Book on McDonnell XP-67

[OldGeezer]

My wife and I wrote a book on McDonnell's XP-67, popularly if erroneously called "Moonbat," and as far as we know it's the first book on that fascinating airplane. Osprey is publishing it in November as part of their X-Planes series and it's available for pre-order now on Amazon. Very exciting for us, and hopefully the book will be useful for readers. We had to retain the "Moonbat" moniker in the title, the publisher insisted, since they wanted to maximize the number of search terms that might turn it up...

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Very Cool! Now we know why you were asking all those XP-67 questions!!!

 

[OldGeezer]

Very Cool! Now we know why you were asking all those XP-67 questions!!!

It started out as simple curiosity, once I'd retired I needed something to occupy my time and that was one of the great mysteries of aviation: Where did all the XP-67 stuff go? But once we started finding things that we knew were unique and that had never been published before, we sold Osprey on the idea of a book. We were surprised to find that they contracted none other than Adam Tooby to do the multiple pieces of color illustration, including the cover. His stuff is phenomenal!

 

[hawkeye2an]

That thing just looks so far ahead of it's time. The blended fuselage and engine nacelles. I think it's one of the most beautiful planes of the era.

 

[OldGeezer]

We have our first pre-publication review - very exciting for first-time authors! McDonnell XP-67 "Moonbat" X Planes book review

 

[tomo pauk]

Great stuff, congratulations to both of you

 

[warbird51]

Just got my copy from Amazon. So far, a fascinating read!!!

 

[SaparotRob]

Why is "Moonbat" erroneous? Asking for a friend.

 

[OldGeezer]

Why is "Moonbat" erroneous? Asking for a friend.

The aircraft never was called that at the time, the Army pilots who briefly flew it dubbed it the "Flying Fillet" instead. The association of "Bat" with XP-67 came, as far as I can discover, in a 14-minute film, Air Force Digest issue number 18 whose text blurb included this: "DID YOU KNOW - The Barracuda, the XP-67 Bat, the hot-rod XP-77, the hybrid XP-75 and the radical XP-55, ancestors of today's aircraft, each made important contributions to man's battle for supremacy of the sky." Where the "Moon" part came from, I'm not sure. I've heard various stories but I haven't found any hard evidence to support any particular one.

 

[SaparotRob]

The aircraft never was called that at the time, the Army pilots who briefly flew it dubbed it the "Flying Fillet" instead. The association of "Bat" with XP-67 came, as far as I can discover, in a 14-minute film, Air Force Digest issue number 18 whose text blurb included this: "DID YOU KNOW - The Barracuda, the XP-67 Bat, the hot-rod XP-77, the hybrid XP-75 and the radical XP-55, ancestors of today's aircraft, each made important contributions to man's battle for supremacy of the sky." Where the "Moon" part came from, I'm not sure. I've heard various stories but I haven't found any hard evidence to support any particular one.

It's still a pretty cool name.

 

[GTX]

This book is a good read.

 

[OldGeezer]

This book is a good read.

Thanks! We've collected a LOT more material since it was published, and if we can whip it into shape (and find a publisher) hopefully there will be a "Big Book of XP-67" one day.