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Yes, just give North American Aviation the design brief and they would do it in metal. An unarmed twin engined plane with high speed, a two man crew and internal bomb load that can take a 4,000Ib cookie or equal weight/volume of fuel, cannons, bombs or other equipment. The Mosquito had advanced aerofoils, low surface drag, low cooling drag using Meredith effect, just like the P-51.So, to misquote Douglas Adams: "Something almost, but not entirely, quite unlike a Mosquito".....?
Take the guns off a fighter bomber variant, paint it in nice colours and anyone would love to fly one as a "sports plane" better than a Ferrari for picking up some young impressionable female.And it looks cool.
I honestly feel that the Dinosaurs were victims in that situation.
Indeed.Yes, just give North American Aviation the design brief and they would do it in metal. An unarmed twin engined plane with high speed, a two man crew and internal bomb load that can take a 4,000Ib cookie or equal weight/volume of fuel, cannons, bombs or other equipment. The Mosquito had advanced aerofoils, low surface drag, low cooling drag using Meredith effect, just like the P-51.
The Lockheed Vegas were all plywood according to all the sources I have found, although some of the photos on Wikipedia look like metal. Lockheed had the experience to build Mosquitos. They were being built by de Havilland in Downview, which now is part of Toronto, Canada.They were building an excellent quality wood boat here in Detroit called the Chris Craft. It would seem that we're knew how to work with this stuff.
They key ingredient to the plywood, however was Ecuadorian balsa. Would should have been able to attain that as well.
The A-26 first flew in July '42 - the Mosquito in Sept '41...
NAA did it, and it first flew in April 1942! North American XB-28 Dragon - WikipediaYes, just give North American Aviation the design brief and they would do it in metal. An unarmed twin engined plane with high speed, a two man crew and internal bomb load that can take a 4,000Ib cookie or equal weight/volume of fuel, cannons, bombs or other equipment. The Mosquito had advanced aerofoils, low surface drag, low cooling drag using Meredith effect, just like the P-51.
Do you really think the Gross brothers would want to build "a competitor's" aircraft under license when they had their own design successfully being sold to the AAF?The Lockheed Vegas were all plywood according to all the sources I have found, although some of the photos on Wikipedia look like metal. Lockheed had the experience to build Mosquitos. They were being built by de Havilland in Downview, which now is part of Toronto, Canada.
Lockheed's DL series was the all metal Vega.The Lockheed Vegas were all plywood according to all the sources I have found, although some of the photos on Wikipedia look like metal. Lockheed had the experience to build Mosquitos. They were being built by de Havilland in Downview, which now is part of Toronto, Canada.
This says it all. The strength of the US / British manufacturing lay in the different ideas and processes with the result being particular aircraft able to specialiseLockheed's DL series was the all metal Vega.
Many American aircraft manufacturers had aircraft that contained wood and the ones manufactured for the Military were mostly trainers (AT-10, AT-18, etc.), but there was no need for combat types to be made with wooden components.
Also, why would Lockheed (or any other manufacturer) want to build a Mosquito when they had their own products being sold to the U.S. Military?
Mosquito commitment anywhere in US, particularly Lockheed, would be faced with Packard commitments for both R-R engines to Canada for Lancaster and Mosquito and absolute higher priority of P-38. Additional balsa supply for US I suspect would impact Canada/UK delivery for Mosquitos.The Lockheed Vegas were all plywood according to all the sources I have found, although some of the photos on Wikipedia look like metal. Lockheed had the experience to build Mosquitos. They were being built by de Havilland in Downview, which now is part of Toronto, Canada.
Well not really, because it was still wedded to defensive armament. It had a 5 man crew and 6 mgs. Ditch three of the crew and all the defensive stuff and produce a bomber that when loaded with bombs and fuel has no internal free space. With 4,000HP it could have had fantastic performance and many uses complimentary to the Mosquito.NAA did it, and it first flew in April 1942! North American XB-28 Dragon - WikipediaView attachment 644017
So I'm inexorably lead back to the soft thwack of a long dead horse being flogged here...
Well, it did do 372mph at around 25,000ft and that was with engines and Turbos roughly equivalent to a P-47B. What could it have done with slightly later engines and later turbos/turbo controllers? Compare it to a summer (or fall) of 1942 Mosquito, not late 1943/44 Mosquitoes.Well not really, because it was still wedded to defensive armament. It had a 5 man crew and 6 mgs. Ditch three of the crew and all the defensive stuff and produce a bomber that when loaded with bombs and fuel has no internal free space. With 4,000HP it could have had fantastic performance and many uses complimentary to the Mosquito.
The B-28 died because of lack of mission. Superb design with developmental issues cooling the engines, but lacked the range with full bomb load to fit into the B-17 and B-24 range with greater payload. Nobody felt a need to include high altitude/medium range doctrine for tactical. Chilton was almost killed in the prototype when engine blew up over the ocean. With engine cooling/drag issues cleaned up, it was projected to exceed 400mph at 25K with full internal load.Well, it did do 372mph at around 25,000ft and that was with engines and Turbos roughly equivalent to a P-47B. What could it have done with slightly later engines and later turbos/turbo controllers? Compare it to a summer (or fall) of 1942 Mosquito, not late 1943/44 Mosquitoes.
The B-28 had 3680hp at 25,000ft in the summer of 1942. Not saying to couldn't have gone faster without the turrets. Just that there wasn't much else that could touch it....................except the A-26. The XA-26 prototype first flew July 10th 1942 and hit 370mph at 17,000ft with mock up gun turrets (perhaps lower drag than actual turret with gun barrels.)
But the Air at 17,000ft is about 30% denser than the air at 25,000ft and the engines in the XA-26 were good for 3200hp (total) at 13,500ft (no RAM) so the XA-26 must have been pretty slippery. This is probably the plane the US would have been comparing the Mosquito to. There was a night fighter version planned while everything was still in the paper stage but this was dropped.
Victim culture started roughly April 10, 1865.So victim culture started waaaay before modern politics, then?
We've been over this Mossie built in the USA business. The US didn't need the Mossie as a bomber, it had sufficient bombers of its own design, which, carrying the same loads as the Mossie did just as good a job as the Mosquito did. The B-25, B-26 and A-20 were excellent types and fulfilled their requirements adequately. As has been said before, the British are going to establish production lines for their own needs first, and if the US want them, they are gonna have to wait in line. The US saw the type for night fighting and recon and received British and Canadian-built aircraft out of British stocks. Building Mossies in the USA would be as the type was intended, out of wood, but for whom? The Brits? Because they'll want them first.