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DF-109 - Dong Feng / East Wind fighter

One of the masterpieces of the Great Leap Forward era, Dongfeng 109 is another high-altitude high-speed fighter design scheme. The maximum Mach number is required to reach 3.0-3.5, and the maximum ceiling is actually 35,000 kilometers. The reform plan is only a plan that exists on paper. However, from the introduction and review of Yu Guangyu, one of the founders of the first aeroengine design research institute in China, there is a written record of "Dongfeng 109 Power Plant Design Manual". It can be seen that a certain amount of public relations was indeed invested at that time.

In 1958, the Aviation Industry Bureau compiled the "15-year Development Outline of the Aviation Industry", emphasizing that China's aviation industry is still lagging behind in production and scientific research, and must catch up and strive to reach the international advanced level at that time in 15 years. For this reason, the newly established Factory 112 planned to develop a new type of fighter with a speed of Mach 1.4 with the help of the Soviet Union. Later, in order to confront the "Dongfeng 113" of the Kazakh military industry, the Factory 112 kept its maximum speed for a while. Increased from Mach 1.4 to Mach 1.8 and later from Mach 2.0 and 2.4. However, compared with "Dongfeng 113", there is still a gap in indicators.

In addition, although 601 is developing "Dongfeng 107", it was developed by a group of university students, so a group of "old fritters" decided to develop another "Dongfeng 109" in order to "break superstition and emancipate the mind". The so-called "Dongfeng 109" uses two nuclear-powered engines with a speed of Mach 3.5, a flight altitude of 35,000 kilometers, a total weight of 30 tons, a delta wing design, and a bicycle landing gear.

It was 1958. At that time, the atomic bomb had not yet exploded, let alone a nuclear reactor, and the nuclear power engine of "Dongfeng 109" was nothing. Although the United States and the Soviet Union also engaged in nuclear-powered aircraft around 1958, those were large bombers, and their personal protective equipment could be installed at least. The "Dongfeng 109" is a fighter, and it is positioned at high altitude and high speed from the perspective of the delta wing design.

The "Dongfeng 109" was also tested in a wind tunnel, which means that the designers have performed aerodynamic shape verification. It is worth mentioning that there are a few records of Dongfeng-109 in the third volume of the "China Aircraft Book" of Aviation Industry Press. It is strange that the renderings do not show that "Dongfeng 109" has an air inlet, and the abdomen is partially enlarged, which indicates that this is caused by the oversized size of its nuclear-powered engine.

Take the Soviet Union and the United States as an example. Their nuclear-powered aircraft solutions have air inlets, or they use hybrid power, use conventional power during take-off and landing, use nuclear power after takeoff, and use too metal to heat the air around the core of the nuclear reactor. Use the generated high-temperature and high-pressure gas to generate thrust; or use the reactor as a heat exchanger to pass the high temperature generated by the reactor to a working medium, such as water or liquid metal, and then exchange energy between the working medium and air, and the air is heated to a high temperature The high-pressure air flows into the engine turbine and finally powers the aircraft.

For "Dongfeng-109", it is very likely that neither of these two nuclear power solutions has been adopted, which is strange. What's more, the US-Soviet nuclear-powered bomber was because of its huge range. After all, the bomber is a large aircraft. The pilot's driving environment is relatively comfortable, at least there is a place to go to the toilet. The "Dongfeng 109" is a fighter jet. The pilot's cockpit is small, and its long-term deployment of drinking water and going to the toilet is difficult. Of course, after all, "Dongfeng-109" was born in a "crazy age", and it is not surprising that there are many wonderful ideas.

The nuclear-powered bombers that the United States and the Soviet Union had engaged in at the time were eventually discontinued because they were too far away from reality. The "Dongfeng 109" gradually stopped developing shortly after it was proposed, and eventually became sealed in the dust of history.

The design of Dongfeng 109 aircraft was in the era of the Great Leap Forward. This period is full of exaggerated and unrealistic atmosphere, and it is the same in scientific research. Neither the Air Force nor the aviation scientific research unit had looked at the problem based on the actual situation.