February - Contrails.us

OKW Newsletter
Page 1
© copyright 1999, Oklahoma Wing, Commemorative Air Force - Col Rich Lindsey, editor
February 2007
Commemorative Air Force
Oklahoma Wing
Staff Officers
Wing Leader
Home
Office
Col. Kathi Elder
376-5290 376-2440
cellular: 226-5873 fax: 376-2447
E-mail: [email protected]
Executive Officer:
Home
Office
Col Mark Howard
330-8519 749-5242
Mobile: 659-8988 eMail: [email protected]
Finance Officer:
Home
Col Linda Robertson
842-1202
E-mail: [email protected]
Office
Adjutant/Personnel Off: Home
Col Larry Hardin
721-5598
E-mail: [email protected]
Operations Officer:
Home
Col. Tom Rush
749-0510
E-mail: [email protected]
OKLAHOMA WING CALENDAR
Please Note: All OKW General Meetings are regularly scheduled for the second Saturday of each month at 1030 hours.
OKW Staff Meetings are regularly scheduled for the Thursday preceding the General Meeting each month at 1900
hours. All meetings will be held in the Headquarters hangar, unless otherwise specified. Work Parties are every
Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, from 1000 - 1700 hours.
OKLAHOMA WING CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Feb 8 - Ok Wing Staff meeting
Feb 10 - Annual joint Oklahoma Wing / Sierra Hotel Group awards
banquet at the Runway Café, Wiley Post Airport. 6:30PM til ?
Feb 16/17/18 - CAF winter conference at Midland
Feb 19 - CAF’s 50th Birthday. Event to be addressed at the banquet
Mar 8 - CAF Staff meeting
Mar 10 - CAF General meeting
Office
202-8996
Maintenance Officer: Mobile
Col. Arnold Angelici
(405) 740-2340
Home- (405) 525-6595
Work- (405) 954-6025
E-mail: [email protected]
Safety Officer:
Position Open
VOL. 23, No 2
Home
P.X. Officer:
Home 842-1202
Col Linda Robertson - see Finance Officer above
Public Information Officer: Home
Col. Graham Robertson
842-1202
e-mail: [email protected]
Editor/Historian
Home
Cell
Col Rich Lindsey
677-1802 401-7988
E-mail: [email protected]
Wing Chaplin
Home
Col Hugh Langston 405-598-2542
E-Mail: [email protected]
CAF Hangar phone number 205-7452
Check us out at:
www.oklahomawing.org
Douglas
XSB2D-1
Destroyer
made its
maiden
flight on
April 8,
1943. Two
XSB2D1’s were
built. It
was intended as a replacement for the fabulous Dauntless. On August 31, 1943 the Navy
placed an order for 358 to be designated BTD-1. Deliveries began in June, 1944
but when just 26 had been delivered the contract was canceled, in part because the
planes performance was disappointing. As far as is known, the type never flew an
operational mission. None exist today. During what was to be the last flight of an
XSB2D-1 the pilot was forced to make an emergency landing due to an engine
fire. Landing short of the Moffett Field California runway he put the plane down
between two rows of trees in a prune orchard. In the process 84 trees were mowed
down and both wings were sheared off the plane. Both crewmen escaped without
injuries but the grove owner turned out to be a friend of the pilots and when the
man climbed down from the remains of the cockpit he calmly looked at his astonished friend and said “You keep asking me to drop in some time so here I am!”. .
The Commemorative Air Force is an educational organization dedicated to the preservation of the great
combat aircraft of WW II, and a portion of our military aviation heritage. 1939 - 1945
OKW Newsletter
Page 2
Editorial
Col Rich Lindsey
A total absence of airshows
during the past few month
has made for some difficulty
in coming up with timely information to pass on to the
rank and file. Couple this
with almost 2 weeks of really
bad weather conditions when
many were house-bound for
days, and you have little of
significance to talk about.
There is, of course, the February 10th Awards Banquet. I We hope that our Wing members choose to
attend. If you plan to participate in only one or two
events during the year, this should be one of them.
Our next scheduled General meeting will not be until March and we really need this banquet to ’loosen
up’ and visit among ourselves. A plus is the fact
that the Sierra Hotel Group traditionally co-hosts
the event and there are some fine people involved
in that unit’s restoration of ’L’il Twister’. They will
also be attending.
Because of the dearth of topics to discus I have
decided to do an issue dedicated to some (but not
all) of the airplanes “made in America” which for
one reason or another did not make the final cut in
our inventory of the wonderful airplanes that served
us all so well between 1941 and 1945. In their time
these planes, all the pride of their designers and
builders, represented the cutting edge of our concept of aeronautics. Today they are all but forgotten
and are known mostly to the pure aviation ‘nut’
who finds them fascinating.
I hope you get a kick out of looking at these ‘what
if’ oddities.
Mary Ann and I will see ya all at the banquet.
Wing Leader
Col Kathi Elder
Hello from your Wing Leader
Are you tired of snowy cold days? Well it won’t
be long until Air Show season, is right around the
corner… I am hoping for a great schedule this
year… Col Tom Rush will be working on shows
for us to attend...
Just an idea if you want something to do before
Air Show, We are going to do a spring clean up @
our meeting place. As all
of you know it has became
a place to drop off unwanted items. If you have
taken anything to the
hanger that you would like
returned please go by and
pick it up. If there are donations, I would like your
feedback on selling some
of the items for our special
projects fund. This fund
has assisted in purchasing
px merchandise and 99%
of the van repairs. Please contact myself or any
staff member about this.
Our yearly Awards Banquet will be Saturday10th February 2007. There is still time to
submit names for awards. I will need to have all
information on or before 30 January 2007. There
will not be a general meeting on that date. This is
the month that we have our cookout. We will resume out luncheon at the general meeting in April.
If you have ideas for April luncheon contact myself of Col Linda Robertson.
We are holding this year’s banquet at the Runway Cafe with social hour starting at 6:00pm. The
price will be $20.00 a person. Please make your
checks payable to OKLA WG SPECIAL PROJECTS FUND The menu will consist of Steak,
Baked Chicken, potatoes, green beans, salad, pie,
coffee, tea and soft drinks. . Please contact me
ASAP for reservations..
Winter staff will be held 17th & 18th February
2007 at Midland. I would like to see as many
members attend this conference. Airfare is still
low so I hope to see you there.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Col Adam Brooks, Col
Mark Howard, Col Don Miller, and Col Larry
Thomas
Until Next Time “Keep your eyes in the sky”
Greeneyes
OKW Newsletter
Operations Officer
Page 3
Col. Tom Rush
PT-19 Stuff
Our Annual Inspection is
completed. And it was
very successful. Nothing
major found that needed
fixin.’ Therefore, not a
very expensive inspection. Great!! I now plan
to replace the radio in the
plane. Our very old communication radio has
long been giving us interference problems and
parts are no longer available to repair most things that might go wrong
with it.
I have asked the active Flying Sponsors on the
plane to help with the cost of the new radio. All
have agreed to kick in $100 for the effort (I only
have two actual checks thus far). And two nonsponsor members of the Wing Staff pledged $50
each to the effort. Thanks guys!!
cover. This cover will be one-piece and provide
better access to the reservoir for servicing. I am also
planning on running my trap lines on Saturday, to
see if I caught anything. There might be some good
fix’ins for the next lunch meeting”.
The North American P-64 is very often referred to as
the export fighter version of the AT-6 Texan. This is
erroneous. The P-64 has a shorter wing, shorter overall
length and more powerful engine. Further - parts are
not interchangeable. As North American NA-68’s, the
company intended to market the little fighter overseas
and did sell six to Peru between 1938/39. In December
1941 six more were enroute to Thailand for that countries air force when the Japanese invaded that nation.
The six planes were held up at Hawaii and later returned to the US where they were assigned the model
number P-64. These were serial numbered 41-19082 /
41-19087. The guns were removed and they became
base ’hacks’ A sole example, 41-19085, survives today
at the EAA Museum at Oshkosh, WI.
Pilots, the plane is available. Get with your proficiency flying please.
This WW II shot shows a P-64 still in its Royal
Thai paint scheme and very early US stars.
Below - The sole surviving P-64 is seen here in a 1974
photo at an airshow in Illinois. Note the bent prop tip.
The plane had just been forced to make a belly landing
when the gear would not come down. Damage was
minimal. The paint job is totally bogus.
Above -
Maintenance Officer
Col Arnie Angelici
Editors note: When I e-mailed the staff members for their
February newsletter reports I received the following message
from Col Arnie. Upon reading it I realized that it itself was a
report worth noting.
“ Rich - I do not have anything to write about as Maintenance Officer for February.
Due to the weather and
working on my house, I have
not been able to return to the
hangar since the staff meeting three weeks ago. I am going to the hangar this Saturday (27th) to check on
whether or not the brakes
have been rebuilt and to
make a template for a new brake fluid reservoir
Three different civil N-numbers have been attributed
to this particular airplane over the years; NX37498,
XB-KUU and N68622. No mention is made of N840,
the number clearly seen in this photo.
OKW Newsletter
Page 4
It seemed like a good idea at the time … Here are some of America’s ‘less than spectacular’ ideas and one
or two that could have made it ‘if only …’. Little Beech Aircraft would produce an airplane that could have
been great if not for the twin occasions of the end of the war and the appearance of jet propulsion.
Bell Aircraft would produce some of the most revolutionary designs only to see them go right from the factory to secondary and training units, being deemed unfit for combat operations. Mighty Boeing would attempt to build their first fighter since the P-26 Peashooter and falter. They would also see the end of their
flying boat dynasty. Brewster would stand as the best example of how not to run a wartime aircraft company. Their attempts to build airplanes of their own design would fail and when they attempted to manufacture other company products under license, problems would make this a study in inaptitude. Curtiss Aircraft
entered the war with a grand reputation for producing excellent airplanes but saw their high water mark
with the P-40, C-46 Commando and Helldiver. They would go on to produced a dizzying number of designs
but all would ultimately fail to gain acceptance. They were never again able to compete as complete aircraft
builders. Fabulous Grumman would produce one or two turkeys of their own. Lockheed would stumble
once or twice before they came up with the P-80 Shooting Star. McDonnell, a relatively unknown company,
would go from manufacturing center fuselage sections for the B-29 to designing some of the most unusual
aircraft and become a world-class entity. Even North American missed the mark once or twice. Little Ryan
Aircraft would earn itself a footnote on page one of the book of American hybrids and jets while Vultee, an
old respected company, would never come up with a winning design in spite of their best efforts. There
were others but you get the idea!
Editors note - Please understand that the opinions expressed here as well as in the following pieces are of this editor alone and are
not opinions taken from any previously written material.
Beech XA-38 Grizzly - designed as a replacement for the A-20 Havoc, the
Grizzly would tote a nose mounted 75mm cannon (with 20 rounds of
ammo) along with a pair of nose-mounted. 50 cal’s and a pair of .50’s in
each a dorsal and a belly turret. Performance tests were very good and a
story prevails that one test flight resulted in the Grizzly running away from
its P-51 chase plane. Everything about the airplane was rated high but it
was soon 1945 and the war was winding down and jets were on the horizon. Only two prototypes were built with one being scrapped in the late
40’s and the other slated for the Air Force Museum only to literally vanish, never to be seen again.
Editors note - One observer commented that the XA-38 reminded him of a C-45 on steroids.
Bell RP-63G - The entire production run of 30 RP-63G’s were equipped
as “Flying Pin Ball Machines”. They had lights attached to their fuselages and upper surfaces of their outer wing panels. When practicing aerial gunners would fire at and hit the RP-63G’s the lights would light up
indicating successful hits on the airplane. A single Kingcobra (AAF 4557300) was even tested with a Bonanza style tail to see if this could help
improve the airplane. It did not.
Bell XP-77 - In October, 1941, the USAAF was interested in a the
possibility of an airplane built from non-strategic materials; IE:
wood, if an aluminum shortage should develop. Delay followed delay and the XP-77 project was overweight, overdue and over
budget. Further, engineering problems were endless. Finally, two
XP-77’s were delivered in the spring of 1944 (AAF 43-34915 and
43-34916). During test flights in April, 1944 performance proved
disappointing. Take off runs were excessively long and heavy engine vibrations at certain speeds was reported. The second prototype crashed at Eglin (pilot error) on October 2,
1944. With no hope of improving the airplanes inferior performance the project was canceled on December 2, 1944.
The sole surviving XP-77 was allowed to just deteriorate over the years and was ultimately scrapped.
