Aircraft that never lived up to their promise

(ArtKramr) wrote:
I'll start that one off with the P-39 Aircobra.
Any more?

Regards,

Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

Here's a few:

TBD Devastator
F2A Buffalo
B-32 Dominator
F-111B
F11F Tiger
AM-1 Mauler
F-20 Tigershark
YB-40 and YB-41 gunships of B-17 and B-24
Mitushibshi A7M
Me-163 (killed more of its own pilots than Allied aircrew)
TBY Seawolf
F-90
F-107
F-108

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On Mon, 01 Dec 2003 19:12:59 GMT, "Matt Wiser"
wrote:


(ArtKramr) wrote:
I'll start that one off with the P-39 Aircobra.
Any more?

Regards,

Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

Here's a few:

TBD Devastator
F2A Buffalo
B-32 Dominator
F-111B
F11F Tiger
AM-1 Mauler
F-20 Tigershark
YB-40 and YB-41 gunships of B-17 and B-24
Mitushibshi A7M
Me-163 (killed more of its own pilots than Allied aircrew)
TBY Seawolf
F-90
F-107
F-108


The F-108 was cancelled because 1. $$$$ and 2. that's about the time
something better came along - the YF-12A. Which was also never
purchased.

On Mon, 01 Dec 2003 19:12:59 GMT, "Matt Wiser"

wrote:

F-107

One of my favorite "what if?" planes, just for the intake placement
alone...

http://www.globalaircraft.org/planes/f-107_ultra_sabre.pl

Pretty little thing, though. Great pic at the bottom of that page.

--
cirby at cfl.rr.com

Remember: Objects in rearview mirror may be hallucinations.
Slam on brakes accordingly.

"Matt Wiser" wrote:

(ArtKramr) wrote:
I'll start that one off with the P-39 Aircobra.
Any more?

Regards,
Here's a few:

TBD Devastator
F2A Buffalo
B-32 Dominator
F-111B
F11F Tiger
AM-1 Mauler
F-20 Tigershark
YB-40 and YB-41 gunships of B-17 and B-24
Mitushibshi A7M
Me-163 (killed more of its own pilots than Allied aircrew)
TBY Seawolf
F-90
F-107
F-108

The beautiful (but flawed) Chance-Vought Cutlass

"Matt Wiser" wrote:

Here's a few:
TBD Devastator

Respectfully disagree. While slow, obsolete and vulnerable,
the 15 TBDs of VT-8 played a crucial role in a crucial battle of the
WW2 Pacific campaign. They have to be given at least an "assist" for
their decoy role, thus allowing the sinking of IJN carriers at Midway.



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Douglas B-19 & B-19A

Steve Wagner

In article ,
says...

I'll start that one off with the P-39 Aircobra. Any more?

Regards,

Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

ArtKramr wrote:
: I'll start that one off with the P-39 Aircobra. Any more?

I've often wondered about the Aircobra:

What if it had a supercharger like the ones fitted to the P-38? What
would it's hi alt performance have been then?

Same for the P-40, I suppose.



--- Gregg
"Improvise, adapt, overcome."

Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Phone: (617) 496-1558

In article ,
Gregg Germain wrote:

ArtKramr wrote:
: I'll start that one off with the P-39 Aircobra. Any more?

I've often wondered about the Aircobra:

What if it had a supercharger like the ones fitted to the P-38? What
would it's hi alt performance have been then?

The P-63 Kingcobra was pretty decent a high altitude, but other than its
general shape, shared almost nothing with the Airacobra. It was pretty
much the "bugfix" version of the P-39.

--
cirby at cfl.rr.com

Remember: Objects in rearview mirror may be hallucinations.
Slam on brakes accordingly.

In article ,
Gregg Germain wrote:
ArtKramr wrote:
: I'll start that one off with the P-39 Aircobra. Any more?

I've often wondered about the Aircobra:

Westland Whirlwind, maybe - went nowhere much (apart from
France, repeatedly, at low level until they ran out of
examples) because the Peregrine engine was an early
orphan.
Fairey Barracuda was a "nearly" - if only it had the
Fairey P.24 Prince double-engine (same could be said for
many mid-war designs - it might have been a better developmental
bet than the awful Vulture, and possibly better than the Sabre)
- for naval a/c, particularly, the option of shutting half the engine
down for cruise was appealing.
Any of the late WW1 designs left orphaned by the ABC Dragonfly
debacle.

--
Andy Breen ~ Interplanetary Scintillation Research Group
http://users.aber.ac.uk/azb/
"Time has stopped, says the Black Lion clock
and eternity has begun" (Dylan Thomas)

"Gregg Germain" wrote in message
...

I've often wondered about the Aircobra:

What if it had a supercharger like the ones fitted to the P-38? What
would it's hi alt performance have been then?

Same for the P-40, I suppose.


The XP-39 did have a type B-5 turbocharger, but there just wasn't room in
the P-39 or P-40 for a supercharger installation like the P-38's. One of
the reasons the P-47 was as big as it was was to accommodate the
turbocharger and intercooler and all the ductwork they required, and that
was an aircraft that didn't also require a coolant radiator. The
turbocharger was deleted from the P-39 primarily because the Army didn't
think it needed a point-defense interceptor, so the plane was adapted for
low-medium altitude work. That decision has been criticized since the war,
but had they chosen to develop the installation the same way they did the
P-38 they'd have had to get by with fewer and even lower performing
airplanes in the early war years and have had a short-legged airplane that
hauled little armament. The airframe was just too small.