The name of this forum is WorldWarIIAircraft (with a .net), so of course we are only supposed to talk about aircraft that were current during the War years. Sometimes a legitimate thread gets a little bit sideways and lets in some World War I discussion, and there are occasional forays into Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War, but for the most part we adhere to the World War II limit.
But does that necessarily restrict us to planes that actually saw combat in the War? Can we not talk about the F8F Bearcat? Well, sometimes we do, and I personally believe this is perfectly legitimate. The Bearcat was a World War II airplane.
But I want to push the boundaries a bit, and talk about a few airplanes that originated during World War II. And by originated, I include conceived, and not just born. That's because lately I've been reviewing the history of some amazing 50s airplanes. The 50s were a time of tremendously rapid progress, and the operational life span of a good 50s jet was typically just a few years, in contrast to today, where our first-line fighters have been around for close to 50 years, and our oldest active bomber design was first put to paper more than 70 years ago. And upon looking at those cool 50s jets, I was struck by how many of them could trace their roots all the way back to the War years. For example, our best-known Korean War fighter had its origins all the way back in 1944. I did not realize that.
So let's look at a few of those 50s planes, starting with the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. Great airplane, and it actually flew in January of 1944. This was a legitimate World War II plane, and it was better than the Me262. Didn't get there in time to actually take on any 262s, but if it had. . .well, it was faster, had more than a 50% better rate of climb, and was more maneuverable. That's not too much of a surprise, since it was newer than the 262 and was designed by Kelly Johnson, but it was definitely a better plane.
But then there's the B-36. It actually should have been a totally World War II airplane, since its design was begun in early 1941 and it was intended for intercontinental use against Germany if England were to be knocked out of the war. As it happened, England survived and the B-36 concept was assigned a lower priority, and other projects got in the way. It was not until August of 1946 that the first one took to the air, but it was emphatically a World War II design. In fact, it is considered by many to have been obsolete the day it first entered service in 1948, except that there was nothing else that could do the job. The B-47 wasn't big enough to carry those early nuclear bombs, so the B-36 was a first-line bomber until the B-52 came along.
Then there was the P-84 Thunderjet. It was even faster than the P-80, though not as good a climber. It originated with a 1944 Army Air Force proposal for a new day fighter, and first flew in February of 1946.
Finally, let's look at the P-86, which sprang from the same 1944 USAAF request that led to the P-84 (or perhaps it was a different request in the same year. Unclear.) In any case, North American had already worked up a replacement for their piston-powered P-51, and gave the U.S. Navy the FJ-1 Fury, the first carrier-based jet aircraft, which first flew in September of 1946. Continued work with the Fury eventually led to the adoption of swept wings and other improvements, and the P-86 (alright, the XP-86, for the purists among us) first flew in October of 1947, just over two years after the War ended.
I could list others; there's the B-45 and the B-47, which actually went into service, and the B-46 and B-48, which flew but were not accepted. All of them started with USAAF requests that were put out during the War. Even the F-89 Scorpion sneaks into this category, since it originated with a request that was put out on August 28, 1945, just under the wire.
Those War years were an amazingly fertile time for new airplane designs.
But does that necessarily restrict us to planes that actually saw combat in the War? Can we not talk about the F8F Bearcat? Well, sometimes we do, and I personally believe this is perfectly legitimate. The Bearcat was a World War II airplane.
But I want to push the boundaries a bit, and talk about a few airplanes that originated during World War II. And by originated, I include conceived, and not just born. That's because lately I've been reviewing the history of some amazing 50s airplanes. The 50s were a time of tremendously rapid progress, and the operational life span of a good 50s jet was typically just a few years, in contrast to today, where our first-line fighters have been around for close to 50 years, and our oldest active bomber design was first put to paper more than 70 years ago. And upon looking at those cool 50s jets, I was struck by how many of them could trace their roots all the way back to the War years. For example, our best-known Korean War fighter had its origins all the way back in 1944. I did not realize that.
So let's look at a few of those 50s planes, starting with the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. Great airplane, and it actually flew in January of 1944. This was a legitimate World War II plane, and it was better than the Me262. Didn't get there in time to actually take on any 262s, but if it had. . .well, it was faster, had more than a 50% better rate of climb, and was more maneuverable. That's not too much of a surprise, since it was newer than the 262 and was designed by Kelly Johnson, but it was definitely a better plane.
But then there's the B-36. It actually should have been a totally World War II airplane, since its design was begun in early 1941 and it was intended for intercontinental use against Germany if England were to be knocked out of the war. As it happened, England survived and the B-36 concept was assigned a lower priority, and other projects got in the way. It was not until August of 1946 that the first one took to the air, but it was emphatically a World War II design. In fact, it is considered by many to have been obsolete the day it first entered service in 1948, except that there was nothing else that could do the job. The B-47 wasn't big enough to carry those early nuclear bombs, so the B-36 was a first-line bomber until the B-52 came along.
Then there was the P-84 Thunderjet. It was even faster than the P-80, though not as good a climber. It originated with a 1944 Army Air Force proposal for a new day fighter, and first flew in February of 1946.
Finally, let's look at the P-86, which sprang from the same 1944 USAAF request that led to the P-84 (or perhaps it was a different request in the same year. Unclear.) In any case, North American had already worked up a replacement for their piston-powered P-51, and gave the U.S. Navy the FJ-1 Fury, the first carrier-based jet aircraft, which first flew in September of 1946. Continued work with the Fury eventually led to the adoption of swept wings and other improvements, and the P-86 (alright, the XP-86, for the purists among us) first flew in October of 1947, just over two years after the War ended.
I could list others; there's the B-45 and the B-47, which actually went into service, and the B-46 and B-48, which flew but were not accepted. All of them started with USAAF requests that were put out during the War. Even the F-89 Scorpion sneaks into this category, since it originated with a request that was put out on August 28, 1945, just under the wire.
Those War years were an amazingly fertile time for new airplane designs.
