Is there a book or even a magazine article with a good structural description/cutaway drawings of the P-66? Both books and the net references I have seen are very vague. It seems that 99 % of Internet articles are based on basically the same few books (American Fighter/Bowers & Angelucci; General Dynamics/John Wegg (Putnam) and Jonathan Thompson's Vultee book), none of which has much detail.
Vultee P-66
- Thread starter Trilisser
- Start date
Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
cvairwerks
Staff Sergeant
Not a lot out there. I've got one manual. I think it's an erection manual, but a poor copy, and all the microfilmed drawings for it.
MiTasol
1st Lieutenant
as far as I am aware, that is a lot more than most anyone else has.
Oh the mind boggles...
Not sure if things like this would offer more:
Vultee P-66 Vanguard 1942 historic period Manual Pursuit plane RARE WW2 archive | eBay
VULTEE P-66 VANGUARD 1940's DVD MANUAL. VULTEE AIRCRAFT, INC. P-66 PURSUIT AIRPLANE. they are historically accurate to produced date, These archived works are excellent reference material for researchers,authors,enthusiasts,historians.
www.ebay.co.uk
As an eBay Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
cvairwerks
Staff Sergeant
A couple of us were looking at build several of them a bunch of years back. There were enough specialty extrusions required, it was going to be hugely expensive, so the idea got dropped.
I had the thought that rebuilding a BT-13 into a P-66 replica powered by R-1340 would be neat. My father saw a BT-15 in Tulsa about 1950 that had flush riveted wings so you just need to find where those went(probably into the aluminum Coke cans at the supermarket).
cvairwerks
Staff Sergeant
The original design work on the P-66 was going to use as much commonality between the BT-13/15 as possible. But by the time the a/c went into production, there wasn't much left structures wise that was common between them. Some of the fuselage furnishings were common, but few other items.
Bob: Using a 1340 would only give you half the horsepower that the -66 had. Would make for a very anemic performing a/c.
Bob: Using a 1340 would only give you half the horsepower that the -66 had. Would make for a very anemic performing a/c.
Last edited:
There's a lot of times when flying a T-6 that you realize even though it's fighter-like it needs more power to be a fighter. A BT-13 modified to look like a P-66 with retracting gear and shorter wings would be a lot lighter than a real P-66 and probably slightly better than a T-6 as that T-6 canopy has DRAG written all over it.
wells
Airman
The manual is online, here Vultee P-66 Preliminary Handbook Operation and Flight Manual - T.O. 01-50FA-1 , 1942
William Green's US Army Airforce Fighters, part 2, should have a cutaway, but I can't confirm yet. I took that book out of the library, probably 30 years ago, memory is not 100%, hehe
William Green's US Army Airforce Fighters, part 2, should have a cutaway, but I can't confirm yet. I took that book out of the library, probably 30 years ago, memory is not 100%, hehe
MiTasol
1st Lieutenant
What?
You have old timers memory disease?
How unusual.
You have old timers memory disease?
How unusual.
- Thread starter
- #12
cvairwerks
Staff Sergeant
Bob: Modifying a BT was looked at, but the determination was that it would have been more work and effort than scratch building one.
MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
Attached is one of the best things I have found on the P-66. I also posted an article on the issue of the possible impact of the P-66 design on the A6M2.
MiTasol
1st Lieutenant
Hi
link please for the article on the issue of the possible impact of the P-66 design on the A6M2?
?
link please for the article on the issue of the possible impact of the P-66 design on the A6M2?
?
MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
Search for "Did Northrop and Vought help design The Zero?"
MiTasol
1st Lieutenant
Tried that. First two link to this thread
and web search came up dry
and web search came up dry
buffnut453
Captain
Try this:
ww2aircraft.net
Interesting to see that, yet again, there are assertions that US designs had a critical impact on the design of the A6M and yet there isn't a single shred of evidence to support the claim.
Now we're supposed to believe that the P-66 (another failed US design) which first flew in September 1939 somehow influenced the Zero which first flew in April 1939. The Japanese couldn't design a good fighter without US help but they could clearly build and operate a time machine to steal data for a machine that first flew after the Zero. Truly remarkable!
Did Northrop and Vought Help Design the Zero
The first picture below is that of a Vultee P-66. I have always thought that it looked remarkably like a Zero fighter. But as it turns out, it appears that Northrop and Vought had more to do with the A6M, rather than Vultee. An article in the Winter 1996 issue of Air Power History by Gary W...
ww2aircraft.net
Interesting to see that, yet again, there are assertions that US designs had a critical impact on the design of the A6M and yet there isn't a single shred of evidence to support the claim.
Now we're supposed to believe that the P-66 (another failed US design) which first flew in September 1939 somehow influenced the Zero which first flew in April 1939. The Japanese couldn't design a good fighter without US help but they could clearly build and operate a time machine to steal data for a machine that first flew after the Zero. Truly remarkable!
Last edited:
