What if: Earliest R-2800 powered Army fighter? (1 Viewer)

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gjs238

Tech Sergeant
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Mar 26, 2009
I wonder how early a non-naval Corsair, non-naval Hellcat, or non-turbocharged P-47 could have been fielded?

How much time (and cost) could have been saved off Corsair, Hellcat and P-47 development by removing the naval and turbo requirements?

Some awesome machines could have resulted, albeit not for high altitude.
 
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Not much. The F4U and P-38 both started prototype flights at about the same time. The main delay was that the US simply didnt want to invest a lot of money since they were hoping to avoid war. Once war started, things took a quantum leap in terms of financing aircraft development. With that said, the P-38 was at Pearl Harbor (A few E's were lost on the ground), and the P-38 was ready (almost) at wars start. The E model was not quite considered "combat ready" but was pressed into service till the F and G's replaced them. I think the F4U still took a bit of time to even reach Marine units, and the F6F was developed much later (first flew on 26 June 1942). The F5F would of been a nice aircraft if allowed to develop fully. Instead, they stopped development on it in favor of the F7F, that didnt make it in time for war.

But remember, aircraft take YEARS to develop. So unless it was flying in 38-39, it really didnt have much of a chance to be at the start of war. There are exceptions to the rule, like the P-80 (180 days!) and the P-51 (178 days!!) but those were under wartime conditions (P-51 was for England who was in the throws of BoB).
 

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