T Bolt
Colonel
User Name: T Bolt
Name: Glenn
Category: Advanced
Kit: Czech Model XP-55 Ascender
Scale: 1/48th
Accessories: None, kit has vac canopy and plenty of resin by True Details
The Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender prototype fighter built to meet the USAAC proposal R-40C of November 1939 for "Aircraft with improved performance, armament and pilot visibility over existing fighters allowing for unconventional aircraft designs" and was in competition with the Vultee XP-54 and Northrop XP-56, none of which saw production.
One full scale steel tube & fabric flying model was built to prove the concept before the three Ascender s prototypes were constructed. They were sometimes sarcastically known as the "Ass-ender" because of their pusher configuration.
Performance of the XP-55 was inferior to that of more conventional fighter aircraft already in service and was not altogether stable. None were produced.
The first prototype went out of control during stall testing and crashed, the pilot parachuting to safety.
The third prototype was doing a low altitude roll at during a war bond air show at Wright Field, Dayton Ohio (The present location of the National Museum of the United States Air Force) when it crashed into the ground inverted, killing the pilot and four people on the ground.
The second prototype has been restored and is currently on display at The Air Zoo in Kalamazoo Michigan.
The full scale steel tube & fabric flying model
The third prototype after the crash
The second prototype shortly after restoration
Name: Glenn
Category: Advanced
Kit: Czech Model XP-55 Ascender
Scale: 1/48th
Accessories: None, kit has vac canopy and plenty of resin by True Details
The Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender prototype fighter built to meet the USAAC proposal R-40C of November 1939 for "Aircraft with improved performance, armament and pilot visibility over existing fighters allowing for unconventional aircraft designs" and was in competition with the Vultee XP-54 and Northrop XP-56, none of which saw production.
One full scale steel tube & fabric flying model was built to prove the concept before the three Ascender s prototypes were constructed. They were sometimes sarcastically known as the "Ass-ender" because of their pusher configuration.
Performance of the XP-55 was inferior to that of more conventional fighter aircraft already in service and was not altogether stable. None were produced.
The first prototype went out of control during stall testing and crashed, the pilot parachuting to safety.
The third prototype was doing a low altitude roll at during a war bond air show at Wright Field, Dayton Ohio (The present location of the National Museum of the United States Air Force) when it crashed into the ground inverted, killing the pilot and four people on the ground.
The second prototype has been restored and is currently on display at The Air Zoo in Kalamazoo Michigan.
The full scale steel tube & fabric flying model
The third prototype after the crash
The second prototype shortly after restoration
