Twin-Whirlwind & Catalina…

[Tophe]

Seeing the poor performances of the P-38N-3, designers considered moving the 6 airscrews from lateral remote to central direct action of the engines, all hidden (ducted) drag-less behind the cockpit: the P-38N-J was born, very first US jet aircraft design...

[Tophe]

I have Photopainted it, still thanks to http://www.militarymodels.com/results-cate...tary%2BAircraft .

One more:
The first Twinbolt (XP-47Z) was very different from the final Doublebolt (P-47Z): razorback, 2-seater, separate tails...

[Tophe]

Thanks (somehow) to http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/527.../c_alemanha.htm I have discovered that the famous and sadly classical  Messerschmitt Bf 110 was a cousin of the nice Do 110 Lightnink twin-boomer. Do means both Dornier and Doppelrumpf (twin-boom).

[Tophe]

Thanks to http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/mitsubishi-ki-46-dinah.htm I may add another twin-boom 1944: the unknown Mitsubishi Ki-46 Kai-Kai, bottom below, a derivative of the famous Ki-46 Kai (Dinah), expected to be as fast as a P-38 to "defend" the Philippines...
The US code name seems to have been Dinah-Donna, joining the names of my dearest Filipino nieces... (coincidence, probably).

[Tophe]

Even before the Kai-Kai twin-boomer, a double-Ki-46 Kai had been designed. To invade Alaska and seduce the Eskimo, it was named Kai-iaK, the US code name being of course Kayak...

[Tophe]

On the forum http://www.tgplanes.com/Public/snitz/topic...p?TOPIC_ID=1032 I saw the Morane-Saulnier MS.470.01 Vanneau, whose first flight is dated 1944 – I had forgotten this date, the mass-produced Vanneau (MS.472) being a post-war aircraft here in France.
So, from the 470.01 Van-neau (peewit/lapwing) came the 470.11 Van-van in my (very) sane mind... The nick-name was 2-Van (two-winds, "deux vents"), and Two-Van in the export version, Thu-Van having been the name of a beloved classmate of mine... (Thu-Van in Vietnamese meaning Autumn Cloud)

[Tophe]

On the forum http://www.tgplanes.com/Public/snitz/topic...p?TOPIC_ID=1032 I saw

Seeing my dream, Jemiba revealed this...:

I asked :  "wasn't the project date: February 31st 1945?"  but I have received no answer yet... ^_^  

[Tophe]

Then I added the last dreamy step: project Morane-Saulnier MS.942=470+472. This code had turned into 971: mixing 470 and 472 makes 471, and as this is was a twin: 971 (the famous 954 had introduced the use of code 9- for twin-Vanneau).
This trainer for after-war came of course after the 954 combat plane, August 33rd 1945 maybe.
The reason of such a layout was simple: the 970 would have been too fragile, the 972 would have been too dragging, the 971 seemed the best compromise. Wise and rather cheap. Unfortunately not ordered, for some mysterious reason...

Neauneau in French is pronounced Nono... As in late 1945, the French Air Force was spending American dollars, they probably misunderstood phone calls: "buy the 971 Nono!" into "buy the 971? No! No!!"...

[Tophe]

Next:
In fact, the MS.942 (first design) was slightly different, with closer fuselages (to prevent dangerous asymmetry if one engine is in a jam) justifying external tailplanes. Propellers were not intermeshing, because the radial engine was far shorter than the in line one, so the starboard prop was aft of the port one. Design date was June 31st 1945, according to reliable sources (I mean: scientific psychotropic medicines holding my brains).
       ^_^

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Wuzak visiting the TG-planes forum has corrected the design date: it was April 1st 1945, sorry for my wrong source.  
Checking, I have discovered the nick-name was related to this date too: no more "Vanneau" but "Grosse Vanne" ("Big Joke" in French slang)... ^_^  

[B777LR]

has anybody built the twin catalina?

[Tophe]

It could very well be done with 1/144 cheap little kits, as the one at http://www.hannants.co.uk/search/?FULL=MC14435
As far as I am concerned, with my 47 kits to build (and 3 on the workbench, 3 to follow), I will not buy other ones soon...
I had made a 1/72 Airfix Catalina in the 1970s, still standing here on top of a piece of furniture, but this model is so huge (more than 1.5 feet span, 45cm), I won't ever make it double...

[Tophe]

here is the famous Twin-Mosquito, frightening twin-tail insect that brought fever over many countries in 1945...

And a further proof of the Twin-Mosquito very existence, from http://www.rcgroups.com/articles/ezonemag/...0silhouette.jpg
(photograph from a Normandy beach on D-Day 1944 - the photographer had more dramatic things to shoot but this airplane looked so uncommon...)

[Tophe]

A different P-40Z, from http://www.richard-seaman.com/Aircraft/Air...gSilhouette.jpg
With separate tails, in order to simplify manufacturing scale 1/1 and simplify building scale 1/72...

[Tophe]

On the Airwarfare forum http://www.airwarfareforum.com/viewforum.php?f=32 came a topic about a Ro.37 wreckage in Afghanistan. The member nick named Swiss-Mustangs added "if you look at the photos closely and read the text - it's two Ro.37's...". I answered:
<<Do you mean one double-Ro.37 wreck ?

(thanks to http://www.kotfsc.com/aviation/ro37.htm )>>
Well, this site told me the Meridionali IMAM Ro.37 first flew in 1934 as a fighter then became an ambulance-plane till 1943. So a double-ambulance Ro.37Z may have been considered in 1939-40, and this is a further addition to my collection...