Old Wizard
2nd Lieutenant
This is interesting:
http://www.dreamtimeentertainment.com/onesheets/Coverup46.PDF
http://www.dreamtimeentertainment.com/onesheets/Coverup46.PDF
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I thought the P-59 was a twin engined aircraft?The XP-80 program was initiated in 1943 after Lockheed had received data for the XP-59B (single engined Airacomet)
militaryfactory.com said:Despite the fact that these were, in fact, two turbojet engines, the P-59 still did not contend well in head-to-head match-ups with the propeller-driven, piston-powered North American P-51 Mustangs.
Although the Airacomet never saw service in its originally-intended role as a fighter aircraft, it nevertheless provided the USAAF with valuable orientation experience in the use of jet aircraft and furnished a nucleus of trained jet pilots.
The Airacomet was to have one other major impact on aviation history, one that is not generally recognized. Bell engineers undertook some initial work on a single-engined version of the Airacomet, which was designated XP-59B (not to be confused with the P-59B). It had a low-mounted wing and was to be powered by a single General Electric I-16 turbojet engine housed in the rear fuselage with an air inlet at the wing roots and an exhaust in the tail. However, the Buffalo plant was so busy with other projects that in late 1942 the USAAF transferred the preliminary drawings of the single-engined XP-59B to Lockheed, where it became the inspiration of the famed P-80 Shooting Star.
I think the mentality at the time was seeing what the Germans had developed and then see if we (we=all allied nations studying this "machinery") could use that to our advantage.I have all ways wondered whey the UK or the USA did not put there jet engine's on the me 262.For they had the MetroVick f2 axial engine.
For the re-engined Me 262, I was thinking for experimental purposes for testing the airframe. Plus for safety reasons for the unreliable 004's and small amount of spares.
And on a swept wing P-80: Lockheed F-80E
The Lockheed XF-90 experimental long-range penetration fighter of the early 1950s always reminded me of the planes flown by the Blackhawks, who were comic book heroes when I was a wee lad. Hawkaaaaaa......!
Work on the XF-90 was formally terminated in September of 1950. In 1952, the second XF-90A (46-688) was deliberately destroyed on the ground during a nuclear test at Frenchman's Flat in Nevada. The first XF-90A (46-687) was shipped to the NACA laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio in 1953. By this time it was no longer flyable, and was used for structural testing, exploring the limits of the extremely robust structure of the design. Presumably it was tested to destruction. In 2003, the hulk of the second XF-90 (46-688) was recovered by the USAF Museum from the Nevada nuclear test site. I assume that it will eventually be restored and put on display.
What I always wondered about was why the swept wing/stabilizers concept wasn't tested on the P/F-80, as a means of improving its performance?
Maybe hindsight is 20/20, but that seems like one of the first things I would've explored, upon deconstruction of the ME-262.
Elvis