the fin and rudder were swept 50°, and the also 40° swept tail plane mounted at the extreme tip of the vertical surfaces to avoid the turbulent wake of the high-mounted wing. Armament consisted of four 0.79 in (20 mm) cannons.

The production version was to have a high-powered afterburning axial-flow turbo-jet with which level speeds of just below Mach 1 were expected. However, by the time the last prototype flew the design team led by Kurt Tank had left Argentina and high cost were envisaged for the initiation of the series production, so the development program was discontinued in 1960.

Photo Johan Visschedijk Collection

Specifications

Type:

Single-seat single-engined interceptor

Engine:

One 4,998 lb (2,267 kg) st Rolls-Royce Nene 2 turbojet

Span:

34 ft 9.33 in (10.60 m)

Length:

38 ft 3.85 in (11.68 m)

Height:

11 ft 5.8 in (3.50 m)

Wing area:

270.18 sq.ft (25.10 sq.m)

Empty Wt:

7,937 lb (3,600 kg)

Max T/O Wt:

12,235 lb (5,550 kg)

Max speed:

653 mph (1,050 km/h) at 16,404 ft (5,000 m)

Max climb:

5,866 ft (1,788 m)/min

Endurance:

2.2 hrs

Models

I.Aé.33 Pulqúi II:

one static and four flying prototypes only