OKW Newsletter
Page 5
Bell XFM-1 Airacuda - Larry Bell produced a beautiful and radical
design here for a bomber-destroyer. It had twin engines each with
rearward-facing props and a forward-facing gunners position with a
37MM cannon in each nacelle. Each gun was operated by remote
control by a gunner in the fuselage behind the pilot. Each 37MM also
had a gunner seated behind the gun in the nacelle. He was there to
load the gun and provide manual back-up for the firing system. The
prototype first flew on September 1, 1937 and a total of 13 aircraft
were built before the project was canceled. The design, while revolutionary, was plagued with mechanical problems and poor performance.
Boeing XPBB-1 Sea Ranger patrol bomber - was destined to be a
one-of-a-kind seaplane and marked the end of Boeings 25 year tradition of building seaplanes. US military strategy had changed in favor
of land based bombers and when the sole Sea Ranger, dubbed the
Lone Ranger, departed the Renton factory on October 25, 1943 it
marked the end of an era. It served for several years before going into
storage at Norfolk. Its ultimate fate is not known to me at this time.
Boeing XF8B-1 fighter-bomber was, at 20,508 lbs, the heaviest carrier-based
airplane of WW II. It was a single seat aircraft but could also be used as a
torpedo bomber. Because of its size (54’ wing span) and weight, it utilized
duel six-blade contra rotating propellers. Only three XF8B-1’s were built and
it was the sole Boeing fighter design from the 1936 P-26 Peashooter until the
F/A-22 Raptor of 1990. It was a clean, beautiful looking design but changing
wartime strategy required that Boeing concentrate on building large landbased bombers.
Curtiss
C-76
Caravan - was
designed
as an allwood
transport because of fears that metal resources might not
be available in a long war. When these fears failed to
materialize, production was canceled with only 15 airplanes being built and delivered.
Curtiss XBTC-2 was an attempt to improve on the
moderately successful SB2C Helldiver but the type lost
in competition to the Douglas Skyraider when the Navy
showed little interest in the project.
Curtiss SC-2
Seahawk With some
577 built to
replace the fabled OSU-2
Kingfisher, the
Seahawk was Curtiss’s one WW II bright spot when they
were made operational in late 1944. Production ceased in
1946 for with the introduction of the helicopter, a shiplaunched reconnaissance seaplane was no longer needed.
Curtiss
XF14C - Was
an attempt to
interest the US
Navy in using a
fighter with a
liquid cooled
engine; something they never wanted to do. Curtiss managed a two-plane contract but the first engine failed to perform and a Wright R-3350-16 power plant driving sixblade contra-rotating props made its first flight in July,
1944. Performance was poor and the engine suffered many
problems. The Navy subsequently canceled the project.
OKW Newsletter
Page 6
Curtiss XP40Q, with a
top speed of
422 mph,
would be the
fastest of the
P-40’s, but
when compared to its
contemporaries, the P-47 and the P-51, offered very little
improvement over those designs and development was
not pursued. With its 4-bladed prop, cut down rear fuselage and bubble canopy the airplane could easily be misidentified as a P-51.
Curtiss XP-60 series would represent the company’s last attempts to pump life into the aged P-40
design. The series, included the XP-46 and XP-53.
The design would go through a dizzying series of
engines from a Packard-built V-1650 to an Allison
V-1710-75 in the XP-60A; followed by a P&W R2800-53 radial with contra-rotating props on the
XP-60C. All orders for the XP-60 type were canceled in June, 1943 and Curtiss was assigned to
build the P-47G. They ended the war having produced some 354 of those machines. The company
just ran out of fresh new ideas and never recovered.
Curtiss
YP-40F
came
about
when a
Britishbuilt
Rolls-Royce Merlin 28 engine was mounted in a stock
P-40. With an honest top speed of some 373 MPH performance was fair but when the American version engine, a Packard-built Merlin V-1650-1 with all its additional plumbing was mounted, the planes weight rose
and performance suffered somewhat.
Curtiss YP60E came
about when
the Army
attempted to
re-engine a
single XP60 they had accepted (43-32763) with a P&W R-280018 power plant. When an airplane carried an XP designation it indicated that the plane was a company test
model and when the prefix was YP that indicated a service-owned plane. With its bubble canopy it bore a superficial resemblance to a P-47D-25 Thunderbolt. The
Air Corp simply had no use for the airplane and it only
made two flights. After the war it was declared surplus
and purchased by James DeSanto who entered it in the
1947 National Air Races as Race #80, civil registry
NX21979. It crashed on a qualifying flight..
