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Here is the Fokker D23. The famous Dutch 1940 pusher puller fighter. The question I have about this airplane is what advantage is gained with this design. And this putative advantage, whatever that would have been, does it outweigh the drawbacks of this configuration? In particular the chronic rear engine overheating?

As I understand it the Walter Sagitta inverted V-12 air cooled engines were all that was available and acceptable at the time for Fokker. Combined these 2 engines would produce about 1000 HP. So they needed 2 engines to provide enough power. But why a pusher puller?

Why not design the plane as a more conventional twin? Like a mini-Mosquito or mini-Hornet? Eliminates the problem of cooking the rear engine. Frees up the nose for an armament package too. To avoid torque could the 2 Walter Sagitta engines have been set up as counter rotating?
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