The Oberth P.1001, or the object 2902 was a fictional German reconaissance bomber concept on the closing stages of the second world war. Slated to fly on 1947, it was picked by the United States Air Force for evaluation tests on a pre-production reconaissance bomber (YRB) role. It is notable for being the only aircraft made by the Oberth bureau.

Background

After Heinkel and Bayerische had developed jet engines for the Schwalbe (Me 262) and the Volksjager program virtually all design bureaus were compulsed to designa fighter, an attack aircraft and a bomber using jet engines.
The resulting design, the Oberth LO-1 is comparative to heavy piston bombers at that time, yet it was faster but shorter in range.

Design

The LO-1 is a medium reconaissance bomber with a swept-wing design with special construction capable of carrying external ammunition alongside the common 16 bombs internal powered by four jet engines inside the wings. The cockpit is in tandem with the pilot at the controls and the bombardier or photographer is on the back side, and the undercarriage is of bicycle configuration.

Operational history

One prototype was finish March 1945, recovered intact by the Allies and sent to thw United States under the fictitious LUPUS (Lutwaffe Projects on United States) program.
Intended to replace the Boeing B-29 Superfortresses sooner or later, the United States Air Force ordered 100 aircraft plus 5 aircraft for evaluation, first such contract of the design bureau for the war.

Flight tests were only made on 1949 due to lack of manpower to build the aircraft and should the plane will be sent to operational service a sub-contract of 50 aircraft will be procured by the Glenn Martin bureau.

Flight data was average; it did excel well on flight characteristics, but lacked speed and was prone to instability on flight. The prototype only reached 670 km/h at cruise speed on about 7,000 meters yet it did fulfill the requirements for the reconaissance role by having an ability of flying more than 12,000 meters above sea level.

Such improvements, the MX-10 is a medium redesign of the original Oberth incarnation of the object 2902, with new canopy and cockpit, more powerful engines, redesgined nose, longer rudder and range.

Variants

LO-1 (2902-1)
Original design as built.

LO-2 (2902-2)
Medium bomber concept.

MX-10 (2902-3)
Prescribed redesign of the USAF for the Oberth bureau with defensive armament.

Specifications

Maximum speed: ~800 km/h TAS
Cruise speed: ~670 km/h TAS
Stall speed: ~200 km/h TAS
Ceiling: >12,350 meters
Range:

Armament: 16x bombs

Shikanoin Heizou