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The Beaufighter was a night fighter derivative of a bomber so should be okay.
Night fighting was not part of its original specification.
I keep getting into arguments about the Defiant. It wasn't really ordered as a nightfighter, but it was used as one by a number of squadrons and had it's greatest successes (sarcasm) before it was fitted with radar.
Germans. No Bf 110 means more Bf 109s for the BoB and perhaps a single-engined concept to meet the long-range, heavy fighter requirement - sort of a German Typhoon or Jug.who might come off better without a 2-engined fighter in production & service?
Germans. No Bf 110 means more Bf 109s for the BoB and perhaps a single-engined concept to meet the long-range, heavy fighter requirement - sort of a German Typhoon or Jug.
If Petter isn't making his Whirlwind, does he still gain the access, position and experience to finish Mitchell's Spitfire? Do we still get his Canberra, Gnat and Lightning?
Good points. Let's skip the heavy, but the long range role filled by the Bf 110 can be filled by a single engine DB 601/605 aircraft. A German Mustang.... perhaps based on the He 100.Germans need an engine for the "long-range, heavy fighter requirement" Americans used the R-2800 and the British used the Sabre.
A DB 601/605 won't work. Neither will the BMW 801, the Fw 190 was hardly a P-47 or Typhoon.
Using a monster motor instead of two small or medium engines seems to be skating around the premise.
The Typhoon/Sabre combination being a great example of a horrible expensive solution to the question.
Germans need an engine for the "long-range, heavy fighter requirement" Americans used the R-2800 and the British used the Sabre.
A DB 601/605 won't work. Neither will the BMW 801, the Fw 190 was hardly a P-47 or Typhoon.
Using a monster motor instead of two small or medium engines seems to be skating around the premise.
The Typhoon/Sabre combination being a great example of a horrible expensive solution to the question.
Good points. Let's skip the heavy, but the long range role filled by the Bf 110 can be filled by a single engine DB 601/605 aircraft. A German Mustang.... perhaps based on the He 100.
And the He 100 had wide track undercarriage. Add the range and put that on Graf Zeppelin..... which still is a deadend project that won't see service, but they don't know that at the time.I'd propose that engine on He 100 gets the annular cooling system - that should leave a lot of space for fuel tanks. Add two drop tanks and it should be very rangy.
What replaces the Meteor and Me 262? For the RAF, perhaps the Vampire or something akin to a P-80 Shooting Star.For reasons of, perhaps, price, air forces/services of aircraft-producing countries decide they will not do any proposal that will require two engines on an aircraft designed as a fighter, nor that they will accept proposed 2-engined fighter coming as a private venture.
What replaces the Meteor and Me 262? For the RAF, perhaps the Vampire or something akin to a P-80 Shooting Star.
But what of the Germans? The Heinkel He 162 was an emergency fighter, so I expect something different would have been designed if Messerschmidt and/or Heinkel had the several years development time that went into the Me 262 and He 280 programs. Mind you, engine reliability becomes critical when you only have one.
Is it unreasonable for the Germans to go straight to the Me P.1101?
With no P-38, what aircraft is used for Operation Vengeance? IDK if the P-51 was opera in the SW Pacific at the time.
The Beaufighter. Long range, powerful armament. Can outrun anything Japanese at low level. The aussies will have to kill yamamoto.With no P-38, what aircraft is used for Operation Vengeance? IDK if the P-51 was opera in the SW Pacific at the time.
The Beaufighter is much better than the Lightning earlier in the war. Has navigator with m/c gun, 4 cannon, 6 m/c in wings, can't get lost in fog like all those Lightnings up in the Aleutians. Yamamoto is a dead man and the aussies did it.The Beaufighter. Long range, powerful armament. Can outrun anything Japanese at low level. The aussies will have to kill yamamoto.
The pre-war R-2180 was a completely different engine from the post-war R-2180; its ancestry included the Hornet (R-1690), while the post-war engine was related to the Wasp (R-2800). It also received very little development effort, with only about thirty built.P-38 was conceived as a reply to the specification requiring a hefty load of gun firepower and excellent hi-alt performance. My understanding was that Johnson/Lockheed were reckoning that single 1500 HP engine is needed to power their design, or, in case such engine is not around, go for two 1000 HP engines.
Here, two engines are not an option, so Johnson can choose either R-2180A or R-2600.
The R-2180A, as bought by Japan on DC-4E, was rated to 1400 HP on 95-100 oct fuel. 1500 HP on extra 100 rpm was never manufactured. 1st R-2600s were rated for 1500 HP aboard the Boeing 314. 1600 HP and 1700 HP engines were produced before US entered the war.
Our '1-engined P-38' should be very rangy with drop tanks, same as it was P-38.
The pre-war R-2180 was a completely different engine from the post-war R-2180; its ancestry included the Hornet (R-1690), while the post-war engine was related to the Wasp (R-2800). It also received very little development effort, with only about thirty built.
The R-2800 was first flown in 1940, vs 1938 for the R-2600. Of course upgrading to a Double Wasp would be easy....