What plane do you wish had sawservice

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Chris, after re-reading my own post - how could you interpret it the way I intended. I was not very articulate.

It's just that the 51G and F8F kind of represented the next incremental development of the 51 and F6F had Germany's new piston engine fighters created serious problems. Had the land battles been stalled at the Rhine I suspect both the P-51H and P-80 would have been introduced into combat in ETO by April/May... and the Ta 152H would have been picking up steam

I dont know I misunderstood you. What do you want me to say? :lol:
 
Adler, why'd you say the P-83? It had good range and decent speed, but at that size it would be an ineffective fighter. Maby good for long range recon though. Or possibly ground-attack, especially if cannons were fitted.

I still think the P-59 Airacomet had more potential than its development showed. Its biggest flaw was oversized wings. With wings scaled down to ~84% of the originals, drag would be markedly reduced, and with wing area down to 272 sq ft from 386 sq-ft, wingloading would still be under 47 lb/sq-ft at max load.(12,700 lbs) General streamlining of the fusalage and air intakes would help further. Increase internal fuel capacity and change the armament to 5x .50 cal BMG with 250-300 rpg. Redesign canopy to improve visability. Improve control surfaces. (all metal surfaces plus hydrolic boosting) The reduced drag and increased fuel would significantly increase range. With these improvements and 2,000 lbf J31-GE-5 engines it should have performed on par late model Meteor III. (long nacelles) If redesign work had started right after the tests of the XP-59A in late 1942, the new design should have been ready for testing by mid 1943 and in prodyction by the end of the year. Service evaluation could start in early-mid '44 and full service by early '45. This, of course would have required Bell to put more resourses and top priority for this project, and full access for wind-tunnel testing would have been needed. It would still be surpassed by the P-80 once it had reached its full potential.
 
Adler, why'd you say the P-83?

Why not? Are there any right or wrongs in this thread if it has to do with aircraft that did not see service?

Now I can not remember exactly what I put the XP-83 in my list over 2 years ago but it probably had to do with the fact that it was a jet escort fighter and it would have been neat to see how it would have developed.
 
Ok, I didn't mean to critisize, I was just curious of your reasoning. I think it would have been good in WWII for the invasion of Japan, but it would be pretty outdated if it saw service in Korea...
 
This may have been brought up before but I didn't read all 35 pages. For me it's a no brainer, the Avro Arrow if for no other reason than to prove to those that doubt, that this would have been a world beater. Not to mention that the ****ards wouldn't have waisted millions of my tax dollars.

I'll second the choice of the Arrow! Best jet interceptor in the world at the time. Canadian!?! What?? :) What a bunch of idiots we had in charge at the time to cancel it!

For WWII I would have liked to see the Whirlwind mk.II (redesigned with Merlins replacing Peregrines) I think the flight stats would have been something interesting to see, considering the performance of the original.
 
But the Arrow wasn't anywhere near WWII... On that note though the CF-100 was a nice plane, the Mk 5 could outrun a Sabre, though certainly not outmaneuver it. It was the fastest straight-winged winged fighter (or warplane) ever built. (I think the only straight-winged production a/c able to break Mach 1) It was superior to the F-89 in almost every way. Nice lookin too. Not bad for a plane that was designed breifly after WWII, and Canada's first (and only?) indiginous fighter, and military jet to see service. It was still serving in some roles in the early '80s, similar endurance in time and versitillity as the Meteor. (interesting, as both were their countries' first combat jet designs)

And I've had another look at the XP-83 and it wasn't that much heavier than the F-84 Thunderjet. (which had a thrust/weight of less than .25 in any model when fully loaded, albeit with good aerodynamics, save for the wings) So with some improvements, it could have been a decent fighter. With some 5950 lbf J42 (licenced Nene with W/I) engines it would have dramatically more thrust and at higher fuel effeciency too. With 6x .60 cal guns, it had a nice armament as well But then again, an improved P-59 (same alterations as before) with Derwent V engines would likely be on par with the P-80 and better in some respects, as the Meteor Mk 4 was at its introduction, and again with the F.8 Meteor.
 
As i currently live in Canada, I too, believe the Avro Arrow to have been the best, if not, one of the best jet interceptors in the world at its greatest moments in 1958.

For WWII, I'd like to have a lightened F4U (lightened by at least 250 - 350 lbs. so as to lighten but not degrade dive/zoom performance) fitted with wing slats... it'd be perfect... its already efficient slotted flaps and slats and lightened load would make it turn like a Spitfire, while the act of lightening the plane would give it an improved climb, turn rate and acceleration... the only things it ever lacked. Paddle prop blades would be good too.

BUT for something that actually was built, I would have liked to see the Go229 or Do335 enter service.
 
The arrow was a nice plane, too bad politics, and to a lesser extent, lack of viable engines, killed it. The CF-100 was one of the best, if not the best, all-weather interceptors of it's time. Despite the straight wings, the "Canuck" was a transsonic aircraft.
 
Ok, I didn't mean to critisize, I was just curious of your reasoning. I think it would have been good in WWII for the invasion of Japan, but it would be pretty outdated if it saw service in Korea...

No worries. Sorry if it came across that way. I was down with the flu and therefore irritated by just the smallest things. Sorry about that.
 
He should have said "could have been the best"... Though it has gotten a bit off topic as this was supposed to be what WWII aircraft do you wish had seen service, I believe.
 
Actually the later prototypes of the Ar 240 were nice aircraft, it was the V1 that was really terrible. The performance of the V3 and later were excellent. To be honest, I really think it should have seen production, it would have made a good multi-role a/c.(good night-fighter, heavy-fighter and recon. a/c) Certainly better than the competing Me 210.

I've seen this other places but this wikipedia is the easiest to find:
Technical specifications were first published in October 1938, followed by detailed plans later that year. In May 1939 the RLM ordered a run of six prototypes. The first Ar 240 V1 prototype, DD+QL, took to the air on 25 June 1940, and immediately proved to have terrible handling in all three axis, and also tended to overheat during taxiing.

The handling was thought to be the result of the ailerons being too small given the thick wing, so the second prototype was modified to have larger ones, as well as additional vertical fin area on the dive brakes to reduce yaw. In addition small radiators were added to the gear legs to improve cooling at low speeds, when the gear would normally be opened. Ar 240 V2, KK+CD, first flew on 6 April 1941, and spend most of its life at the factory as a test plane.

V3 followed, the first to be equipped with the FA 9 rear-firing armament system, developed jointly by Arado and DVL, armed with a 7.92 mm MG 81Z twin machine gun. V4 was the first to include an operational dive brake, and flew on 19 June 1941. V5 and V6 followed in December and January, including the upgraded FA 13 system using two 13 mm MG 131s in place of the MG 81Z for a considerable boost in firepower.

The Ar 240's excellent performance quickly led to the V3, V5 and V6 being stripped of their armament, including the defensive guns, and used as reconnaissance aircraft over England, where no other two-seater could venture by 1942.
 
I would have liked to have seen the Bugatti Model 100 fly and developed into a fighter.
 

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