Author Topic: P-58 chain lighting  (Read 551 times)

Offline handy169

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P-58 chain lighting
« on: July 08, 2006, 02:19:09 AM »
Type:           Fighter -> attack aircraft -> bomber destroyer
Crew:           2, Pilot & Gunner
Armament:       4x 37mm cannon, 4x 12.7mm machine gun,
            up to 4,000 lb bombs
 
4 x 37mm!!!! *drools*

Offline handy169

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P-72
« Reply #1 on: July 08, 2006, 02:22:02 AM »
Type:              Fighter
Crew:           1, Pilot
Armament:       six .50 cal machine guns
                or optionally four 37-mm cannon
                plus optional two 1000 lb. bombs

dang all these quad 37mm planes that never got into production!

Offline handy169

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P-81
« Reply #2 on: July 08, 2006, 02:24:55 AM »
Type:           long range escort fighter
Crew:           1
Armament:       six .50 cal machine guns
                or six 20mm cannon
 
 
6 20mm's .. not bad

Offline Widewing

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P-58 chain lighting
« Reply #3 on: July 08, 2006, 08:20:57 AM »
All three types never advanced beyond prototypes. Moreover, of the three, only the XP-72 could be considered a viable fighter. According to Republic (who designed and built the XP-72s), 37 mm cannons were never considered. The original Army specification called for the cannons, but was revised when faced with the fact that it was a pipedream.

During test flights, one of the XP-72s attained 490 mph on 3,000 hp. Pratt & Whitney promised 3,450 hp for the production engine, which would have allowed the XP-72 to attain speeds well above 500 mph. Had the Army wanted them, P-72s could have been rolling off the line by the spring of 1945. However, the need for these aircraft was virtually eliminated by the P-80 and the Army cancelled the program, giving Republic a contract to design and build their own jet fighter, the XP-84 Thunderjet.

Lockheed's XP-58 was a massive fighter, obsolete in concept before it ever flew. Convair's XP-81 was a mixed power fighter, using both turbojet and turboprop power. Even if a sufficiently powerful turboprop engine were available, it still would have been a great deal less capable than the P-80. It was a huge fighter, and range would have been no better than a pure jet. Inasmuch as it was still more than a year from being sorted out, the Army cancelled the project.

My regards,

Widewing
My regards,

Widewing

YGBSM. Retired Member of Aces High Trainer Corps, Past President of the DFC, retired from flying as Tredlite.

Offline KgB

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P-58 chain lighting
« Reply #4 on: July 08, 2006, 09:56:14 AM »
Damn,one burst from quad 37mm.Hmmm....might as well use them as air brakes.
"It is the greatest inequality to try to make unequal things equal."-Aristotle

Offline handy169

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P-58 chain lighting
« Reply #5 on: July 08, 2006, 12:06:28 PM »
just the thought was nice though .. in concept

Offline handy169

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P-58 chain lighting
« Reply #6 on: July 08, 2006, 12:07:20 PM »
air brakes.. not much different then the A-10 with its gatlin gun ..