Fisher P-75 Eagle

1943

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Fisher P-75 Eagle

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.

Fisher P-75 Eagle

© 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.

3-View 
Fisher P-75 EagleA three-view drawing (1668 x 1230)

Specification 
 MODELP-75A "Eagle"
 ENGINE1 x Allison V-3420-23, 2150kW
 WEIGHTS
  Take-off weight8260 kg18210 lb
  Empty weight5214 kg11495 lb
 DIMENSIONS
  Wingspan15.04 m49 ft 4 in
  Length12.32 m40 ft 5 in
  Height4.72 m16 ft 6 in
  Wing area32.24 m2347.03 sq ft
 PERFORMANCE
  Max. speed644 km/h400 mph
  Cruise speed500 km/h311 mph
  Ceiling10975 m36000 ft
  Range w/max.fuel4828 km3000 miles
 ARMAMENT10 x 12.7mm machine-guns, 2 x 227kg bombs

Fisher P-75 Eagle

Comments
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

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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!

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GrahamClayton, e-mail, 25.04.2023 Klaatu83

I wonder if some GM executives profited from the P-75 - apparently the whole fiasco cost $50 million.

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bombardier, e-mail, 21.10.2011 11:26

Six 20mm guns in the wings.That would have been good firepower.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Sturm, 04.06.2010 05:44

4x20mm in the wings would have been sufficient. That was a deadly punch.

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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!!!

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ismael, e-mail, 01.11.2007 02:16

where where the guns located

reply

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