Awesome American aircrafts of WWII that never got a chance

Archibald

Banned
As said in the title. There were plenty of astounding aircrafts in America during WWII that never got a chance.

first, existing fighters that were already awesome... and managed to get even better.

North American P-51F/G/H/J

XP-51F.jpg


P-51H-10-NA_side.jpg


Republic P-47J and P-72

republic-xp-47j-left.jpg


enigmw36.jpg


Bell P-63D

p63d-25a.jpg


Curtiss P-40Q

P-40Q.jpg


Then fighters types that never got a chance...

Grumman P-50 and F5F


p50-3.jpg


Convair P-81

8539557865_e3933f063f_b.jpg


Boeing F-8B

f8b-1.jpg


Vought F5U

vought-xf5u-mockup.jpg


And then, the bombers...

Boeing B-39

0066-01-2-3.jpg


Douglas B-42 (one of my favorite whatif)

douglas-xb-42-no2-with-canopy.jpg


XB-42.jpg


Beechcraft A-38 Grizzly

beech-xa-38-grizzly-air1.jpg


Vultee A-41

a41-3.jpg


If somebody can thing of others AMERICAN fighters / bombers that I forgot...
 

Archibald

Banned
I wonder if we could get a scenario were most of them enter service. A longer war with Japan maybe ?
Perhaps the B-29 R3350 issues cannot be solved (a more catastrophic operation Matterhorn ?), so the B-39 replace it but that delay Le May firebombing of Japan and the atomic bombings.
Most of the designs are late WWII (bar the Grumman XF5F) so perhaps that could do the trick...
The P-63D would go to the Soviets, while the P-40Q would do wonder for the Chinese...

I nearly added the P-75 to the list, but it was a bit of a dog.
 
I wonder if we could get a scenario were most of them enter service. A longer war with Japan maybe ?
Perhaps the B-29 R3350 issues cannot be solved (a more catastrophic operation Matterhorn ?), so the B-39 replace it but that delay Le May firebombing of Japan and the atomic bombings.
Most of the designs are late WWII (bar the Grumman XF5F) so perhaps that could do the trick...
The P-63D would go to the Soviets, while the P-40Q would do wonder for the Chinese...

I nearly added the P-75 to the list, but it was a bit of a dog.

Perhaps one where WWII begins later than OTL?
 
Given the 'Flying Flapjack' was STOL, it Could have been very, very useful for Atlantic convoys. Better than catapulting one obsolete fighter and having the pilot ditch after biting a Kondor on the butt...

Of course, by the time the custom props and weird drive-train had been un-tangled, it had lost its chance...
 
View attachment 356530
Lockheed L-133. It was a prototype designed by Kelly Johnson and submitted to the Army Air Force in 1942. It was way ahead of its time, not only with a jet engine but an axial flow jet engine as well as an afterburner. It was claimed to be able to go 625 mph. If this thing had made it into service, it would be a nightmare for the Luftwaffe.

Small but important point. This is not a prototype or a design it’s a drawing, using an engine that was never built.
 

Archibald

Banned
Given the 'Flying Flapjack' was STOL, it Could have been very, very useful for Atlantic convoys. Better than catapulting one obsolete fighter and having the pilot ditch after biting a Kondor on the butt...

Of course, by the time the custom props and weird drive-train had been un-tangled, it had lost its chance...

There was a forerunner to the Flapjack, can't remember its name. Same shape, same excellent performance.
 

Archibald

Banned
Of course there were also excellent aircrafts that got their chance post WWII, like the F7F Tigercat and F8F Bearcat. The invasion of Japan would have been an horror on the ground, but an aviation buff dream.
I'm tempted by the B-39 instead of the B-29, impacting the nuclear bombings just enough for the war to drag longuer, perhaps not a full blown invasion of Japan, only aerial and naval warfare.

Maybe the Anami coup succeed but then Japan capitulate under the combined weight of the Soviets, mining by B-39s, submarine campaign, starvation. finally the atomic bombs are dropped early 1946 without the need for an invasion, and Japan capitulates.

Is that scenario even remotely possible ?
 
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Archibald

Banned
I've just checked Wikipedia and the Grumman XF5F / XP-50 lost to the XP-49, a heavier Lightning with the wrong engines and worse performance than the P-38.
This is a crying shame: the Grumman design not only had an aesome look, performance and handling looked great, too.
 

Driftless

Donor
Here's another version of the XF5F/XP-50 Skyrocket. Long(er) nose, tail-dragger, with prop spinners. There were several developmental variants of the basic aircraft. Grumman had plenty of other high priority work, so the kinks never got worked through as timely as might have been.

Airfields_NY_LongIsC_htm_6abeb94f.jpg
 
I've just checked Wikipedia and the Grumman XF5F / XP-50 lost to the XP-49, a heavier Lightning with the wrong engines and worse performance than the P-38.
This is a crying shame: the Grumman design not only had an aesome look, performance and handling looked great, too.
Keep in mind that production of the XP-49 and XP-58 were part of the deal to authorized the (cancelled) order to construct British Lightnings. The XF5F was never in competition with anything except maybe the F4F, being a twin, a configuration unloved on carriers of the era. The XP-50 first flew close to 2 years before the XP-49, and blew up from turbo failure a year and half before the XP-49 flew. It wasn't much of a competition. The Skyrocket did win the competition for the Blackhawk Comics official fighter.
 
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