page_title: FMA IAe 33 Pulqui II
section_title: Design and development
hierarchical_section_title: FMA IAe 33 Pulqui II / Design and development
context_page_description: The FMA IAe 33 Pulqui II was a jet fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank in the late 1940s in Argentina, under the Perón government, and built by the Fábrica Militar de Aviones. Embodying many of the design elements of the wartime Focke-Wulf Ta 183, an unrealized fighter project, the FMA envisioned the IAe 33 Pulqui II as a successor to the postwar Gloster Meteor F4 in service with the Fuerza Aérea Argentina. The Pulqui II's development was comparatively problematic and lengthy, with two of the four prototypes being lost in fatal crashes. Despite one of the prototypes being successfully tested in combat during the Revolución Libertadora, the political, economic and technical challenges faced by the project meant that the IAe 33 was unable to reach its full potential, and the Argentine government ultimately chose to purchase F-86 Sabres from the United States in lieu of continuing development of the indigenous fighter to production status.
context_section_description: After his appointment as project director for a new indigenous fighter program, Tank adapted the basic Ta 183 airframe for the Nene II engine, resulting in a new design that bore only a passing resemblance to its forebear. The Nene was larger, heavier and more powerful than the Heinkel HeS 011 turbojet that had been planned for use in the Ta 183, and therefore required a new, redesigned fuselage with a larger cross-section primarily due to the Nene's centrifugal compressor rather than the HeS 011's axial compressor design.
  Due to the similarity of the IAe-27a and Tank's redesign of the Ta 183, Juan Ignacio San Martín, the director of the Institute merged the two parallel projects as the IAe 33 Pulqui II. The fuselage of Tank's design was further adapted to use the IAe-27a's undercarriage. The shoulder-mounted wings were swept back 40°, an even greater sweep angle than that of the Ta 183, and given a small amount of anhedral. Comparable to the Ta 183's engine placement, the Nene engine was situated aft of the cockpit, near the center of gravity with engine maintenance and service facilitated through the removal of the tail section. The airframe featured a graceful, 50° swept-back T-shaped empennage and a pressurized cockpit topped by a clear bubble-type canopy, faired into the dorsal fuselage. Armor was provided around the cockpit and a bulletproof windscreen was incorporated. Fuel capacity was initially 1,250 l (275 Imp. gal.) internally and 800 l (176 Imp. gal.) in the wings. Armament was planned to include four 20 mm cannon, a pair mounted in a staggered, near-ventral position along each side of the fuselage slightly set back from the jet intake.
caption: Pulqui II without tail section, revealing its Rolls-Royce Nene II turbojet
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