Wasp Major and Tornado(radial engine) Aircrafts: XF8B, XP-71, XP-69, XP-72

[ysi_maniac]

I love this big five-in-one beast. I would say it could do the same jobs the SkyRaider performed. The engine is just COOOOOOL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_XF8B

SEA camo in vietnam era?
high visibility US NAVY scheme?
French or British in colonial wars? Suez Crisis?


What do you think?

BTW: Valom manufactures its model, 1/72

[Brian da Basher]

It's a beautiful aircraft. It would've been one of the hottest W.W. II U.S. fighters ever to grace a carrier's deck!

My vote is for a high-viz Navy scheme.

Brian da Basher

[Doc Yo]

 Give it the Yellow wings scheme it had mixing it up over the North Atlantic with Blackburn-Gotha FeuerBrands* in
'47.






* Assumes the Germans did a lot better in another First World War....

[kitnut617]

I have both offerings that Valom do, USAAF and USN versions (there's some subtle differences) and I have to say the kits are not bad.  USAAF one is NMF and the navy one dark sea blue

[sequoiaranger]

...and used the tail off a B-17!!

Wow, that is a LARGE aircraft for a single-engined "fighter". Martin's Mauler and Douglas' Skyraider somehow beat out the Boeing project, and even the Mauler fell by the wayside.

[kitnut617]

They're all about the same size sequoiaranger, IMHO I think the Boeing looks the best out of the bunch.  And it's got contra-props hmmmm!    It was powered by the R-4360 4 row 28 cylinder engine though

[GTX]

Ony last year, Schiffer  released a 376 pg book dedicated to this aircraft:



Regards,

Greg

[jcf]

They're all about the same size sequoiaranger, IMHO I think the Boeing looks the best out of the bunch.  And it's got contra-props hmmmm!    It was powered by the R-4360 4 row 28 cylinder engine though

The Boeing F8B-1was larger than the AD-1(BT2D-1)and the AM-1(BTM-1).

The Martin AM-1 was also R-4360 powered, and contra-props were tested.

Jon

[jcf]

...and used the tail off a B-17!!

Wow, that is a LARGE aircraft for a single-engined "fighter". Martin's Mauler and Douglas' Skyraider somehow beat out the Boeing project, and even the Mauler fell by the wayside.

The F8B wasn't in the BT (Bomber-Torpedo) competition that was won by the Douglas design.
The competitors were Douglas, Grumman, Curtiss, Martin and Kaiser-Fleetwings.

Jon

[MAD]

It's a beautiful aircraft. It would've been one of the hottest W.W. II U.S. fighters ever to grace a carrier's deck!

My vote is for a high-viz Navy scheme.

Brian da Basher

It would have been very effective in the Korean War!!

M.A.D

[kitnut617]

The F8B wasn't in the BT (Bomber-Torpedo) competition that was won by the Douglas design.
The competitors were Douglas, Grumman, Curtiss, Martin and Kaiser-Fleetwings.

Jon

I will have to find the Ginter book I bought when I got my two kits, I'm sure it starts of with reference to the competition with photos of all the competitors,  I think it said that Boeing didn't push it to hard as they were heavily involved with B-29 production by then. The F8B even had a bomb bay.

[famvburg]

        I've got one on my 'to finish' shelf that's going to be done in SEA camo & be armed like a Skyraider. I have another to do in the 'nam era USN scheme as well. When I was a kid in the early '70s, Wings or Airpower mag did an article on the XF8B-1 & that's been one of my fav designs ever since.

I love this big five-in-one beast. I would say it could do the same jobs the SkyRaider performed. The engine is just COOOOOOL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_XF8B

SEA camo in vietnam era?
high visibility US NAVY scheme?
French or British in colonial wars? Suez Crisis?


What do you think?

BTW: Valom manufactures its model, 1/72

[jcf]

The F8B wasn't in the BT (Bomber-Torpedo) competition that was won by the Douglas design.
The competitors were Douglas, Grumman, Curtiss, Martin and Kaiser-Fleetwings.

Jon

I will have to find the Ginter book I bought when I got my two kits, I'm sure it starts of with reference to the competition with photos of all the competitors,  I think it said that Boeing didn't push it to hard as they were heavily involved with B-29 production by then. The F8B even had a bomb bay.

The F8B was in response to a requirement for a long-range fighter that could also carry a bomb-load, an Uber fighter-bomber(or bomber-fighter as called by some), sort of a Super-Corsair in terms of role. The contract was let in May of 1943, first flight was November 27, 1944.

The BT competition was for a new classification of aircraft, the Bomber Torpedo.
The prototype contracts were let as follows:
Curtiss XBTC-1 - December, 1943
Kaiser-Fleetwing  XBTK-1 - March, 1944
Martin XBTM-1 - May, 1944
During that period Douglas was directed to study modification of the XSB2D design for the same role, this became the BTD-1,
a design which was uncompetitive. In order to stay in the running the Douglas engineers went back to the drawing board and created the XBT2D which became famous as the AD-1.

Meanwhile at Curtiss reengining of the XBTC-1 with the R-4360 created the XBTC-2 and later the similar, but smaller and R-3350 engined XBT2C-1,
was ordered, this design actually flew before the XBTC.

While a contemporary of the new BT designs, the Boeing aircraft was not in direct competition... they were primarily bombers, it was primarily a fighter.
With a top speed of 432mph the big Boeing was also considerably faster than the others.

Jon

[Jschmus]

I wonder what might've happened if Boeing had stayed in the fighter business, rather than focusing on bombers and other large aircraft.

[ysi_maniac]

I have changed the title to widen its scope:

What about this other Wasp Major Beast ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_XP-71