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| To build the USAAF a fighter of 'exceptional performance' with high
speed, long range and a fast climb rate, someone had the bright idea of
assembling parts from several different aircraft and getting a car parts maker
to build it. The Fisher Body Division of auto maker General Motors
combined Curtiss Warhawk, Douglas Dauntless and Vought Corsair parts
with a complicated new engine to create the XP-75. By the time the
prototypes were flying, the USAAF decided it needed an escort fighter more
than an interceptor and ordered 2500 XP-75As, a revised version with a
bubble canopy and fewer borrowed parts. These proved unstable in yaw and
sluggish in roll, and they spun badly. The mid-mounted engine gave less
power than expected and tended to overheat. Thankfully the P-51D proved
up to the job and the Eagle was grounded. FACTS AND FIGURES © The engine was a 24-
cylinder monstrosity, created
by joining two Allison V-
1710s on a common shaft. © The engine was mounted
behind the cockpit like that
on the P-39 and P-63,
driving contra-rotating
propellers through an
extension shaft.
© The Eagle's outer wings
came from the P-40
Warhawk, the landing gear
was from an F4U Corsair
and the tail originated with
the SBD Dauntless. © It was originally planned to
use outer wings from the
P-51, but those from the
P-40, designed by the same
man behind the XP-75,
were used instead.
 | A three-view drawing (1668 x 1230) |
| MODEL | P-75A "Eagle" |
| ENGINE | 1 x Allison V-3420-23, 2150kW |
| WEIGHTS |
| Take-off weight | 8260 kg | 18210 lb |
| Empty weight | 5214 kg | 11495 lb |
| DIMENSIONS |
| Wingspan | 15.04 m | 49 ft 4 in |
| Length | 12.32 m | 40 ft 5 in |
| Height | 4.72 m | 16 ft 6 in |
| Wing area | 32.24 m2 | 347.03 sq ft |
| PERFORMANCE |
| Max. speed | 644 km/h | 400 mph |
| Cruise speed | 500 km/h | 311 mph |
| Ceiling | 10975 m | 36000 ft |
| Range w/max.fuel | 4828 km | 3000 miles |
| ARMAMENT | 10 x 12.7mm machine-guns, 2 x 227kg bombs |
| Bill Sherrill, e-mail, 16.08.2014 07:30 As to the placement of firepower: 6 50 cal. in wings,
4 50 cal. in nose. 10 50 cal. total reply | | Klaatu83, e-mail, 23.10.2012 01:40 Fisher Body was the body-building (what the British would call "coach-building") division of automobile maker General Motors. What happens when a company such as that, with absolutely no aircraft designing or constructing experience, decides to cobble together an airplane out of parts taken off of several totally dissimilar airplanes? You get this flying abortion, that's what!
To make matters worse (as if they weren't bad enough already!), the makers stuck in a totally new and untried engine, which was basically two Allison V-12 airplane engines stuck together side-by-side into the same crankcase, and driving a common crankshaft. There are some projects that simply have failure written all over them in capital letters from day one, and the P-75 was one of them! reply |
| bombardier, e-mail, 21.10.2011 11:26 Six 20mm guns in the wings.That would have been good firepower. reply | | Dave Lenz, e-mail, 11.04.2011 04:15 My Dad worked in Cleveland during the war. He and his crew built the left outboard wing on the B-29. He told me of this plane and if memory serves 13 were built and 12 crashed. He said because of the counter rotating props, above a certain speed the turbulence around the tail section was so bad the pilot would loose control because it was trying to control the plane in a vacuum. They modified the tail section in different upgrades to the air frame, making it bigger /longer with each new modification. Then they started to face a new problem, in the last few of the test planes, the tail section was braking off.
To answer Ismael's question, I believe they were thinking of placing one gun (20mm cannon) through the prop shaft (like a Bell Cobra) and multiple wing mounted machine guns similar to the Mustang, Corsaire, etc. reply | |
| | Bill Vigrass, e-mail, 06.01.2011 00:22 I think that the Cleveland Bomber Plant used for B-29's was originally built for the P-75 (per Wings and Airpower mag). They should have called it The Turkey. I think that the bldg is now an exhibition center. It is BIG.
BillVigrass@verizon.net., Cleveland O. native. reply | | Bill Vigrass, e-mail, 06.01.2011 00:22 I think that the Cleveland Bomber Plant used for B-29's was originally built for the P-75 (per Wings and Airpower mag). They should have called it The Turkey. I think that the bldg is now an exhibition center. It is BIG.
BillVigrass@verizon.net., Cleveland O. native. reply | | Sturm, 04.06.2010 05:44 4x20mm in the wings would have been sufficient. That was a deadly punch. reply | | 3VI, e-mail, 15.12.2007 12:00 Four in the nose and six in the wings, I suppose...
Four synchronized guns through 2x3 blades contraprops!!! Hugely complicated game!!! reply | | ismael, e-mail, 01.11.2007 02:16 where where the guns located reply |
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Do you have any comments?
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All the World's Rotorcraft |
I wonder if some GM executives profited from the P-75 - apparently the whole fiasco cost $50 million.
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