Recent content by professorcurly

Thanks for all the information guys, that's really helpful. Why do you think that performance sheet I posted used F8F-1 data for the F8F-2 then? Is that standard practice when the military is upgrading to a new model?

I was wondering what the source of the improved top speed of the F8F-2 over the F8F-1 was. The engine seems to have been a downgrade, from the R-2800-34(W) to the R-2800-30(W), although I know that the dash numbers don't always go chronologically. The HP numbers for the two engines I've been...

I don't remember where I read this, but I've heard that the Northrop flying wings also ran into problems of the radar operators in the US "losing" them during test flights, for the same reasons as the Horton - a fortuitous shape that served dual purposes. The difference between Northrop and...

I figured it was scrapped, I just wasn't sure. I thought maybe it had been sold and converted into a racer like other surplus warplanes or preserved by Republic as a historical piece. Thanks.

I've found lots of info about the plane, its performance and read opinions about why it wasn't produced and so forth. But I've never been able to find what happened to it once Republic moved on to the XP-72. Was it scrapped? Preserved somewhere? What did they do with it once they were done...

If I may ask a related question, is there a point where adding additional power stops giving you extra performance? For example, comparing the F8F-1 vs the Rare Bear. The F8F-1 has a ~2400hp engine, the Rare Bear has ~4000-4500hp, but the best time-to-10000ft record for them is only a few...