X-plane Whiffery

[GTX]

Hi folks,

Here's an idea that popped up whilst reading an old article on the aircraft in question:

What if the Douglas X-3 Stiletto had not only been a much more successful aircraft (in real life, it's underpowered engines limited it's potential), but had also been so successful that it had been turned into an operational interceptor (ala the F-102/F-106).  Maybe with even more owerful engines, F-104 style inlets (remember the original YF-104 had inlets very similar in appearance to the X-3 - see pics below), radar in nose and wingtip missiles ala F-104?  (Hint to profilers???)





and the YF-104:



Regards,

Greg

[Archibald]

Would give something like this ?    

Douglas F-3A  

[simmie]

X-planes offer a lot of whiffery potential.

There is the following:-
Bell X 5 swing wing fighter, possibly naval
Northrop X 4 bantam fighter
Curtiss Wright X 19
Northrop(?) X 18
Bell X 22
Bell X 14 VSTOL trainer/COIN, like dragonfly, but a flat riser
the obvious Grumman X 29 (but that has been done I think)

That it for of the top of my head, can anybody else think of any??

[Archibald]

X-27 was the CL-1200 Lancer, a super Starfighter  
X-29 as you mentioned
X-31 sounds obvious    Would be an incredibly agile fighter, to say the least.
X-32 would be cool, too

These four would give a nice lineage of fighters.
X-27 would be a good interceptor, X-29 and X-31 would be multirole LWF and  
X-32 would be a V/STOL complement to them.

Au fait, a X-29 / X-31 hybrid would be awesome. FSW and thrust vectoring in the same aircraft... what a machine!

[TsrJoe]

or how about this... according to the original caption a 'TFX. concept' illustration ...

[Maverick]

Given I've a major chubbie for this particular beast, there's a very quick profile on my thread....

[Tornado]

Just had one crazy thought!

An X-15 fighter intercepting a Soviet Spiral 50-50 manned bomber on re-entry.  

[TsrJoe]

hiya Tornado...in a similar wein to what you sugest i posted a lil build iv got underway of such an X.15/ASAT. combo on the current project/workbench pages under 'X.15 With Asat. ..., ... 'Titan' by Stephen Baxter'

def an intreguing possiblilty...

cheers, Joe

[jcf]

X-3: According to Miller's 'X-Planes X-1 to X-45' the 'on paper' predicted Mach 2 performance of the X-3 led to the issuance of a work order covering the conversion of the aircraft for the high speed recce role., of course having to substitute the J34 for the stillborn J46 put paid to any dreams of Mach 2.
The X-3 did lead to an interceptor aircraft, the Lockheed F-104 used much of the Douglas/NACA research. Also the X-3 was one of the first projecst to utilize relatively large amounts of the 'new' miracle material titanium, another major contribution was to the understanding of the phenomenon of inertia or roll coupling which led directly to the NACA and NAA being able to cure the F-100 of its stability problems. Not bad for a 'failure'.

X-4: Too small (23' 3" long, 26' 9.25" wingspan) and too twitchy, the X-4 confirmed that the pure tailless layout was a poor choice for a transonic/supersonic aircraft.
Scale the layout up and you could possibly get a high subsonic attack aircraft out of the basic design.

X-5: Bell proposed a fighter conversion armed with six .5 MG or for 20mm cannon or 24 2.75in FFAR rockets, 5,000lb thrust J35 and AN/APS-19A search radar. Fuel load would have been limited. Naval use would probably require two engines, the resulting aircraft would look like a tadpole.

X-14: Bell proposed several developments. The D-400, an X-14 with a retractable undercarriage; T-tailed 'jet flap' research aircraft with exhaust gases ducted through the flaps; X-14C with enclosed cockpit, retracts, and weapons carriage capability utilizing T-37 wings and empennage; X-14T a dedicated trainer similar to the C.
A conversion for the Monogram or Academy A-37 kits would be a definite possibility.

X-18: This Hiller project was very much a parts-bin special.  A Chase YC-122C fuselage fitted with a new tilting wing mounting the Allison T40 engines from the Convair XFV-1 and the Lockheed XFY-1 tailsitter prototypes, with a J34 engine mounted in the center fuselage providing air for the pitch stability system. Purely a proof of concept vehicle and as built not directly adaptable for service use.

X-19: C-W proposed several military versions, including a rather cool looking tandem-seat armed gunship.

X-22: Gunship and transport derivatives were proposed, the tandem cockpit X-22A1 version in particular looks like it should have a GAU-8 mounted in the nose.

I'll try to get images for some of these scanned and posted later.

Cheers, Jon





 

[Jschmus]

or how about this... a TFX. concept illustration ...

That looks more like one of the AMSA proposals, but I could be wrong.

Since I've been volunteering with CHAC, I've always thought the D-558-1 Skystreak would make a nifty fighter design.  I've done some reading through the Museum's research materials, and some development work was done, but the Navy wouldn't fund a prototype.

I always thought the Bell XV-15 would've made a neat machine, and they did a whole slew of design studies for gunships, COD and other platforms.

[Archibald]

Just had one crazy thought!

An X-15 fighter intercepting a Soviet Spiral 50-50 manned bomber on re-entry.

The kind of idea which makes that I like this forum very much!    

[Archangel]

Just had one crazy thought!

An X-15 fighter intercepting a Soviet Spiral 50-50 manned bomber on re-entry.

You mean like this, A gu y iknow tha tgoes by the name M3 over at www.Starshipmodeler.com built that for Wonderfest 2007 and as par of the thread dealing with the old AMY Lief Erickson Sci fi kit.

http://kevinstone.myphotoalbum.com/view_ph...m01&id=S6300121

http://kevinstone.myphotoalbum.com/view_ph...m01&id=S6300122

http://kevinstone.myphotoalbum.com/view_ph...m01&id=S6300123

http://kevinstone.myphotoalbum.com/view_ph...m01&id=S6300230

[Archangel]

The X-10 Navaho would be a great one to do as an unmanned UCAV type of aircraft if there was some way to build on with out buying there sin kit.  suppose an F-18 kit could be used if the amount of work needed didn't butcher the kit.

[jcf]

The X-10 Navaho would be a great one to do as an unmanned UCAV type of aircraft if there was some way to build on with out buying there sin kit.  suppose an F-18 kit could be used if the amount of work needed didn't butcher the kit.

Or you could start with an F-5 for an X-10ish vehicle.
Chop off the canopy and vertical tail, move the wings all the way aft, turn the horizontal tails into twin vertical tails and add some triangular canards.

Jon

[jcf]

Some images as promised, all from Miller's X-Planes:

X-14C light attack with Tweet wings and empennage. (As you can see the image is credited to Scott 'Orionblamblam' Lowther, and I will take it down if Scott so desires. Cheers.)


X-19 based armed vehicle, with a little colorizing in PS for laughs.


X-22A-1, still think it screams for a big 'ol gun stickin' out the nose.

Cheers, Jon