Lightning, Mustang, Mirage with abnormal number of engines

[Tophe]

Thanks! (with tilting propellers of course):

[Tophe]

There was a Mirage prototype with 4 jets like on the Su-10 and Short Sperrin:

[PR19_Kit]

There was a Mirage prototype with 4 jets like on the Su-10 and Short Sperrin:

Or the Vickers Swallow too, except the Swallows jets pivoted as the wings swept.

[Tophe]

Uh? How do you know this relation to the Swallow? In France it is still top secret so many years later...:

[Tophe]

Still about top secret aircraft with 4 jets: here is the one that broke the sound barrier in 1945, a "special" Mustang...

[Tophe]

The young designer Shakespear Jr wondered: "the Mustang is a push-pull fighter, all right, but 'twin-boom or not twin-boom?', that is the question!". Alas the USAAF Orders Department answered : "None!".

[Tophe]

With more than just 2 engines, the P-38 reached the transsonic speeds, destroying the airframe alas:

[sideshowbob9]

I LOVE these! 

[Tophe]

Thanks!

Then in late 1944, the USAAF required a Mustang modification, with at least 3 times more speed and a free nose like the P-38. It was built and flown, alas it crashed against the sound barrier:

[PR19_Kit]

They should have swept the wings and tail and then it may have broken THROUGH the sound barrier...... 

[Tophe]

Yes Kit, you are very right: I have checked the archives, and... the one below (designed in 1945) reached Mach 1.02 in 1946 (April 1st), in a vertical dive, before crashing on the ground, but with a medal of Honor for the pilot ('s widow):

[PR19_Kit]

 

[Tophe]

thanks!

And you know: the TriLightnings and QuadLightning were fast but with bad maneuverability:

[Tophe]

Among the lighter derivatives, 2 of them were single-engined:

[Tophe]

The airplanes being both asymmetric and supersonic are very rare. This twin-engined Mirage was one of them: