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Not a great place to be for a belly landingQuick and easy way to get a RIO in a P-38
Well they're not Radar Intercept OFFICERS. They're Radar Operators, corporals and sergeants, so they're expendable.Not a great place to be for a belly landing
I hate to be the one to spoil the party, but that pod on the F-5 (P-38) was actually for Medivac...
Interesting thread. If I've got it right here's the definitive NP38 so far.
Somewhat elongated central nacelle with a boat tail extension aft and a longer canopy with a more gradual downsloping "fastback" to accommodate the RO. I read somewhere that NACA determined the P38's aerodynamics were negatively affected by the center nacelle's "bobtail" shape, but production commitments prevented a fix from being applied.
SCR 520 in the nose, with a mod engineered for 720 when it would be available. Bigger dishes enhance radar performance, but in practical terms antenna azimuths beyond 60° aren't worth the extra drag the larger radome produces.
Four 20MMs under the nose to minimize flash blindness. Moving the guns and ammo down and back along with the boat tail extension will shift CG aft so as much electrical and electronics as possible can go in the now vacated nose. Expendable ammo is now closer to the CG. The further forward the radar boxes are, the more separation they have from the cannons and their vibrations.
Night fighters don't "dogfight", but they do require a stable gun platform, so the additional keel effect of the longer boat tail aft of CG can be viewed as a gift, not a burden, and the existing flight controls should be adequate (boosted ailerons, of course). Redesigned larger "bolt on" rudders may be required for engine-out handling reasons.
This is all speculation, and given the time frame it would have been needed, the decision to proceed would have to be made long before the real world shortcomings of the P61 would become evident. On paper it would have looked like a world beater from the perspective of 1941-42. Nice exercise in retroscopy.
The 'Swordfish' P-38 modification would've been a good start, minus the wing appendices of course: link
Some sort of airfoil cuff to enhance lift in the propwash stream and guarantee a root stall prior to a tip stall?? Some sort of a coolant radiator?? "Conformal aux fuel tankage?? An embryonic Boundary Layer Control system?? You never know what Kelly and the Skunks will come up with next. Watch the Billboard Hot 100 every week to find out!What are those appendages?
Was that beast configured as a two pilot airplane with full flight controls on both sides, or was it a Pilot/WSO (or enlisted RO) configuration?Take a look at the pod that held that radar on the P-82; it was huge.
What are those appendages?
Was that beast configured as a two pilot airplane with full flight controls on both sides, or was it a Pilot/WSO (or enlisted RO) configuration?
My apologies for the ambiguous question. I was asking about the P82. The P61 has been discussed at great length here and I think, well understood.The normal configuration for the P-61 is the pilot in the front, the gunner behind him in a seat that rotated 360 degrees with the turret, and the radio operator in the rear of the center fuselage.
Comparing the P-61B and P-38M, the USAAF concluded that the P-38M had higher performance but for aircraft that both fighters were capable of intercepting the P-61 was superior. Both aircraft were found to have the same range, and the P-61's range was found to be inadequate in the Pacific.
The normal configuration for the P-61 is the pilot in the front, the gunner behind him in a seat that rotated 360 degrees with the turret, and the radio operator in the rear of the center fuselage. The only flight controls were in the pilot's position. Since the turret was either removed from late P-61A and early P-61B airplanes and in some cases replaced by fixed forward firing guns, one of the ETO units (421st?) moved the RO position to the gunner's position behind the pilot so to enable both men to acquire targets visually.
The P(F)-82 had dual controls so one pilotnwas able to relieve the other on long escorts/patrols.Was that beast configured as a two pilot airplane with full flight controls on both sides, or was it a Pilot/WSO (or enlisted RO) configuration?