Twin-Whirlwind & Catalina…

[Tophe]

Another way towards T-tail Fw 189s is changing scale: with a 1/144 one on top of the 1/72 one, or 1/72 on top of 1/48. I have removed the rear booms to avoid having 4 of them (a quadruple boom would not be a twin-boom anymore...). The little dwarf (or child) tail observer would have a wonderful rear view, no? These 4-engined Fw 189S could exist in plastic (with classical in-line engines). Maybe I will try someday, but not in 2005, as I have so many boxes to build before buying new ones...

[Tophe]

In the Forked Ghosts initial book, I have illustrated a special version of XP-58 Chain-Lightning, with radial engines and nose post. Though, I could have said – like with the Fw 189 above – that a High tailplane would have been far better for rear view. I have drawn it below: P-58H mass-produced version of 1945 dreams... And as the piston engines seemed to be doomed, this gave birth to the P-58J Chain-LightJet... But the available power of such revolutionary engines was unknown, and a single-engined version was designed (P-58K), if needed – still a twin-boomer of course, as this is a dream of mine (with thanks once more to John Howling Mouse, enriching our Universe with T-tail possible birds).

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Thinking again about the 8E-d puzzle, it could have been possible to have, on a P-38, lateral cockpits close to the propellers, with engines aft : TP-38E below. What would be the advantage over my twin-fuselage almost classical TP-38 (still P-82-like but with cockpit aft, more normal)? It may be to improve the view forward and to lessen the distance between the rear cooling and the engines. The latter point would be even more important on a single-seat 3-engines derivative with tandem engines starboard: RP-38E. Adding push-pull engines in a central pod, that could have made a powerful 5-engines single-seater... with only 3 dragging bodies and a perfect view forward. Good plane...

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As I went in holidays from T-tail airliner to T-tail airliner (Fokker 70, DC-9, EMB-145), I wondered : what-if the Pusher canard P-38P had a T-tail ? Yes, a 'T foreplane'... Judge Howling Mouse may burn me alive for such an heresy... while, on this P-38PcT, the nose guns would not have shot the stabilizer anymore... Less efficient for export as kamikaze-plane, but better than P-38P to fight opponent kamikaze-planes...
Of course, the view forward remained imperfect, but this could be almost cured: the P-38V Viewtning used (I mean: would have used) a cockpit moved ahead, and glazed booms & glazed fins, to see laterally, a little. This is not crazy delirium: this is shy improvement, before rejection...

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I have almost decided which kit I will build for the twin-boom contest: BMW TL-III  (Unicraft Models') jet project. Though, an unbuilt real design is not What-if enough for me, and I may change a little: either...
- TL ^ : with improved solidity and all moving little tailplane
- TL-c : canard with booms moved ahead and a front stabilizer
- TL-IIIR : canard, reversed TL-III
- TL-H : more classical, with vertical fins, and an all-moving tailplane though
I guess the choice will be TL-IIIR, or from an asymmetric version of the TL-I\ /: TL-I//...

[Tophe]

Interpreting dark silhouettes   is not easy. In 1945, 3 new twin-engined Japanese fighters were seen by secret spys at night, taking blurred photographs. The English-speaking experts   saw Mosquitoes in them (and this was right), while the French Christophe Intelligence Agency   (with my grand-father ) saw Lightnings in them (what if genes of mine ? ).

[Tophe]

3 new twin-engined Japanese fighters were seen

How did they know these were twin-engine planes in complete darkness? Well, they were using the very fist infra-red cameras, to see the moving parts, thus the rotating spinners... (see below, central column, the secret originals photographs, very top secret )

[Tophe]

And here the missing link for me: from a drawing of normal plane profile (Ki-83 above) like in my 'Virtual Mustangs' book, create a slightly oblical view of what-if twin (Ki-83Z below, So-Ki-83 in Japanese) like in my 'end of Forked Ghosts' book...
(In detail, it has not been easy: I needed a plane with a view from above available, and I have selected the angles x/y 5°/5° with the spread-sheet presented in the first Forked Ghosts: these figures are the maximum to keep skew below 1° and scale above 99% - leaving the profile unchanged with my Corel Draw tool.)
Concerning the plane, the 2 engined Ki 83 has been twinned, with a common engine between them (total: 3 engines), the external tailplanes have been kept but the internal tailplanes have been linked and simplified (P-82-like).

