What aircraft (any side) would you develope further

[MacArther]

Also, what would you introduce earlier? I would give the P40 Q a chance, (as is well known by most), give the Dautless a 2000 hp engine and two 20mm's in the wings along with normal armament. Hurricane could have used a bigger engine, and for the sake of being laughed at, a bubble canopy. Then the Miles M20 (21?), a good fighter that showed up early on with a bubble canopy, possibly 12.7mm guns in lieu of the 7.7mms, or a combination of 7.7mm and 20mm.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

well the forst obvious choice would be the MB.5............

 

[MacArther]

Eh, wha? Is that the final version of the Lancaster, with the 50 cals and 20mms?

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

no it's often refered to as the British mustang...........

 

[MacArther]

hehe, thought it was the late war/too late/postwar lancaster! They made only a handful, because the war ended before they could be used.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

there was no production batch with 20mms, only a couple of lancs were fitted with 20mm as trials.........

 

[Jabberwocky]

I have a few in mind, but ill start with one of my favourites.

1. Westland Whirlwind. Only 114 made, the type had real potential but was superceeded by the Beaufighter and Typhoon because of a combination of engine troubles, political listlessness and conflicing RAF requirements.

First and most obvious thing is the get Rolls Royce to improve the reliability and power of the Peregrine. Fitting Merlins to the Whirlwind isn't really that pracitcal, despite all the fantasies about it. So bump the horespower from 885 hp to 1000-1050 hp an engine. So the Whirlwind jumps from 360 mph up to 380 mph or so. Maybe even higher as the war goes on (the Merlin grew by 1100 hp in capacity, so the Peregrine could probably squeeze out another 300-500 hp or so) A step along from that is to fit an improved supercharger to the Peregrine. Keep it single stage, as the Spitfire rules the roost at high alt anyway, but tailor it to give peak performance at about 16,000 feet. Dropping the blower height is going to increase power and speed (maybe 5-10 mph) at the expense of altitude performance above 20,000 feet.

Next fit a belt feed to the 4 nose cannon, doubling the ammunition load. Add a centerline droptank and the necessary plumbing for it. Fit trailing edge flaps to lower the stall speed and allow compatability with short grass strips (also increases turn performance).

All of a sudden, you have a very capable low-medium altitude long range escort fighter for the RAF, 2 years ahead of the introduction of the P-51B/C/D. The only two operational Whirlwind squadrons originally escorted Wellingtons all the way to Cologne (in daylight) in 1941. The RAF is still going to primarily bomb at night but it gives them a better option for heavy daylight raids if they have 5-10 squadrons of capable long-range escort fighters.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Agree Jabby, the Whirlwind!

I would also gone after the XP-55 Acender - If Burt Rutan would of worked for Curtiss, things might of turned out a lot different.

 

[carpenoctem1689]

I would have gone with the French VG33. It was about as fast as an Me-109, and only used a 840hp inline engine. Had it been armed with two Mg151/15 in the wings, and two Mg131 in the nose, and given it the Db-601 engine, it would have been something exceptional, with a range greater and a speed greater than that of the -109, without landing gear troubles, and with better visibility. Had the germans continued production of this fighter, and then mass produced it in the heartland, they could have had a decent escprt fighter able to really fight the spitfire over england longer than the -109, and even a good interceptor with better loitre time. With slight modifications to german production, captured and new build aircraft would have been something to fear.

 

[book1182]

P-39 with a super charged engine??? Actually the P-63 with one of the later models matched the P-51 in performance. I would also like to see the B-32 developed more. Or how about the He 100?

How about the He 177 with four engines instead for the two engine lay out. I know it was actually two engines combined but that caused a lot of fire problems.

Or how about the Ki-84 Hayate??? So many choices. Oh and of course the Whirlwind.

 

[carpenoctem1689]

I would have developed were i italian, the BA.88 attack aircraft. If they could have put some more reliable engines in the thing, and developed or copied some sand filters (the ones they used made the engines, already not at full output, overheat). The aircraft had a horrible debut, and the rest of the war. It was used pathetically but it could have been something. Again if the germans saw the design they could have made it something, with some Db-601 or whatever model was available, or some BMW high power radials (used on 190) or the jumo 223 late in the war, it could have been fast, and it could have carried a good load a nice distance and packed one hell of a punch.

 

[gabbys]

Me-262.

Improve engine life and output.

