Article Type: Military History
Article Date: July 13, 2001
Do 335
One of the strangest designs was the Dornier Do 335A Pfeil (Arrow) that first flew in 1943. It not only had an in-line inverted V-DB 603G of 1,900 hp pulling it but one pushing it as well. The front engine was cowled in a radial-style nose like the FW 190D instead of the normal taper like the Bf 109. The rear engine sat well ahead of the prop via an extension shaft. The tail was cruciform owing that it had a ventral stabilizer in addition to the vertical one. The span and length were equal at 45' making it look larger overall than it was. It sat on a tricycle landing gear.
Armament was substantial and variants had 15, 20 and 30mm cannons. The B-2 model in destroyer configuration had one Mk 103 30mm in each wing, and another firing through the prop shaft. Two 20mm MG 151s were placed in the upper cowl which supplanted the 15mm MG 151s on other models. Other projected Pfeils would have had two B 603LA engines rated at 2,100 hp using two-stage superchargers and a larger wing of 60'.
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Do 335- Finally A Good Twin-Engine?  |
The A-1 had a top speed of 455 mph at 223,295 ft. Loaded the plane weighed 20,966 lbs. and could sortie to a range of 1,336 miles on internal fuel and 2,330 miles with external and climb to 37,400 ft. A second seat was added behind the pilot for a radar operator in the night fighter role variant. The initial aircraft snaked and porpoised somewhat at high speed. Envisaged as a heavy day/night fighter only eleven single and two two-seat production aircraft were delivered and none saw action before the war's end. Actually this odd configuration probably would have been more successful than the standard layout twin-engine ships the Luftwaffe used owning to the high-powered engines and more compact size.
J7W1
Long before Burt Rutan's famous canard designs took to the air in later peacetime, Kyushu built the J7W1 Shinden (Magnificent Lightning). It was small at 10,913 lbs. with a 36' wingspan and a 30' length. But pushing it with a six-bladed prop was a 2,130 hp Mitsubishi Ha.43-42 18-cylinder radial air-cooled engine. This interceptor's performance was awesome with a 466 mph top speed at 28,540 feet and an adequate 528-mile range. Initial climb rate was in the 3,300 fpm range and on the way to 26,250 feet it averaged nearly 2,500 fpm. Ceiling was high at 39,000 feet. Its punch came from four 30mm Type 5s with 60 rpg.
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| The Shinden- Beautiful & Potent |
Tabs fitted to the ailerons counteracted the strong starboard torque pull noted in flight tests. Production was set to build 1,086 fighters into March 1947 but when hostilities ceased only two were finished.
XP-55
The Shinden's closest corresponding machine was the Curtiss Ascender. First flying in mid-1943 the unique plane had a swept wing spanning 44' though length was only 29 feet. The test program progressed with several failures and many modifications to correct flight behavior. Its speed of 390 mph at 19,300 ft. was a bit low compared to fighters already in service partly due to the fact that the Allison V-1710-95 of 1,275 hp was a stop gap engine in anticipation of a more potent experimental Pratt & Whitney X-1800A3G (H-2600) liquid cooled that never came. Climb was good for the 7,330 lb. craft that had a rate of 2,850 fpm and a ceiling of 34,600 ft. Range was 1,440 miles with external fuel and 635 miles without. Four .50s with 200 rpg mounted in the nose.
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| Curtiss XP-55 Ascender |
It was decided that the unorthodox shape did not justify continued development over conventional designs especially due to its stall characteristics and other stability questions.
Whirlwind
Yet another odd design that actually made it to production and service with the RAF was that of the Westland Whirlwind. Shape aside; the twin-engine fighter with its 45' wingspan was mechanically sound mounting a pair of Rolls-Royce Peregrine V-12s of 860 hp below the wings. The prop spinners actually ended forward of the nose, in Me 210/410 fashion, that housed four 20mm Hispano cannon with sixty rounds each. The radiators were buried in thick chord wings that formed an odd near-perfect rectangle of some 22' before tapering to the tips. The horizontal stabilizer was set high on the tail plane. The tail rose from a fuselage that was the same thickness diameter along most of its full length.
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| Whirlwind- Designed By Committee? |
The Whirlwind could never hold its own in combat with the Luftwaffe but made some use of its ability to carry up to 1,000 lbs of bombs and the cannons as a ground attack craft. With a maximum clean speed of 360 mph at 15,000 ft. weighing 10,356 lbs performance deteriorated quickly as ordnance was attached. The lesson of the Bf 110 was recognized first hand by the RAF.
S.M.92
In Italy the Savoia-Marchetti S.M.91 was a near clone of the P-38 though larger and two-seat. The sister ship in the S.M.92 was a bit different. There was no fuselage nacelle as the familiar P-38 has. The pilot and gunner sat asymmetrically in the port fuselage. Caproni had a design called the Ca 380 with the crew in the starboard one.
