The What is it? Game

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OK, not sure how easy or hard this one is, I know I am not very familiar with it.

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T!
 
From Messerschmitt maybe ?

This aircraft is not a Messerschmitt, and it is not German.

As a hint, this is an aircraft that was built in America, and through the perversity of corporate acquisitions it has a connection to the X-15 (I would not dwell on that connection too much ;) ).

T!
 
I think Graeme got it first. Yes, this is the aircraft variously called the Fokker XA7, Atlantic-Fokker (or Fokker-America) XA7, General Aviation XA7, and General Aviation-Fokker XA7, depending on which reference you use. The company was Atlantic Aircraft Corp (set up by Fokker to build aircraft in the US) until it was partially acquired by General Motors and renamed General Aviation in 1931, and was absorbed by North American Aviation in 1934.

At the time the XA7 was ordered the company was Atlantic Aviation, and called Atlantic-Fokker or Fokker-America. By the time the aircraft flew for the first time the company was General Aviation.

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T!
 
Let the clues begin...

According to one site it only flew once (for about two minutes) and when it abruptly landed there was a heated/furious discussion between the designer and the test pilot, while he was still seated in the cockpit. It never flew again. Estimated top speed was to be around 320 mph but the prototype was under-powered.
Not unique, but the engine installation was novel for the time. The flight occurred in 1938.
 

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