Edo XOSE-1
was another
attempt to find
a replacement
for the OSU2
Kingfisher.
Edo was the
builder of virtually all the floats/pontoons used by the
United States in WW II and before. They made the largest floats ever (some 40’ long) for the amphibious version
of the C-47. With the Curtiss SC-2 already in production
Edo had a nice clean design but no market.
XP-60
XP-60A
XP-60C
Although design work was being done as early as September, 1941 on jets in America (Bell P-59A) I have
purposely avoided including mention of jets in this
newsletter. There was the Lockheed YP-80A, the YP84A, the XFJ-1 Fury (and its Air Force offspring, the
XP-86), the FH-1 Phantom and the XF-89 but I will
leave that subject for another newsletter another time.
OKW Newsletter
Page 7
Grumman XF5F-1 Skyrocket was a highly unorthodox design at the
time for a Navy fighter. The first one was delivered to the Navy on February 22, 1941. It had twin Wright XR-1820-40 engines with counterrotating props as in the P-38. Provisions were for four 20mm Madsen
cannons to eventually be nose-mounted. There were problems right
from the git-go. Inadequate engine oil cooling, excessive aerodynamic
drag, malfunctioning main gear doors and atrocious sideward and
downward vision for the pilot to list a few. It was quickly obvious that
the Skyrocket would never be a useful carrier-based airplane and with Vought’s new XF4U-1 Corsair already clocking over 400 MPH on test flights the Grumman fighter was doomed. Oddly, it is well known today to comic book
collectors as the airplane flown by the Blackhawks until they upgraded to an equally unsuccessful jet fighter, the
Lockheed XF-90, a few years after the war. Does anyone but me remember the Blackhawks?
Grumman XP-50 (s/n 40-3057) first flew on February 18, 1941. It
was a good airplane, handling much better than the XF5F-1 it was
derived from. Its Wright R-1820-40/42 engines were turbosupercharged and the nose was elongated to make room for the airplanes
tricycle landing gear. Armament was to be four .50 cals and one
20mm cannon, all nose-mounted. The sole example suffered from
stubborn engine overheating and when one of the turbochargers exploded on a test flight over Long Island forcing the pilot to bail out, the program came to an abrupt end.
Lockheed XP-58 Chain Lightning is an absolute classic example of what mismanaging, vacillating, government officialdom can do to a good airplane. Constant changes by officials
saw the airplane go from an escort fighter to an attack plane,
then a bomber, then a tank-buster and finally a bomberdestroyer. What started out life in 1940 took the entire war to
develop because of these constant changes. Armament was to
be a staggering four 37mm cannons with 250 rounds per gun
or a single 75mm cannon with 20 rounds and two .50 cal mg’s with 300 rounds per gun, all nose-mounted. Additionally, a pair of .50’s were to be mounted in each of two remotely controlled turrets on both versions.
McDonnell XP-67 Bat McDonnell Aircraft’s first attempt at warplane building was such a radical and innovative design that while
the Air Corps rejected it they asked the company to follow up with
their XP-67 project. The entire fuselage and engine nacelles of the
XP-67 were beautifully and smoothly joined together but the engines proved troublesome and the XP-67 did not meet its expectations. When the sole airplane was destroyed in a fire on September
6, 1944 the entire project was dropped. Armament was to be an awesome six 37mm cannons. Ironically, the company’s failed but innovative designs led to the US Navy being provided with its first, but not its last McDonnell airplane when the Phantom FH-1 made its first flight on January 26, 1945, later becoming the first jet-propelled airplane to land and take off from a carrier (USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, CVA 42). How many people know the Navy
was already test flying a jet before the end of WW II?
North American XB-28 Dragon was conceived as a
high altitude, pressurized, single vertical fin version of
their famous B-25 Mitchell. Ironically the B-28 more
closely resembled the Martin B-26 Marauder. The
Dragon had 3 remote turrets, upper, lower and tail. Two
were built but the project was canceled because the design offered no big improvement over existing airplanes.
OKW Newsletter
Page 8
Northrup XP-56 Black Bullet - was designed as a competitor
for a 1939 USAA specification for a single seat interceptor.
