Utility Mustangs

[Tophe]

During the Cold War, Mustangs were no more front line fighters but there were not sent to garbage either. Many ones were converted to transport generals and high rank staff:

[Tophe]

As generals wanted to speak secretly without the low-class pilot hearing, the P-82U was preferred:

[Weaver]

Nice one!

If you did a zwilling version of the AD-5 Skyraider, you could get about  seven passengers, even without fuselage mods.

[Tophe]

Nice one!.

Thanks!

If you did a zwilling version of the AD-5 Skyraider, you could get about  seven passengers, even without fuselage mods.

A Zwilling-Skyraider would be off-topic, but you seem to confirm there was a Skyraider-like Twin-Mustang from North-American. I will search in the archives and show you if there is a success in discovery...

[Tophe]

I have found the Skyraistang, not yet the Twin version but this will come soon for sure, in this pile of papers...

[Weaver]

It's actually not as mad as you think Tophe. The Skyraider was about the same size as the Gannet, and there was an English Electric proposal called the P.7 to build a small airliner (the eternal DC-3 replacement... ) with the Gannet powerplant, i.e. two Mamba turboshafts engines driving co-axial contraprops on the nose.

In the US there was a long series of single-engined airliners with much less power than the Skyraider pre-WWII. They only stopped making them because the CAA made a ruling in 1934 that all commercial aircraft had to be twin-engined for safety.

[Tophe]

Thanks for this piece of History!

And thanks for the idea of the Twin-Skyraistang, actually discovered:

[Weaver]

Heh, now you know that is a kinda credible what-if: what if some aircraft company in the '30s decided to respond to the CAA's ruling by 'simply' zwilling a pair of their single-engined airliners? After all, we know that zwillings work, and the aircraft in question aren't technically much different to the kind of WWII fighter that actually had it done to them.

[Tophe]

As generals wanted to speak secretly without the low-class pilot hearing, the P-82U was preferred:

The same with the Skyraistang:

[Tophe]

And if the engine is too noisy for generals:

[Weaver]

If the generals wanted a forward view and/or a weather radar, and the designer didn't want asymmetrical power, you could put the passenger pod engine at the back of it's fuselage.

[Tophe]

Like this?

Weight centering may be funny but what-if?
Thanks!

[Weaver]

Weight centering may be funny but what-if?
Thanks!

Just like that - nice one! 

Longitudinally, the weight distribution would be no worse than on a Dornier Arrow. The wings would probably have to be nearer the middle of the fuselages, and if they were struggling for elevator authority, they could always go to a three-surface layout with a forward control surface between the fuselages that mirrors the aft one.

Quite what having big weights at the front of one fuselage and the back of the other does to roll behaviour is another matter of course - 'interesting' assignment for a test pilot!

[PR19_Kit]

Remembering what pics of USAF Generals looked like, I imagine the CG positioning could be a REAL problem! 

They may have needed to add lead ballast to the tail whenever the 'self loading cargo' was aboard........

[Tophe]

Yes, you are right: for BIG generals, this seems the best: