WW2 era Twin Engine Carrier Fighters - the good, the bad, the ugly

Driftless

Donor
Acting on a suggestion from Oldironside, a takeoff (pun intended) on the Worst Single Engine Carrier aircraft

Let us nominate WW2 era Twin Engine Carrier Fighters for review. Nominations are open to the good, the bad, and the butt-ugly, along with the past-their-prime and the wannabes too.
 
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Driftless

Donor
Not ever really ready for prime time, so we'll never know.....

Grumman XF5F Skyrocket interceptor - it partly paved the way for the F7F Tigercat a few years later.
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Vought V-173 "Flying Flapjack" prototype This plane in turn paved the way for the Vought XF5U
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Saphroneth

Banned
The Me-262. As a dive bomber with secondary fighter capability, because why not turn a silk purse into a sow's ear...
 

Saphroneth

Banned
Just give it a RATO and try not to think about landing.
...actually, hold on a minute, I can "test" this.
Tested it in Sky Odyssey. Admittedly not a very rigorous test to say the least, the "Me262" in the game can take off at merely 70 knots... but I did manage to land on the carrier in the "land on carrier" mission.
With an arrestor wire.
And it took the entire length of the deck to stop.
 

Sycamore

Banned
For the ugliest, what about about this aircraft, the FW-189C?

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And in the good (looking) category, what about the XP-67 Moonbat?

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Sycamore

Banned
Another pretty weird twin engine WW2 fighter aircraft- Martin-Baker's proposed twin-engine interceptor:

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It's kinda hard to come up with genuine in service serving twin engine fighters of WWII since there weren't any, but some came close. The Short Sturgeon was to be a TSR, presumably a powerful Stringbag. The war ended, and it got some nose-jobs. Pretty ugly, and not that good. Like the Sea Mossie, it was deemed too big, as was the Sea Hornet after one tour. The Meteor was a twin, albeit, jets. but it was too big. The Vampire was smaller.The FH-1 Phantom was just right, until the Banshees came and blew it away.

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Tested it in Sky Odyssey. Admittedly not a very rigorous test to say the least, the "Me262" in the game can take off at merely 70 knots... but I did manage to land on the carrier in the "land on carrier" mission.
With an arrestor wire.
And it took the entire length of the deck to stop.

Landing the 109 on the carrier in that game with relative ease then automatically disproves all the hating on the Messer from the carrier fighter thread, right? :)
 

Driftless

Donor
Lockheed Model 822 Lightning - carrier mod

Lockheed proposed a carrier-based "Model 822" version of the Lightning for the US Navy. The Model 822 would have featured folding wings, an arresting hook, and stronger undercarriage for carrier operations. The Navy wasn't interested, since the brass regarded the Lightning as too big for carrier operations and didn't like liquid-cooled engines anyway, and the Model 822 never went beyond the paper stage.

A WHIF take on it's appearance
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If I could make a couple of suggestions...

The Messerschmitt 210, famed for its dire handling, unreliable engines, unreliable uncercarrige, and as a bonus it carries that weird 1 ton drum in the rear fuselage for the defensive guns - all that weight for something that rarely worked.

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And just to prove that it's not just we Brits who can do comedy aircraft, the Bell FM-1 Airacuda. It would take too long to detail the flaws in this aircraft, but I can see one benefit of operating it from a carrier: a good strong sea breeze over the deck might help the engine cooling issues when ground running.

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On the positive side, I can imagine the Focke Wulf 187 being fairly decent. It was relatively small and compact (a shorter wingspan than the P-38), and would have given the pilot a great view for landing. It might have been a bit tight for headroom in a hangar though.

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Driftless

Donor
Yup, the Bell FM-1 Aircuda is proof for the phrase: "Just because you can do something, doesn't make it a good idea...."
 
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