Only two prototypes were built and testing showed it was not
only an under performer but was basically un-airworthy. The
project was fortunately canceled but information gleaned from
engineering would prove useful in the later design of the flying
wing. Amazingly, an apparently complete XP-56 exists today.
The only information I presently have is that it is owned by a
John Shupek and is in the Western Air Museum. An internet
search reveals a Western Air Museum starting up in Pentaluma, California but there is no listing of any airplanes
they might have.
Northrup XF-15A Reporter The first prototype of this
airplane was converted from the first Northrup XP-61E
Black Widow. It was a photo-reconnaissance variant of
the P-61 night fighter. The pilot and camera operator sat
in tandem under a single bubble canopy very similar to
the B-47 Stratojet. Only 36 of the original 175 ordered
as F-15A’s were built before the end of WW II. After
the formation of the Air Force as a separate and equal
branch of the Armed Forces in 1947 the Reporter was re-designated as RF-61C. These airplanes were responsible for
most of the aerial maps of North Korea that were used in the beginning of that war.
Republic XP-47J Thunderbolt Developed in conjunction with the P-47M
this airplane would be the baddest prop fighter of the war. Its high-output
P&W R-2800-57 engine pumped out 2,800 hp at 2,800 rpm at 35,000 feet in
war emergency power (133% of its rated power). The plane actually attained
507 mph at 34,300 ft. At military power (100%) it could hold 470 mph. Rate
of climb was a phenomenal 4,900 fpm at sea level. At 20,000 ft it could still
climb at 4,400 fpm getting there in 4 min 15 sec. Time to 30,000 ft was a
mere 6 min 45 sec.. Maximum ceiling was slightly higher than 46,500 ft. It
accomplished all this in full combat configuration. The famous 56th Fighter
Group, Zempke’s Wolfpack, ended the war equipped with the-M version of this great warplane.
Ryan FR-1 Fireball - was an early 1943 design for a composite powered fighter. When power was applied to a jet engine of the period the
response was less than spectacular. While this was of little matter
when the runway was 2 miles long, it didn’t work on a carrier. The
nose-mounted radial engine was an attempt to rectify this. When the
first prototype flew on June 25, 1944. it was with piston power only.
The General Electric I-16 engine was not installed until after the
planes second test flight. Performance was rated excellent with few
serious problems being encountered. However, on October 10, 1944
the first prototype disintegrated while on a test flight. Before the problem was traced to the planes insufficient number of
wing rivets two more would share the same fate. On February 12, 1943 the Navy ordered 100 FR-1’s. Later in 1944 this
was raised an additional 600 planes but by VJ-Day, with only 66 being delivered, the contract was canceled.
Ryan XF2R-1 Dark Shark When the Fireball was canceled Ryan
introduced the Dark Shark. They replaced the nose-mounted piston
engine with a turboprop GE XT-31 with contra-rotating props but
kept the GE I-16 in the tail. This made the Shark some 5” longer
than the Fireball. Performance was very good for the time but the
Navy was not interested, deciding that a pure jet type would be the
wave of the future.
OKW Newsletter
Page 9
Vought V-315 (XF5U-1) Nothing designed or built by any
nation during the WW II period came close to topping the
Vought Flying Pancake for unorthodox concept. The initial
letter of intent for the plane was dated September 17, 1942.
The first Pancake (BuNo 33958) was used for static testing
only while the second (BuNo 33959) was to be used for flight
testing. It never flew because endless hours of engine run-ups
produced excessive mechanical vibrations between the enginepropeller shafts, gear boxes and airframe structure. Even during taxi tests on February 3, 1947 at Stratford, Connecticut, vibrations were deemed to be considerably excessive.
The airplane was being readied for sea shipment from the east coast to the west coast when word was received that
the project was canceled in part due to lack of funds but also due to too many unresolved technical problems.
Vultee P-66 Vanguard was designed to utilize tooling and assemblies
from other Vultee products thus holding down cost and expediting construction. First flights in September, 1939 revealed problems needing attention. The reworked airplane flew in February, 1940. Sweden ordered
166 but none were released by the US Government due to export restrictions placed on Sweden at the time. Eventually some 129 of these planes
went to China under lend-lease. The remainder went to the Army Air
Corp as the P-66. These were used in the training role only. In China several were actually flown by the Flying Tigers who did not like them. The Chinese pilots training on them did a wonderful job of wrecking many of them in training accidents. A few were actually destroyed in air to air combat. Reportedly some Vanguards were placed, crated, in caves at Chungking for anticipated use in the inevitable upcoming
civil war with Mao’s communist forces. Many were reportedly still there in 1947. What if …. !