First flight was on 18 April 1941 using a Jumo-210G piston engine with 530 kW (710 HP) and a two-bladed prop because the engine development was slow.

focus on engine development and get the plane into opperation by 42.

Own the skies by end of 43.

 

[carpenoctem1689]

I think if i were the germans i would have advanced the production of Heinkel-280's. They could have been a nasty shock against the american bomber formations, before production of the Me-262 was even in production for combat. I would have armed it with Two Mg151/15 and two Mg131. I know everyone says light armament right? well i like that combination, clustered in the nose, the two cannon in the center and the Machine guns on either side. I would have made it so it could carry drop tanks, not even worry about bombs, leaving that to aircraft more suited to attack roles. Later as the war progressed add attachments for R4M rockets, like that on the Me-262. Imagine Me-262'a and He-280's slicing through an american formation of B-17's from above, head on attacks from Bf-109s, and rear attacks from Fw-190D9 and Me-410 with big "formation buster" rockets/mortars. One big intercept would have come out like schweinfurt, or even worse, with bomber losses near eighty or one hundred. Wouldnt have altered the war, but it would have been pretty cool.

 

[102first_hussars]

I would have given this baby a chance

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I would also like to see the B-32 developed more.

The B-32 was used operationally and if the war continued I would of bet dollars to donuts we would of seen many more of them....

 

[Magister]

Republic XP-72

Capable of 490mph at 25,000 feet.

Pratt Whitney 28 Cylinder R-4360 rated at 3,450hp

Production models were to be armed with four 37mm cannons. (The prototype had six .50's)

After the first test flight in February 1944, the USAAF immediately ordered 100 P-72's but that order was cancelled after it was determined that they needed longer range escort fighters instead.

 

[delcyros]

Have You ever thought about the weight and recoilforces of four 37 mm guns? Mounted in the wings? Seems for me that they had almost no experiance with wingmounted cannons...
Beside of the fact that the recoilforces alone would render that plane out of control with a single shot, the additional weight of guns, ammo and structural reinforcements of the wing would reduce it´s performance heavily.
I would like to see the Vampire for UK and the Shiden for Japan earlier!
Second would be I 230 and P 63, last but not least Fw-187.

 

[Jabberwocky]

One more from me

Spitfire

Sounds strange, but bear with me. Range became something of an issue after the inception of the Mk V and the need to pursue German fighters further into Europe as the war progressed. Similarly, the P-47 and later P-51 took over from the Spitfire as the primary fighter type against the LuftWaffe in mid 1943, mostly because they could reach further. In 1939 the Mk I Spitfire had 85 imp gal internal tankage, by 1945 most Spitfires had between 122 and 160 imp gall. The Mk XVII had 175 and the post war Mk 24 flew with 190 imp gal.

Start with the Mk I and keep it with the basic 85 gal (85 total). Go to the improved 96 gal tanks in the Mk II (96 total). Add the 31 gal rear fuselage to the Mk V as a permanent tank, to be filled for L/R missions (127 gal). Add the wing leading edge tanks to the early Mk IX (149 gal). Add the full sized rear fuselage tanks to all production after 1943 (LF Mk IX, LF Mk V, Mk VIII, Mk VII, Mk XIV, Mk XVI) and the eventual total comes to around 190 imperial gallons, or about a 225% increase in capacity by 1943. 30 gal drop tanks are avialable by mid 1941, 45 and 90 gal tanks available by mid 42 and the 170 gal ferry tank available by late 1942. Long range tankage goes up to 280 imp gallons (1270 litres, 335 US gallons). Effective range is more than doubled.

 

[MacArther]

The bell P-59 Airacomet. Improve the flaps and aireolions (cant...spell...must... hit head... on wall) so it would be a better contender with other planes. Improve the engine output, get new British engines, or just make new American engines. Another thing I would develope, the ever famous "flying Pancake". Get it into action by 1943, give it 4 50 cals and 2 20mms, it would make the Lufftwaffe think twice about attacking bombers if it were used as an escort. Also, imagine the havoc it would reak on the Japanese fleets. Not sure, but wasn't it able to carry about 2000lbs of bombs too?

 

[Magister]

delcruos - Frankly, I don't think that such an obvious consideration (recoil forces of the cannons) could have escaped the engineers. And I don't think that even you believe that, "Beside of the fact that the recoilforces alone would render that plane out of control with a single shot,"

Unfortunately, we'll never know.

For further information on the XP-72:

http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/p72.html