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| Savoia-Marchetti S.M.91 |
Two DB 605A-1s of 1,495 hp each nestled in the fuselages. Performance was not bad with a 382 mph maximum speed seen at 24,935 ft. and a 2,800 fpm climb rate which led to a ceiling of 39,370 ft. The wingspan measured 60' and proposed armament was heavy with two 20mm MG 151s in the center wing while another fired through the starboard airscrew hub each with 300 rounds; four 12.7 mm Breda SAFAT MGs below the engines (2 per side) with 350 rpg and finally a barbette midway across the horizontal tail plane with another that was remote controlled by the rear gunner!
Italy's early demise in the war ended further development.
P.119
But Italy had another strange bird in the Piaggio P.119. It had the engine mounted behind the pilot powering a front-drive prop. So? The P-39 was the same deal right? Wrong, since the P.119 had a 1,700 hp Piaggio P.XV R.C.60/2V 18-cylinder RADIAL AIR-COOLED power plant buried in the fuselage! While the wing spanning 42.5' and tail were of normal shapes the nose was unique. It tapered down above a huge cooling duct notching in like a jet's air scoop. After passing through the engine compartment air exited from annular opening in the all-metal monocoque fuselage aft of the wing.
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| P.119- Had Potential |
The plane could hit 400 mph at 22,300 ft and climb at 3,075 fpm. Range was 940 miles but the ceiling was high at 41,340 feet. Weapons consisted of four nose-mounted 12.7 mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns and a 20 mm Breda CL20 cannon.
As with many promising Italian designs, the Armistice ended continuation of work.
XP-77
When strategic materials were at a premium, concepts like the Bell XP-77 seemed like a good idea. Built from wood with a metal skin and mounting a two-blade prop in front of a 520 hp Ranger XV-770-7 12-cylinder inverted V air-cooled engine the 3,671 lb. plane debuted in April 1944. The tiny 27' wingspan could tote up to 300 lbs of bombs or a depth charge and offered speed in the order of 330 mph at 4,000 ft. though the original concept stated a supercharged engine would make 410 mph at 27,000 ft. The XP-77 had a short range at 550 miles but could climb fast at 3,600 fpm. Ceiling was 30,100 ft. Original armament was to be two 20mms and two .50s but it was reduced to the two fifties with 200 rpg only
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| Bell XP-77 (Tri-4) |
It looked somewhat like the Italian S.A.I.403 Dardo but the out-of-scale canopy covered a cockpit that set behind the trailing edge of the wing in a racing plane-style layout. The idea that a "home defense" ship built from cheaper materials was not borne out in the prototypes and it was cancelled.
XP-67
Without a sharp angle in its smooth merging lines the McDonnell XP-67 endeavored to maintain the airfoil sections throughout the whole plane. Engine nacelles, housing two turbo-supercharged 1,350 hp Continental XI-1430-17/19 inverted V liquid-cooled, slipped into flowing form to the aft fuselage as well as to the forward section and on to the nose. The whole design looked elliptical in nature.
The first XP-67 flew in January 1944 as the concept for a long-range fighter. The wing spanned 55' of the heavy—22,114 lbs loaded—aircraft. But range was there at 2,385 miles. Speed was not spectacular but healthy at 405 mph at 25,000 ft. It could climb at 2,600 fpm and had a ceiling of 37,400 feet.
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| XP-67- Star Wars 1944 |
Armament proposals were wild with the first being six .50s and four 20mms to finally six 37mm M-4 cannons with 45 rpg. Though they felt the plane was controllably good, test pilots felt it was underpowered. A fire damaged the one prototype and certain questionable performance idiosyncrasies ended development. A pair of 1,700 horse Merlins would probably have made a difference.
FM-1
The strangest we leave for last in the five-seat? fighter, the Bell FM-1. Certainly Bell had some unorthodox designs in both aircraft like the P-39 and even watercraft like the twin-pontoon, steam turbine, 100 mph torpedo boat, but the Airacuda was bizarre even by 1940 standards. It was conceived as a long-range bomber destroyer.
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| Bell FM-1 5-Seat Fighter! |
It was light bomber size with a 70' wingspan and a 46' length weighing in at 19,000 lbs sitting on a tricycle undercarriage. Two Allison 1,150 hp V-1710-13s housed in oversized nacelles turned three-blade pusher props. The forward part of the nacelle had glazed gun stations featuring a 37mm T-9 cannon in each with 110 rounds. A dorsal and ventral position each housed a .30 caliber with 500 rounds. A .50 caliber was mounted in each of the two lateral waist positions. 600 lbs of bombs could be carried internally as well. This baby was ready to rumble.
Maximum speed for 1940 was an interesting 268 mph at 12,600 ft. The range on the odd bird was a respectable 1,670 miles however. Climb was low-to-fair at 1,520 fpm.
Twelve were delivered to the Army Air Corps in 1940 but as the war rapidly unfolded it was realized that a machine of this type was not realistically needed.
Some oddball fighters were good. Some were outlandish. Some were just ahead of their time.
Sources
Books:
- Green, William
Fighters Vols. 1,2,3 & 4
Doubleday & Co., 1960-61-62 & 60
- Green, William & Swanborough, Gordon
The Complete Book of Fighters
Salamander Books Ltd., London, 1994
- Mason, Francis K.
Royal Air Force Fighters Vol. 1
Doubleday & Co. NY 1969
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