Vultee XA-41 Vultee engineers decided early on in the XA-1 program to build the airplane around the new huge P&W R-4360 Wasp
Major 28 cylinder engine of 3,000 rated horsepower. Two prototypes
were ordered but only a single ship was actually built. It made its
first test flight on February 11, 1944 and showed much promise. Unfortunately for Vultee the plane would not be ready for delivery in
any numbers until late 1944 or early 1945. For this reason the second
prototype and the project were both canceled.
Vultee XP-54 - This airplane was Vultee' s entrant in the
1939 USAAC competition that saw the Northrup XP-56
Black Bullet introduced. A decision to mount a Lycoming
XH-2470 24-cylinder engine made the XP-54 one of the
only American fighters to use 24 cylinders. Innovations
included a pressurized cockpit and an elevator to lift the
pilot up into and down out of the cockpit. Operated electrically, the seat could also be catapulted downward in flight to clear the pilot of the prop during emergency bailout.
This was the first use of an ejection seat in the US. Engine problems resulted in only two planes being built before
the project was finally abandoned.
In this newsletter I have tried to show you that the United States was not sitting still in the development of cutting edge airplanes and weapons systems, content to leave the Mustangs, Thunderbolts, Mitchell's and Flying Fortresses to carry the load.
We often hear unknowledgeable self appointed‘ experts’ saying “Boy! It’s a good thing the Germans didn’t have 6 more
months; they could have won the war”. Bull! These people are presuming that England and the US would be sitting on their
collective butts for that 6 months awaiting the inevitable. The B-29 could cover the entire European continent escorted by
Gloster Meteors, Shooting Stars and other jets. In the Pacific our Navy would have jets operating from carriers. The B-36
would have become operational as well as the first generation of jet bombers. The only weapon we had no defense for was the
V-2 and as horrific as this rocket was it could never have altered the inevitable outcome of the war. The unvarnished truth is
that both Germany and Japan were lucky they threw in the towel when they did. They couldn’t have taken another 6 months.
OKW Newsletter
Page 10
Fisher (General Motors) P-75A Eagle AAF s/n 444553. The Eagle has got to hold the record as the
weirdest conglomeration of parts ever designed to fly
in American markings. Conceived initially as a fastclimbing interceptor its role was ultimately changed to
long range fighter escort. Everything about this airplane was weird. The outer wing panels were to come
from the P-51 (later changed to wing panels from the
P-40). The tail was off the Douglas A-24 Banshee,
Army version of the Navy’s Dauntless dive bomber. The landing gear came from the F4U Corsair. The engine was an Allison
V-3420, the largest of its type at the time. It had 28 cylinders and developed 2885 HP. Incidentally, this monster engine was
centrally mounted in the fuselage ala P-39/P-63 and had a very long drive shaft coupling it to a pair of 3-bladed counterrotating props. The original idea was to use proven airplane parts but only resulted in a virtual Frankenstein monster Armament was to be three .50’s in each wing with two more in the cowling. A total of 8 XP-75’s and 6 P-75A’s were built and all
flew between November 1943 and spring, 1944 with 3 crashing. The airplane suffered a bad center of gravity, repeated engine
failures at full power, inadequate engine cooling, high aileron forces at high speeds and poor spin characteristics. With a 40’
wing span and an empty weight of 11,495 lbs this was one big single-seat fighter. It is hinted that General Motors pushed for
this ‘high priority’ project in order to avoid being forced to build B-29’s under license.; a job they did not want. Fortunately
for our pilots it was decided that both the P-51 and the P-47 were fulfilling the long-range escort mission adequately and the P75 project was dropped. This sole surviving Eagle is at the Air Force Museum on loan from the Smithsonian.
The funding for this issue of the Oklahoma Wing newsletter is made possible through the
generous contribution of Col Don Miller.
Its that time of the year again - If you have not already paid your 2007 dues please do this as
soon as possible.
COMMEMORATIVE AIR FORCE
OKLAHOMA WING
P.O. BOX 42532
7100 NW63, PWA Hangar 301
Oklahoma City, OK 73123-3532
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