What plane do you wish had sawservice

[cheddar cheese]

If we are talking about never saw service types, put me down for a Merlin II or Merlin 45 powered Westland Whirlwind variant.

Get rid of the unreliable and somewhat anemic Pegasus engine. You would have to space the Merlins further apart as they needed a larger prop than the Pegasus.

Go to a belt feed for the Hispanos to double the amo load, add Fowler or butterfly- type trailing edge flaps to reduce the landing distance and clip the wingtips for a better rate of roll (which you would need as the Merlins are now further out from the Centre of gravity).

Strap on two 90 litre drop tanks or do like Westland wanted and install a 45 gallon rear fusealge tank and install a semirecessed centre-line bomb mount and you would have one very mean mother of a low alt escort fighter/ figher-bomber. It sounds crazy but the twin engined Whilrwind actually had less frontal area than a Hawker Hurricane! Imagine the performance with a pair of +16lbs boosted Merlin 45s running at 1600hp.

I know that a derivative of the Wirlwhind, the Westland Welkin, was modified with high altitude Merlins, but that never saw any operational service and was more like a bunch of flaws with wings than a real aircraft.

I agree. The Whirlwind had great potential for a long range heavy fighter.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

could have had a serious impact on the battle of britian........

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Interesting stuff. I actually have never seen any pics of the jet test bed lancs.

 

[MP-Willow]

Jet powered, Lancasters, or well at least a test bed. But here is a question, could the Lancaster be modivied to be a jet bomber?

Ad;er, nice sig pic

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

it's very unlikely, it would be more pheasable to have auxiliary jet engines for extra speed over the target for example, jet engines at the time weren't really powerful enough for such a large heavy plane.......

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I dont think without airframe strengthening it would have been possible either.

 

[quayhog]

The Grumman F8F Bearcat had an active squadron at sea and would have seen war service if an invasion of Japan had taken place. The Lockheed P2V-1 prototypes had flown and squadrons were becoming operational in 1945. It too would have seen war service if the war went into 1946.

 

[GregP]

The XF5U was not a Corsair. It was a Navy Fighter prototype that was essentially round. It had a pair of P&W R-2800 and was never flown.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

The XF5U-1 was supposed to be test flown but vibrations proved so high on taxi testing that it never took off. The taxi testing was done on Feb 27, 1947.

The letter of intent for the Vought VS-315 (XF5U-1) was issued September 17, 1942. The XF5U-1 was a twin-engine, single-seat, low aspect ratio flying wing type of airplane, manufactured by the Chance Vought Division, United Aircraft Corporation, Stratford, Connecticut.

The first XF5U-1 airplane (Bureau Number 33958) was used for static tests; proof loads, extended to ultimate, largely confirmed structural design predictions. The second XF5U-1 airplane (Bureau Number 33959) was used for experimental flight test and concept validation. It was never flown because many hours of engine run-up showed excessive mechanical vibration between the engine-propeller shafting, gear boxes, and airframe structure. The airplane was taxi tested on February 3, 1947 at Stratford, Connecticut, but, again, vibration levels were considered excessive. The airplane was being readied for shipment by sea through the Panama Canal to Edwards AFB, California, when the contract was canceled (March 17, 1947) because of still unsolved technical problems and the lack of Navy R&D money.
http://www.vought.com/heritage/products/html/xf5u-1.html

The V-173 which was the forunner of the XF5U that was built for testing was flown on 23 OCT 1942. Below is a picture of the V-173.

 

[ohka345]

I wish the G10N Fugaku had reached service....it had 2 more engines than the B-29

 

[lesofprimus]

And having 2 extra engines does what exactly???

 

[Matt308]

...increases the likelihood of engine failure, ofcourse.

 

[renrich]

It would have been interesting to see what the Boeing XF8B-1 would have done if it had been produced and deployed. It had a P&W 28 cylinder R-4360 engine driving two counter rotating propellers. Supposed to have been a long range carrier based fighter. It's gross weight was over ten tons.

 

[Treize]

Dunno if its been mentioned yet (thats a lot of posts to flip through), but mine would be the IAR-81 with a BMW engine grafted on from a Fw-190A. Would have definitely helped its performance, but at that point in the war the Germans weren't interested in licensing the rights to build the engine out, so the ARR was stuck defending against the USAAF in secondhand 109s and 1940-vintage IARs.

Also, the P-38K might have been a good fighter for NW Europe if it had been built, or a P-38 with Merlins. Great plane, but it just couldn't cope with the conditions over Germany well enough as it was.

And just for the comedic rule of 3, kinda wish the P-51H had seen action, just to see how it would have done in combat. Missed WWII, and was not used in Korea. Would love to know if the light-weight Mustang idea was a viable one or not.

 

[Matt308]

I like the IAR-81 idea. She was a beautiful, if not delicate, plane.

 

[renrich]

I may very well be mistaken( I can't find my copy of "Whistling Death" by Boone Guyton since it is packed) but I believe he states that he flew the XF5U briefly and it almost scared him to death.

 

[Matt308]

P-51H

 

[bigZ]

Just 2 off the top of my head the fighter version of the Buggatti and the Martin Baker MB3(6 x 20mm Cannons!!!!).

Didn't the Polish have a nice monoplane on the drawing boards before being invaded(can't recall the details)?

 

[Matt308]

You seriously think that powder puff could filed 6-20mm?

 

[edd]

hi, my first post!
i would have love to see all the planes that was first "turned down" and then later joined the war.

the p40 was picked before the p38, imagine p38's in the air since 1940! even at pearl, they could have chase the enemies back to their carriers!

the same with me 262, first flew in 1942 and germany was still on the offensive, but only operational in late 1994.

would have absolutly love to see the do335 in action aswell. first flight in '43.