"The P-60 has as much relation to a P-40 as F-18E does to a F-18A." Remember the P-60 started as a P-40 with a new wing.......BTW time they were done, aside from the engine maybe only the tailwheel and the rivets were the same. /s
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The P-60 (XP-60, no letter) was a P-40D with a laminar flow wing and Merlin engine. It was originally to be built with the IV-1430 as the XP-53, but the IV-1430 was late, so the Merlin engine it was.
The XP-60 was converted to the XP-60D by fitting a V-1650-3 Packard Merlin.
The comparison with the F-18A and F-18E is straange, because the F-18E was essentially and all new aircraft and was bigger.
The XP-60 and XP-60D were a P-40D with a new engine and wings.
It would be interesting to find out when Don Berlin said there was development left in the P-40. Or when management wouldn't give him the time of day.
Don Berlin was involved in the XP-46 and XP-55 project (in it's early stages) and in Jan 1942 (about the time the first production P-40Fs were being built) he was hired by GM to head up their Fisher body division and began the saga of the Fisher P-75. How much of a connection he maintained with CUrtiss I have no idea.
I don't know if he was involved in the XP-53/60 saga or not (he was there at the start) and since the XP-53 was considered on improved P-40 (or at least use fuselage parts) we are alos left wondering what he may have meant by "development left in the air frame".
Why was the XP-46 slower?
anything is possible if you spend enough money, time and sweat. Whether it is worthwhile is a different story.
XP-75?This is the issue, really. Why bother?
Sometimes, it does indeed seem wise to know when to quit!
Not sure the Buccaneer would have been any better.Thaaaat's right. Mind you, Curtiss' own SB2C is a machine that should have been quit, but because of expediency wasn't.
Sometimes, it does indeed seem wise to know when to quit!
XP-75?
HE-177?
My perception of the p40q is that it was just a little too late for what it was. It looks real good, at least on paper. A little slower than the p51 yes but better moaenuverability and much better climb.This is the issue, really. Why bother? By the time the P-40Q gets to production status, the USAAF is ordering the P-80 Shooting Star. Piston engine wise, there's the P-51H and the P-47N, both of which could outperform the XP-40Q.
Not sure the Buccaneer would have been any better.
The "more competent management" was not necessarily Curtiss. If Allison cannot get the engine sorted out then it doesn't matter much what Curtiss does with the airframe.My perception of the p40q is that it was just a little too late for what it was. It looks real good, at least on paper. A little slower than the p51 yes but better moaenuverability and much better climb.
Of course range, which is can be very important was not as good although it was not bad.
If it could have been squeezed out a year earlier it might have been valuable. Perhaps a more competent management could have pulled it off before it was too late to be needed.
Good point. Although better management at Curtis certainly wouldn't have hurt.The "more competent management" was not necessarily Curtiss. If Allison cannot get the engine sorted out then it doesn't matter much what Curtiss does with the airframe.
Good point. Although better management at Curtis certainly wouldn't have hurt.
That's an interesting take on Curtis and one I had not considered before. I had always viewed them as simply incompetent. Of course it may have been that also.I don't know if Curtiss was not trying hard enough or if they were trying too hard and spreading their design staff too thin. Curtiss may have been involved in more programs that produced at least prototypes than any other US aircraft company in WW II and was close to twice as many as any other company. Many were flops for various reasons but they were certainly trying.
That's an interesting take on Curtis and one I had not considered before. I had always viewed them as simply incompetent. Of course it may have been that also.