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The CAC CA-23 was a planned supersonic, twinjet, two-seat, all-weather fighter aircraft designed by Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation.
Contents
Design and development
In 1949, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) began assessing replacements for its locally-built Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) Mustangs, Gloster Meteors and De Havilland Australia (DHA) Vampires. A series of designs were considered, including the Grumman Panther and an unconventional, twin-jet all-weather fighter: the CAC CA-23.
This unusual design, was a two-seat delta wing, all-weather fighter, with a low set tail. It was originally planned to be powered by two Rolls-Royce Tay engines; the final version was however was designed for the more powerful Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet engines. The aircraft was to be fitted with the most up to date radar and electronic equipment. Its anticipated performance was to be in the region of Mach 1.5 which would have been much faster than any contemporary aircraft.
A mock-up model was made, and wind tunnel tests proved more than satisfactory. The program was described by the British visiting CAC at the time as "the company's project was a most ambitious design for a fighter and as advanced as anything yet seen in any other part of the world."
The design was abandoned in the early 1950s, after the government asked CAC to produce an up-engined variant of the North American F-86 Sabre: the CAC Sabre was also powered by the Rolls-Royce Avon.
Specifications
Data from Deeb:
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
4 x 0.5 with 250 rounds per gun