Which US piston-fighter prototype do you like best?

Which US piston-engined fighter prototype do you like best?

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Oreo

Senior Airman
347
2
Jul 18, 2008
South Carolina
I may not post all the available possibilities here, but the basic idea is to see which of these prototypes intrigues you the most or makes you wish it could have made it into combat to prove itself. If you're not familiar with these types, I suggest you look up images of them. Google images will do if you can't find them elsewhere.

Don't squawk to me about jets. If you want one about jets, make your own poll!
 
I chose the Boeing XF8B. A big heavy single-engine, single-seat fighter designed for carrier use, with 28-cylinder 4-row "corn-cob" engine, internal bomb bay for 3,200 lbs. of bombs, up to 6x20mm cannon, 2,800 miles range, a max speed of 432 mph, and a tail like a B-17. Could have done a lot of ground-pounding in Korea. . . . or invasion of Japan!
 
In looks the XP-55 was pretty cool.


I like the XP-47J the best, more practical in terms of proven design and available timeline than the XP-72 (in terms of engine availability mostly, but also in cost and complexity -the huge torque of the R-4360 necessitated the use of contrarotating props to be managible). Recorded performance also seems to be better on the XP-47J, except climb.
But I guess that wouldn't count as it's just a variant of the P-47 (though in many ways so was the XP-72).

Of that list I'm not really sure what to choose yet though.

The XF5U was interesting and seemed promising, too bad the USN didn't allow Vought to even test the completed prototypes... (even while being eclipsed by jets it was interesting in the STOL/near VTOL concept, and possibly still useful, particularly considdering -with hindsight- the failure of Vought's later XF6U)
 
It's looks and advanced design - I think it probably could of worked out had more time and the right engineering staff worked on it.
 
I'm not sure how the XP-55 would have done with a jet engine, possible but maybe not practical. The J31 would leave it underpowered, and the J33 would be too large, maybe the lisence-built Goblin -J36- would work. Maybe a pair of J30's would work, or a J34, but those weren't ready until the end of the war. (in the case of the J34, after) And either way the range would be shortened considerable over the piston engined version.

It could have used a more powerful engine, probably the Merlin. (maybe one of the later Allisons, like the P-63 had)

I don't think the swept wing was used for mach limit/transsonic drag reasons though. (I think it was for stability reasons and proper positioning of the rudders) They would have an effect on the mach behavior, but like the Me 262, Me 163, and others it was a coincedental feature. The canard layout should also allow better control in the trans-sonic region. But the sewpt wing also resulted in the long take-off run, and dangerous tip stalling and spin behavior.
This problem should have been fairly easily solved with leading edge wing slats though.


I hadn't realized there was a surviving example: Curtiss XP-55 Ascender: Murdoc Online
On of the few prototypes on this list that did.
 
I wish I could pick three. For looks and hopeful performance I would've gone with the XP-55,56, and XF5U. I chose the XP-56 overall for looks and because I forgot the Flying Pancake was on the list.

Also, anyone know where I can find more of this? Looks kinda interesting.
 
Moonbat for me:

Specifications (XP-67)

General characteristics
Crew: one, pilot
Length: 44 ft 9 in (13.64 m)
Wingspan: 55 ft (16.76 m)
Height: 15 ft 9 in (4.80 m)
Wing area: 414 ft² (38.50 m²)
Empty weight: 17,745 lb (8,050 kg)
Loaded weight: 22,114 lb (10,030 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 25,400 lb (11,520 kg)
Powerplant: 2× Continental XI-1430-17/19 twelve cylinder inverted vee liquid-cooled engine, 1,350 hp (1,000 kW) each

Performance
Maximum speed: 405 mph at 25,000 ft (650 km/h)
Range: 2,385 statute miles (3,840 km)
Service ceiling 37,400 ft (11,400 m)
Rate of climb: 2,600 ft/min (13 m/s)
Wing loading: 53.4 lb/ft² (260 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.06 hp/lb (0.09 kW/kg)

Armament
Six 37 mm M-4 cannon




edd
 

With the Merlin 1650-9 it might have had spectacular performance at 25,000 feet, similar to Do 335, with approximately 900 more Hp in each engine at 90" boost
 
Probably would have done well with turbocharged Allisons as well. (particularly as it had already been designed to encorporate turbocharged engines)
 
The XF8B: good performance, excellent and easy handling (the pilot manual allows even snap rolls without external stores) coupled with excellent load carrying capability with highest VNE for a piston aircraft I know of (625 mph IAS according to the pilot manual reproduced in Jared Zichek's superb XF8B monograph).
 
Northrup XP-56...

General characteristics

Crew: one, pilot
Length: 27 ft 6 in (8.38 m)
Wingspan: 42 ft 6 in (12.96 m)
Height: 11 ft 0 in (3.35 m)
Wing area: 306 ft² (28.44 m²)
Empty weight: 8,700 lb (3,955 kg)
Loaded weight: 11,350 lb (5,159 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 12,145 lb (5,520 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt Whitney R-2800-29 radial, 2,000 hp (1,492 kW)
Performance

Maximum speed: 465 mph at 25,000 ft (749 km/h)
Range: 660 miles (1,063 km)
Service ceiling: 33,000 ft (10,061 m)
Rate of climb: 3,125 ft/min at 15,000 ft (953 m/min)
Wing loading: 37 lb/ft² (181 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.18 hp/lb (0.96 kW/kg)
Armament

2 × 20 mm (.79 in) cannons
4 × .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns

Unfortunately, like my other favorite, The XP-67 Moonbat, it never fullfilled its promise,
 

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