What protoype do you wish had seen service in WW2?

[Jabberwocky]

As the topic says, what prototype bomber, fighter, transport or jet do you wish had seen squadron service during the war, and why?

Personally, I wish that the single stage Merlin engined Whirlwind prototype had gone into production. If it could do 360 mph on those anemic little Pegasus engines, imagine the performance with a pair of 1200 hp Merlin XIIs.
Whirly Mk IIs would of been great, its such a pity that the fluffed up the design so much with the Welkin. Clip the wing tips, add a semi-recessed centerline bomb mount, keep it below about 20,000 feet and give it a belt feed for the Hispanos, even if you have to sacrifice one of the cannons to pad out the ammo capacity.

The other great British 'also ran' for me was the Martin Baker MB.5. If only because it looks like the msibeggotten love child of a P-51D and a Griffon engined Spitfire 8)

EDIT: NO paper planes! It must have at least been built in prototype form and either been ready to fly or have flown. Otherwise this just degenirates into a Luft'46 thing.

 

[syscom3]

Does this include prototypes that flew towards the end of the war, then went into active service?

 

[Erich]

most likely one of the late war paper jet pieces from Germany

 

[syscom3]

I'd like to have seen the F8F, F7F and Skyraiders to see service.

 

[Glider]

Hornet for me.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

XP-55 Acender - I know it looked better than it flew

 

[Marshall_Stack]

The Vought aircraft that was made for the navy which had v-stol characteristics and approached 500 mph. It looked like a saucer with two Allison in-line engines in front. It was the XF5U-1 "Flying Flapjack.

 

[JCS]

Either the Do335 or Re.2006 for me.

 

[wmaxt]

P-38K, P-80 of course. The other planes listed would have been cool to.

wmaxt

 

[quayhog]

I would have loved to see the Lockheed P2V-1 Neptunes in service for large tactical aircraft. For fighter's I would have liked to see Ryan FR-1 Fireball and the F8F Bearcat. If Japan had been invaded these would have seen active service. I wonder how the prototypes of the B-32 and B-36 were coming along in 1945? Germany had some interesting jets on the drawing board too and if they had seen squadron service it may have prolonged the war.

The Wright R-3350 and the PW R-4360 were still very buggy engines in 1945. I don't think they ever solved all the 4360's problems.

 

[wmaxt]

I would have loved to see the Lockheed P2V-1 Neptunes in service for large tactical aircraft. For fighter's I would have liked to see Ryan FR-1 Fireball and the F8F Bearcat. If Japan had been invaded these would have seen active service. I wonder how the prototypes of the B-32 and B-36 were coming along in 1945? Germany had some interesting jets on the drawing board too and if they had seen squadron service it may have prolonged the war.

The Wright R-3350 and the PW R-4360 were still very buggy engines in 1945. I don't think they ever solved all the 4360's problems.

The Bearcat would have done fine in the Japanese invasion but if it had gone to the ETO its short range and slow top speed would have been serious deficencies. Its focus was Kamakazies and direct carrier defense and was pretty much useless anywhere else, thats why it was never even considered for wider use by the Navy and was gone before the Corsair.

The B36 first flew August '46 and the first production plane in August '47.

The Ryan fireball had a good name pretty much describing its usefulness.

There's some truth in that. The 4360 only had a 350/400hr service life and at 1.8 million thats not exactly economical.

wmaxt

 

[evangilder]

Slow top speed? The F8F had a top speed of 421 MPH. That's not that slow. It was never intended for ETO use.

 

[syscom3]

There's some truth in that. The 4360 only had a 350/400hr service life and at 1.8 million thats not exactly economical.

350 to 400 hours to rebuild or disposal?

 

[Jabberwocky]

Slow top speed? The F8F had a top speed of 421 MPH. That's not that slow. It was never intended for ETO use.

425 mph isn't that slow for the ETO. Sure, on paper it doesn't match the 450mph or so of the P-51B, Spitfire XIV, 109K but that still puts it in the same class as the 190A serise, 190D serise, 109G-10, P-38L, Typhoon and Tempest. Its faster than a Spitfire Mk IX or a 109G-6 which were still front line types right up until VE Day.

 

[Marshall_Stack]

The B-32 Dominator did see service in the pacific theatre. They made raids on the oil fields in the Dutch East Indies and one of the last raids of Japan.

 

[RAGMAN]

I always thought that the whirlwind should have had a chance either as a heavy fighter or fast light bomber.The do335 has always intrigued me as the power of the engines goes to the fuselage and not the wings as other twin engined planes which should make it a fast plane.(which it did) I don't know if the he100 is included in this list as a limited number was made,but after reading the other posts in the other section, it would have been a good fighter. The ta154 would have been a interesting foil to the mosquito too.

 

[Lunatic]

Slow top speed? The F8F had a top speed of 421 MPH. That's not that slow. It was never intended for ETO use.

425 mph isn't that slow for the ETO. Sure, on paper it doesn't match the 450mph or so of the P-51B, Spitfire XIV, 109K but that still puts it in the same class as the 190A serise, 190D serise, 109G-10, P-38L, Typhoon and Tempest. Its faster than a Spitfire Mk IX or a 109G-6 which were still front line types right up until VE Day.

The 421 mph top speed is based upon mid 1944 tests where the boost was limited to 59 lbs in low blower and 53 lbs in high blower. Top speed at critical altitude was 417 mph at this boost, and at 20,000 feet the max speed was 410 mph. In the same tests the F4U-4 managed 452 mph at critical alt (which is 20,700 feet so this is about the same at 20k) running at 70 lbs boost. Even so the F8F outclimbed the F4U-4 to 20k, managing to make that altitude in 4.7 minutes as opposed to 5 minutes flat for the Corsair.

There is no reason the F8F could not also run at 70 lbs boost. Just like the F4U-4 it mounts an R2800 C series engine. My point is actual combat performance would have been significantly better than the early prototype test data we see figures for and it would have stacked up nicely against any WWII prop fighter.

Its "short range" put it on a par with the Spitfire and other WWII fighters.

=S=

Lunatic

 

[Marshall_Stack]

The McDonnell XP-67 Bat would have been interesting...

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/research/p67.htm

 

[Piaggio108]

Ki-83. Really well armed, and apparently fast and manuverable, although most statistics on speed seem to be from US tests which used a higher octane fuel than would have been available to the Japanese.

 

[Lunatic]

I think you mean the Ki-84 Hayate ("Frank").

Not only was the fuel of higher octane, but the low pressure fuel system was completely rebuilt using mostly American parts.

And the Ki-84 saw combat, in fact it was the most numerous Japanese late war fighter with over 2000 units built.