Lightnilina from P-38

[Tophe]

The SMO2 and SMO3 were better "flying submarines"
with no need anymore to drop the submarine part from altitude: touching water gently (not "landing". how do you say? "ditching") was good enough.

[Tophe]

And with booms very near to one another came the USAAF QP-38 UAV then QP-38P fighter, then the Navy XF7O1 floatplane:

[Tophe]

The F8O1 was a vertical-twin-boom floatplane:

[Tophe]

The F8O1 was a vertical-twin-boom floatplane:

The F8O2 was more solid with a less long boom above:

[Tophe]

The F8O3 came back to the (solid) horizontal-twin-boom layout.
But still with one short boom to avoid intermeshing propellers and big distance between engines. This was asymmetric here.

[DogfighterZen]

Hey tophe, that XF701 is a beauty! 
And what would you make of this? 

[Tophe]

Thanks!
It seems you archaeologist found what remains of the XF4O5 prototype..., no?:

[Captain Canada]

I like that last twin Tophe ! And the ones that look like subs.

[Tophe]

Thanks Captain!
while... I am not sure... it seems (?) there were like cockpits at the middle of the booms ? so that would not be the XF4O5 but the XF4O6:

[Tophe]

Far from DogfighterZen's 3-engine plane, the XF4O7 was not a floatplane but a design for carriers like the Hellcat:

[Tophe]

And the single-engined XF4O8 was closer to the Hellcat, but two-seater long range:

[kerick]

Your imagination is endless !!

[Tophe]

Your imagination is endless !!

Thanks! while... I cannot let you say that as final word, because this would be an end, thus contradictory...
So: to avoid the weight of folding wings, a sesquiplane version was designed for the Navy's carriers:

Thanks!

[Tophe]

This Lockheed floatplane, designed with the help of Eng. Burnelli, was almost impossible to classify:

If it had been ordered and mass-produced, it would look "normal"...

[Tophe]

F9O1 Lightcat : intended to replace the Hellcat (no order)
F9O2 Blomning : inspired by the Bv-141 (no order)
F9O3 Twin-Blomning : double F9O2 (no order)...