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interesting. Tell us moreFor wargame purposes, I have spent way too much time on this particular question. The only solution I was able to find was the Super Fulmar (I called it the Fulmar FBR Mk IIIE). The increase in wing loading was a little under 2 lb/ft2, and the stall & landing speeds only increased by ~1.5 mph.
Goodness, this is 1938, not 1945. You've made a Super Firefly, not a better 1938-tech twin seater.I used a higher power 'R' engine so I needed to use a 6-blade contra-rotating prop to absorb the full power and special racing fuel. I balanced most of the increased weight forward of CG with armour for the Observer/REO....
I know, but.... we need to design this in 1938.I know, but all the tech in the campaign was historically available prior to 1 July 1941,
I know, but.... we need to design this in 1938.
Perhaps the Fulmar is the right bird, we just need to apply successive Merlin upgrades. That might be our best hope to get a twin seater over 300 mph.
Back to the OP, my money would be on a Defiant conversion. It has wide track undercarriage for starters - which would be a massive advantage for carrier operation - and the removal of the hefty turret with drag reduction would offset the retained weight of the extra crewman. It should also provide space for kit The P.94 derivative proposal with 12 .303s had a reasonably predicted top speed of circa 360mph. Lets chop a good lump off of that because of the FAAs obsession with filling airframes with equipment (with the obvious necessities like an arrestor hook, long range radio, decent dingy etc) - but a 330 mph aircraft is surely still a reasonable proposition? ... its also an aircraft in production - and the proposed P85 turreted naval variant of the Defiant may have already covered off some of the other required design mods for arrestor hook installation etc.
However, its still a Merlin engine - and regardless of rating, as others have said, its going to deliver its best performance at higher altitude, not low down as per the Fulmar spec. However, even a Defiant *with* its turret looks to have had a better climb rate than the Fulmar, so perhaps a faster climbing P.94 would have the advantage of being able to convert altitude into speed. Its mentioned in several passages I've read that Fulmars on interception often only had a chance to attack head on in a single pass or by diving onto things like JU88s if they had an altitude advantage.
And please give the poor old Nav Op a decent weapon to defend the tail. Perhaps a good fast firing gun like a VGO in a double Hampden style mounting?
I like it, but goodness how long is this thing? Will it fit down a 45ft long lift? Why not keep it simple with the below?.... it appears some dude has already done us the artwork! - WI-The Boulton Paul defiant had forward facing guns?
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Agree.Re the Rolls Royce R. With the special fuels needed for the published power outputs it drank the stuff like a dipsomaniac elephant in a brewery. Endurance would be measured in minutes rather than hours.
Go back and see about making the list of British carriers.
Defiant has wing in-between the Spitfire and Hurricane but weighed a lot more.
Take-out turret but stick Fulmar type armament out in the wings (about where the Defiant had it's fuel tanks)
Now add enough fuel for the desired 4 hour endurance.
Whatever you saved by yanking the turret just disappeared,
You have a plane with a higher wing loading than Seafire XV.
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The turret when fully equipped weighed 950 lb (thats presumably minus crewman!). Thats quite a significant amount of weight - not to mention drag. Weight of 8x brownings plus ammo comes out at about 440lbs. So there's still 500lbs to play with before the standard turreted Defiant weight is exceeded. What's the additional endurance for each extra 100lbs of fuel for a Merlin? The standard Defiant (with drag enduing turret) managed around 1.78
Maybe a more informative comparison would be with the Roc? Interestingly, its only 350lbs lighter than the turreted Defiant - but has 110hp less (though its unclear what the rated altitude is for either the Merlin or Perseus). The Roc has 60 square ft additional wing area.
Would a wingspan increase be inconceivably difficult?