- Yes
- No
- Ca-11
- Ca-11A
- Neither
History
After the beginning of the war in 1939, Australia found itself without a steady stream of imported vehicles. With the constant threat of war from Imperial Japan, Australia looked inwards for products which could be used to defend itself. This created several aircraft, such as the Boomerang or Wirraway found in game, but also created some other interesting aircraft such as the Ca-11 Woomera.
The initial prototype of this aircraft was the CAC Ca-4, often given the nicknames Wackett or Woomera, however it never received an official name. The proposed upgraded Ca-11 aircraft was ordered into production in March 1942, before the Ca-4 prototype had even been given to the RAAF for trials and before the Ca-11 had even been made. Despite an order 105 of these aircraft, CAC struggled to produce one. Australia’s aviation industry was not at an age where they could mass-produce multiple aircraft designs, and where under extreme pressure to produce more Wirraways and Boomerangs (the Boomerang itself was designed and flown within 6 months), which used parts needed for the Woomera. On Jan 15 1943 the Ca-4 crashed and was completely destroyed, killing 2 out of 3 of it’s occupants. This setback the Ca-11 program even more, with CACs only flying example now gone. As a result the Ca-11 wouldn’t fly until June/July 1944, by which point other designs were in production locally, US aircraft were being imported and the airframe was obsolete. The only aircraft produced was eventually stripped for parts and scrapped in 1946.
The Ca-11 featured many improvements over the Ca-4. These included:
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A moulded perspex sighting turret for the tail gunner to control the novel engine nacelle mounted machine gun barbettes.
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The fixed armament in the nose was increased, by replacing two of the four .303 Browning machine guns with two 20mm Hispano Mk.II autocannons and 7.92 Browning machine guns.
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A redesigned tail including a swept up rudder and larger, longer tail fin
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Most of the Vickers K machine gun position except ventral position were replaced with 7.92 Browning machine guns.
An attempt to improve the top speed was made when the original 1,200hp Twin Wasps were switched for newer models capable of producing 1,350hp, which changed the aircraft designation to the CA-11A.
Performance
Specifics on the Ca-11 are a big all over the place depending on the source. I’ve tried to use what seems most reasonable and have included as many sources as I can below, but extra research should be taken.
Crew: three, pilot, remote turrets gunner, and bombardier/ventral gunner
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Length: 12.07 m
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Wingspan: 18.04 m
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Height: 5.54 m
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Wing area: 41 m2
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Airfoil: root NACA 2218.5; tip NACA 2209
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Empty weight: 5,798 kg
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Max takeoff weight: 10,380 kg
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Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engines, 1,200 hp each (or for Ca-11A Wasp R200 engines, at 1,300 hp each)
Flight performances:
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Maximum speed: 454 km/h at 4,700 meters
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Cruise speed: 364 km/h (some sources state 407 km/h or 296 km/h)
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Range: 3,580 km (with external tank and one torpedo)
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Service ceiling: 7,162 m
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Rate of climb: 10.6 m/s
Armaments:
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Offensive: 2 × 20 mm Hispano Mk.II autocannons and 2 × 7.92 mm Browning machine guns on the nose
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Defensive: 4 × 7.92 mm Browning machine guns in two remotely controlled twin turrets on the engine narcelles and 1 × Vickers K machine gun on a manually-controlled ventral position
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Suspended: * 4× 250 lb (113 kg) bombs internally in engine nacelle bays
and 4× 500 lb (224 kg) bombs or 2x 250lb bombs and 8x 25lb bombs or 2× Mk XII, Mk XV or Mk 13 aerial torpedoes mounted under the fuselage or 1× torpedo and 1× 293 imp gal (352 USG) external fuel tank mounted under the fuselage
In game
Although the Ca-11 didn’t get a chance to shine in real life, it would hold it’s own in game very well. The reasonable top speed, multiple turrets and different loadout options would make it quite an enjoyable plane in Air and ground RB, being a perfect low tier CAS option.
It’s placement would be either in the British tree as a premium or event vehicle, or in a Commonwealth or Australian tech tree or sub-tree, something I hope to suggest once I have suggested enough vehicles. There are 3 potential versions, the Ca-4 (Which I hope to suggest eventually), the Ca-11 and the Ca-11A, the finally two being quite similar, while the Ca-4 is quite different, and would take a lower br.
Photos
I’ve tried to include photos from many different angles, along with production photos showing the prototype drop tanks and torpedoes mounted.
Sources
https://militarymatters.online/forgotten-aircraft/cac-ca-11-woomera-too-little-too-late/
https://aeropedia.com.au/content/cac-ca-4-and-ca-11-woomera/
https://www.destinationsjourney.com/historical-military-photographs/cac-ca-4-ca-11-woomera/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAC_Woomera
ADF Serials - Woomera (adf-serials.com.au) - This link contains official RAAF documents
https://old-forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/558346-cac-ca-11-woomera-repost/
https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/cac-ca-4-and-ca-11-woomera.24304/
https://k.sina.cn/article_2035222637_p794f086d02700mn3x.html
Australia’s Military Aircraft by Ross Gillett, Page 58
