Designed by Dipl. Engineer Kurt Tank in 1945 as an answer to the “Emergency Fighter Program” of Luftwaffe High Command, the Ta 183 “Huckebein” was created as a replacement for every day war fighter already in use in the Luftwaffe.
The aircraft featured mid-mounted 40° swept back wings.
The vertical surfaces were swept at 60°, slightly dihedralled. The horizontal surfaces were used for trimming only, using the main ailerons for pitch control (they were behind the center of gravity, with their trailing edges being virtually horizontal with the exhaust).
The aircraft should have been powered by the new Heinkel HeS 011 turbojet, but the prototypes were going to use the Junkers Jumo 004B.
The main armament consisted on 4×30mm MK 108 machine-cannons, located around the air intake. It was also possible to carry a 500kg bomb or 20/30 cameras. Arrangements were made for use of
the Rurhstal X-4 wire-guided missile.
The pilot would sit in a pressurized cockpit with a bubble canopy.
The first flight was planned for May 8 1945, but the Focke Wulf plant was captured on April 8.
After the War, Kurt Tank travelled to Argentina, and the Ta 183 was resurrected as the IAe Pulqui II.
This successor had shoulder mounted wings, instead of the mid-mounted ones of the Ta 183, and suffered deep stall problems when used at high angles of attacks.
Plans had been done for solving the problem, but the financial crisis of 1953 and the fall of Juan Peron in Argentina, put the project on a hiatus.
The project was abandoned in 1955, because of the existance of cheaper Corean-War surplus F-86 Sabres.
