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WI ramjet technology had matured during the interwar period?

Hendryk

Taken back control yet?
Published by SLP
Location
France
The theory behind the ramjet dates from the early years of powered flight, when French engineer René Lorin first thought of applying the compression-combustion-expansion thermodynamic cycle to aircraft propulsion in 1908. One advantage is that the technology is very simple since no moving parts are involved; the problem, however, was that such a jet engine required a minimum speed to kick in that was unattainable at the time, and the idea was shelved for a generation. It wasn't rediscovered until 1935 when René Leduc took another look at Lorin's work and decided to apply it experimentally.

Ramjet_operation.png


Now in OTL Leduc hadn't completed his first prototype when France fell in 1940, and all further research was interrupted until well after the end of the war. But what if Lorin's work had been rediscovered earlier, say in the 1920s, and the technology had had time to mature by the beginning of the war? What practical applications, if any, might it have had? Could, say, ramjet-assisted interceptors have been feasible? What about guided or unguided rockets?
 
Interesting idea. You might be able to make a case for a ramjet-assisted interceptor, although while the bombers it's intercepting remain propellor-driven and the interceptor only has guns/cannons for armament then the interceptor will have to drop down from ramjet-speed to be an effective interceptor, otherwise it will be flying too fast to engage the bombers. The added weight of a ramjet which couldn't be used in combat would also reduce manoeuvrability significantly. I wonder if a booster pack of some kind would be possible, to allow climbing to height and closing the distance to the enemy really quickly, then drop the weight and extra drag before entering combat?

Given that we had a pulsejet-driven missile in OTL, the V1, then I imagine a ramjet-driven missile could be possible, albeit with rocket assist for take-off. A winged ramjet-driven missile would definitely have a greater level-flight range than a rocket for a given mass of fuel/reaction mass, not least as it doesn't have to carry its oxidiser with it. The expense of such a single-use weapon might limit its appeal though, until targeting systems improve as per OTL.
 
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