Английская Википедия:Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender
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The Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender (company designation CW-24 is a 1940s United States prototype fighter aircraft built by Curtiss-Wright. Along with the Vultee XP-54 and Northrop XP-56, it resulted from United States Army Air Corps proposal R-40C issued on 27 November 1939 for aircraft with improved performance, armament, and pilot visibility over existing fighters; it specifically allowed for unconventional aircraft designs. An unusual design for its time, it had a canard configuration with a rear-mounted engine, and two vertical tails at end of swept wings. Because of its pusher design, it was satirically referred to as the "Ass-ender".[1] Like the XP-54, the Ascender was designed for the 1,800 hp Pratt & Whitney X-1800 24-Cylinder H-engine, but was redesigned after that engine project was canceled. It was also the first Curtiss fighter aircraft to use tricycle landing gear.
Design and development
In June 1940, the Curtiss-Wright company received an Army contract for preliminary engineering data and a powered wind tunnel model.[2] The designation 'P-55' was reserved for the project. The exhaustive wind-tunnel tests that from November 1940 through January 1941 left the USAAC dissatisfied with the results of these tests.[3][4]
Accordingly, Curtiss-Wright built at their St Louis division a flying full-scale mockup they designated CW-24B.[5] The flying testbed was powered by a Шаблон:Convert Menasco C68-5 inline engine.[3][6]Шаблон:Unreliable source inline It had a fabric-covered, welded steel tube fuselage with a wooden wing.[7] The undercarriage was non-retractable.[3] The canard did not carry load but only trimmed flight.[5] The CW-24B model completed its maiden flight in December 1941.[3] From November 1941 to May 1942, the Model 24B logged 169 flights at Muroc Dry Lake, California. The tests appeared to show potential.[4] The CW-24B then went to NACA at Langley Field for wind tunnel tests.[5]
On 10 July 1942, the United States Army Air Forces issued a contract for three prototypes under the designation XP-55.[4][6] Serial numbers 42-78845 through 42-78847 were assigned to the aircraft. During this time, the Pratt & Whitney X-1800 H-block sleeve valve engine was delayed, and was eventually canceled.[7] Curtiss decided to switch to the Шаблон:Convert Allison V-1710[4] (F16) liquid-cooled inline engine because of its proven reliability.[7] Armament was to be two Шаблон:Convert Hispano autocannon and two Шаблон:Convert M2 Bowning heavy machine guns.[3] During the mock-up phase, engineers switched to the Шаблон:Convert V-1710-95.[4][8] The 20mm cannons were also replaced by 0.50-in machine guns.[6]
One feature of the XP-55 was a propeller jettison lever inside the cockpit to prevent the pilot from hitting the propeller during bailout. The jettison device was invented by W. Jerome Peterson while working as a design engineer for Curtiss-Wright.[3][7]
Operational history
Three XP-55 prototypes were built. Two were destroyed during flight testing, as a result of their propensity for sudden wing stalls.
The first XP-55 (42-78845) was completed and delivered on 13 July 1943, with the same configuration as the final prototype CW-24B. The aircraft made its first flight on 19 July 1943[3][8] from the Army's Scott Field near the Curtiss-Wright plant in St Louis, Missouri.[7] The pilot was J. Harvey Gray,[3] Curtiss' test pilot. Testing revealed the takeoff run was excessively long. To solve this problem, the nose elevator size was increased and the aileron up-trim was interconnected with the flaps so it operated after the flaps were lowered.[7]
In 15 November 1943, test pilot Harvey Gray, flying the first XP-55 (S/N 42-78845), was testing the aircraft's stall performance at altitude. Suddenly, the XP-55 inverted into an uncontrolled descent. The engine failed "making recovery impossible"[2] and it fell out of control for Шаблон:Convert before Gray was able to parachute to safety. The aircraft was destroyed and "left a smoking hole in the ground".[4][7]
The second XP-55 (serial 42-78846) was similar to the first, but with a slightly larger nose-elevator,[7] modified elevator-tab systems, and a change from balance tabs to spring tabs on the ailerons. It flew for the first time on 9 January 1944.[4][7] All flight tests were restricted so the stall-zone was avoided; included no stalling below 20,000 ft.[5][7][9]
The third XP-55 (serial 42-78847) flew for the first time on 25 April 1944. Modifications resulting from the investigation of the crash of the first prototype were introduced during construction; the addition of four-foot wingtip extensions to improve the stall characteristics and increasing the limits of the nose elevator travel to improve recovery if a stall did occur.[2] It was the only prototype to be fitted with armament - four 0.5-inch machine guns.[5]
After the second XP-55 (42-78846) was given the same modifications as the third prototype, it underwent official USAAF flight trials between 16 September and 2 October 1944.
The third prototype XP-55 (s/n 42-78847) was lost on 27 May 1945, during the closing day of the Seventh War Bond Air Show at the Army Air Forces Fair at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio.[7][10] After a low pass in formation with a Lockheed P-38 Lightning and a North American P-51 Mustang[7] on each wing, its pilot, William C. Glasgow, attempted a slow roll,[7] but lost altitude and crashed, sending flaming debris into occupied civilian ground vehicles on a highway near the airfield. The crash killed Glasgow and four civilians on the ground.[7][11]
In test flights the P-55 achieved 390 mph at 19,300 feet but there were engine cooling problems.[2] In terms of overall performance, testing of the XP-55 revealed it to be inferior to conventional fighter aircraft.[4][7][12] In addition, by the end of 1944, German and British jet-powered fighters were fully operational, and the Lockheed XP-80 was about to commence operational trials with USAAF units in Italy. Development of completely new piston-engine fighter designs was regarded as redundant; further development of such aircraft was terminated, including the XP-55.
Aircraft disposition
- 42-78845: crashed during vertical dive on November 15, 1943. Pilot bailed out.[13]
- 42-78846: on display at the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It is on long-term loan from the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.[4][7][8][14]Used for official performance tests, flying a total of 27 hours.[8]
- 42-78847: crashed during air show at Wright Field, Ohio on May 27, 1945. Pilot killed.[7][15]
Specifications (XP-55)
See also
Шаблон:Portal Шаблон:Aircontent
References
Citations
Bibliography
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite book
- McIntyre, Violet. Niagara Gazette, Niagara Falls, NY, 11 November 2004Шаблон:Full citation needed
- Шаблон:Cite book
Further reading
External links
- NMUSAF – Curtiss XP-55
- NASM article
- XP-55 Ascender by Joe Baugher
- Curtiss Wright XP-55 Ascender -USAAF Resource Center at warbirdsresourcegroup.org
- Dayton Air Show History
- "Flying Backwards to the Future", Popular Science, August 1945
- PlaneHistoria - XP-55 Ascender: the Back-to-Front Fighter
- The FlyingMag - The Short, Unconventional Life of the Curtiss XP-55 Ascender
Шаблон:Curtiss-Wright aircraft
Шаблон:USAF fighters
- ↑ Jenkins 2008. p. 8.
- ↑ 2,0 2,1 2,2 2,3 Rubenstein & Goldman (1974) p178
- ↑ 3,0 3,1 3,2 3,3 3,4 3,5 3,6 3,7 Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ 4,0 4,1 4,2 4,3 4,4 4,5 4,6 4,7 4,8 Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ 5,0 5,1 5,2 5,3 5,4 Bowers (1984) pp 10-11
- ↑ 6,0 6,1 6,2 Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ 7,00 7,01 7,02 7,03 7,04 7,05 7,06 7,07 7,08 7,09 7,10 7,11 7,12 7,13 7,14 7,15 7,16 Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ 8,0 8,1 8,2 8,3 >Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ Bowers 1979, p. 467.
- ↑ Balzer 2008
- ↑ Scott, Roland B. "Air Mail", Wings, Granada Hills, California, October 1978, Volume 8, Number 5, p. 10.
- ↑ Green 1969, p. 65.
- ↑ "XP-55 Ascender/42-78845". Joe Baugher's Serial Numbers. Retrieved: 10 May 2013.
- ↑ "XP-55 Ascender/42-78846" Шаблон:Webarchive Air Zoo. Retrieved: 10 May 2013.
- ↑ "XP-55 Ascender/42-78847". Joe Baugher's Serial Numbers. Retrieved: 10 May 2013.
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