Lockheed XP-49

Lockheed XP-49
Lockheed XP-49
Type:	Fighter aircraft - prototype
Design country:	United States
Manufacturer:	Lockheed Corporation
First flight:	November 11, 1942
Commissioning:	never put into service
Production time:	never mass-produced
Number of pieces:	1

The Lockheed XP-49 ( Lockheed Model 522) was an American fighter prototype . It was developed during the Second World War on the basis of the Lockheed P-38 .

history

The XP-49 was designed according to the requirements of the US Air Corps Circular Proposal 39-775 of July 1939, which called for a long-range escort fighter . The new aircraft should build on an existing pattern to speed up the procurement process. Lockheed then offered its design L-106 Tornado , which was announced in October 1940 as the winner of the tender. A contract for $ 560,300 that saw the construction of a prototype by March 1941 was signed on January 22, 1940. The inferior competitor design by Grumman , the XP-50 , was also commissioned as a prototype.

The Pratt & Whitney X-1800 -SA2-G was chosen as the engine for the Lockheed design . According to another source, however, this is said to have been the Pratt & Whitney XH-2600 . The construction work did not begin until December 1940 under the project engineer M. Carl Haddon. It was quickly recognized that the intended engine would not be available in the near future. Therefore, in January or March 1940 a rescheduling to the less powerful Continental XI-1430 -9/11 engine, combined with a postponement of the delivery of the prototype to January 1942. In the summer of 1941, a dummy was completed, but the engines were only able to work to be delivered on April 22, 1942. In August, the installation of a pressure-ventilated cockpit was also requested, but the implementation, like the installation of weapons, was postponed until a later date.

The first flight was carried out on November 11, 1942 in Burbank. But after only three flights these were replaced by modified P-38 engines, after which the XP-49 continued testing. On January 1, 1943, the prototype suffered severe damage in a landing accident, but this was repaired so that testing could be continued on February 16, 1943.

Since the calculated performance fell short of expectations - for example, the top speed was only slightly higher than that of the P-38, which was already in series production - the development of the XP-49 was not continued. The unsecured development of the XI-1430 also played a role here. In June 1943 the machine received a second cockpit for an observer and was then transferred to Wright Field to be used there as a flying test bench for engine development. But it could only be used for this in the spring of 1944, since considerable problems with the tank leakage occurred. In December 1944, the machine was finally shut down, after which drop tests were carried out to determine the effects of hard landings and the remains were subsequently scrapped.

Technical specifications

Parameter	Data
crew	1
length	12.22 m
span	15.85 m
Wing area	30.42 m²
height	2.99 m
Empty mass	7020 kg
Takeoff mass	8505 kg
drive	two 12-cylinder - V-engines Continental XI-1430 -13/15 with hanging cylinders, 1,600 hp (1193 kw)
Top speed	653 km / h at an altitude of 4570 m
Service ceiling	13,120 m
Range	1093 km
Armament	two 20 mm cannons four 12.7 mm machine guns

literature

• William Jesse: Super Lightning Lockheed's XP-49. In: AIR Enthusiast. Forty-Nine, 193, p. 60 f.
• Bill Norton: US Experimental & Prototype Aircraft Projects - Fighters 1939-1945. Specialty Press, 2008, ISBN 978-1-58007-109-3 , pp. 132-134.

Web links

Commons : Lockheed XP-49  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Bill Norton, p. 132.