P-61 was a complex aircraft, especially since Northrop was no Douglas or Lockheed - companies with extensive experience in designing and production of two-engine aircraft. With that said - deleting the powered turret from initial proposal would've allowed for less complexity, that would've made design & production faster. Without the turret, it's ammo and gunner the P-61 can be a smaller aircraft, meaning better performance on same engine power.
Grumman was proposing the XP-65 to the USAAF, that was supposed to be powered by two turbocharged R-2600 engines. AAF was not interested. So we can have the AAF taking the proposal, probably with R-2800 engines (the turboed R-2600 will probably need a lots of work, looks it was a troublesome combo on the A-20, so turbo was removed rather early from those) or two-stage R-2600s.
Just Leo's Swordfis-turned-nightfighter is a cool option, too.
The A-20-based NF is another, but with better engines than it was the case with the historical P-70s. A better version of the R-2600, maybe a R-2800. Or, using the previous, lightweight DB-7 version (pre-A-20) perhaps go with 2-stage supercharged R-1830, or turboed, or turbo V-1710. At any rate these DB-7/A-20 were probably capable for 360+ mph with good engines.
BTW - Hap need to reinforce the request for Mosquitoes, once the request is turned down, with saying that war will be over within several years, and that he will remember who played the ball and who did not....
Grumman was proposing the XP-65 to the USAAF, that was supposed to be powered by two turbocharged R-2600 engines. AAF was not interested. So we can have the AAF taking the proposal, probably with R-2800 engines (the turboed R-2600 will probably need a lots of work, looks it was a troublesome combo on the A-20, so turbo was removed rather early from those) or two-stage R-2600s.
Just Leo's Swordfis-turned-nightfighter is a cool option, too.
The A-20-based NF is another, but with better engines than it was the case with the historical P-70s. A better version of the R-2600, maybe a R-2800. Or, using the previous, lightweight DB-7 version (pre-A-20) perhaps go with 2-stage supercharged R-1830, or turboed, or turbo V-1710. At any rate these DB-7/A-20 were probably capable for 360+ mph with good engines.
BTW - Hap need to reinforce the request for Mosquitoes, once the request is turned down, with saying that war will be over within several years, and that he will remember who played the ball and who did not....