[Tophe]

Thanks to Ian the Hunter (in French, the word for Hunter – chasseur - is the same as the one for Fighter...), I have been directed to
http://www.clubhyper.com/forums/plasticpixframe.htm
with a Ta-183Z model not finished yet, different from the one of Linzi featured in the 'Supplement No.1 to Forked Ghosts'. The author is Todd Pollock.

[Tophe]

http://www.clubhyper.com/forums/plasticpixframe.htm
with a Ta-183Z model
The author is Todd Pollock.

In Matthias' answer to this Todd (not our Captain Canada it seems) was suggested a Zwillinged Messerschmitt P.1101 next.
I try... thanks to http://www.1999.co.jp/asp/GoodsDetails_e.a...p?It_c=10042605


Does someone understand the words around in "conserving the variable geometry around the central wing section"

[elmayerle]

http://www.clubhyper.com/forums/plasticpixframe.htm
with a Ta-183Z model
The author is Todd Pollock.

In Matthias' answer to this Todd (not our Captain Canada it seems) was suggested a Zwillinged Messerschmitt P.1101 next.
I
oes someone understand the words around in "conserving the variable geometry around the central wing section"

I think this refers to the fact that the wing sweep on the P.1101 prototype could be varied on the ground between 35 deg. and 45 deg.  Matthias is suggesting that this characteristic be retained for the center-section of the P.1101Zwilling, too.  I don't see  anyway of doing that without some kind of fuselage or pod in the middle of the center section.

[Tophe]

the wing sweep on the P.1101 prototype could be varied on the ground between 35 deg. and 45 deg.  Matthias is suggesting that this characteristic be retained for the center-section of the P.1101Zwilling, too.  I don't see  anyway of doing that without some kind of fuselage or pod in the middle of the center section.

You are absolutely right, Engineer Evan: my P.1101Z-1 (above) was not able to move his internal wings to 35° without breaking. So your 'central pod' P.1101Z-2 (middle) with discontinuous internal wings provide the solution. And to be more original (and simple?), I imagine continuous wings somehow (below) in a P.1101Z-3: this is asymmetric rearward and forward swept wings when you see them from each fuselage, but that is pure swept wings seen as a whole... Harmonious . Thanks for having made me dream of it, Evan.

[Tophe]

Next one: Linzi asked about the Vakhmistrov 1944 twin-boom glide bomb and Radish suggested to use 2 glider models for building it. With DFS-230s of those years (and that were available in plastic kits a few years ago), Radish could have built a R-230 this way. As this is for USSR (written SSSR in Russian words and CCCP in Russian letters), the Cyrillic code is P-230...

[Tophe]

The Hughes D-5 gave birth to the XF-11, it is well known, but it is less famous to see mentioned the cancelled F-11A and its F-11J derivative using jets. Engineers then (would have) realized that engines need no more to be that distant when there are no more propellers, so the final project was F-11K .

[Tophe]

The Hughes D-5 gave birth to the XF-11, it is well known, but it is less famous to see mentioned the cancelled F-11A and its F-11J derivative using jets. Engineers then (would have) realized that engines need no more to be that distant when there are no more propellers, so the final project was F-11K.

Slightly corrected drawing:
- the F-11A was not exactly a XF-11; the external stabilisators were a decision of Howard Hughes saying to Lockheed staff: "look and cry: at last, my Lightning is better than yours!".
- the F-11J & K used stabilisators slightly raised upward, further from the hot jet exhausts.

[Tophe]

From http://www.whatifmodelers.com/forum//index...?showtopic=6024 :
Markm70+Tof F6F-11 Twincat (or Hellcatamaran)

[Tophe]

Here is the [top-secret] serious Julhelm B-37Z (from his B-37 at http://www.whatifmodelers.com/forum//index...?showtopic=6043 ) together with the [well-known] cartoon impossible Nomura B-36Z...

[Tophe]

Here is the [top-secret] serious Julhelm B-37Z together with the [well-known] cartoon impossible Nomura B-36Z...

The Nomura B-36Z and Julhelm B-37Z projects of 1945 were just using again the idea of the Nomura HB-29T and Julhelm MB-29T  of 1944, introducing seriousness and low-power shyness in whatifism...

(Historians agree that the 5-engined He111Z has been tested also with 3 engines only, so... why not? )