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Ordered as a prototype on 30 June 1938 by the US Navy
Bureau of Aeronautics, the XF5F-1 was of radical concept.
It was intended as a twin-engined shipboard
fighter, and this at a time when the first single-engined
shipboard fighter monoplanes were only just commencing
flight test. Conceived as the G-34 Skyrocket,
the XF5F-1 was flown on 1 April 1940, and, in its initial
form, had a singular appearance resulting from an
abbreviated forward fuselage, the wing leading edge
extending ahead of the fighter's nose. Powered by two
1200hp Wright XR-1820-40/42 radials and having provision
for two 23mm Madsen cannon, the XF5F-1
underwent some redesign as a result of testing, the engine nacelles being lengthened, the fuselage nose
being extended, etc. Flight testing of the XF5F-1 provided
information utilised in the development of the
more advanced XF7F-1 (G-51).
 | A three-view drawing (1276 x 794) |
| MODEL | XF5F-1 |
| WEIGHTS |
| Take-off weight | 4599 kg | 10139 lb |
| Empty weight | 3677 kg | 8106 lb |
| DIMENSIONS |
| Wingspan | 12.80 m | 41 ft 12 in |
| Length | 8.75 m | 28 ft 8 in |
| Height | 3.45 m | 11 ft 4 in |
| Wing area | 28.19 m2 | 303.43 sq ft |
| PERFORMANCE |
| Max. speed | 616 km/h | 383 mph |
| Range | 1930 km | 1199 miles |
Castle22r, castle(@)castlerockhobbies.com, 16.06.2008
The plane was ahead of it's time.
Aero-Fox, 11.03.2008
This aircraft had reportedly superb flight and handling preformance, it's only technical problem was unreliable landing gear, which could have been ironed out with commitment to the project. However, the reason the F5F was not adopted was reportedly a logistics issue...it was thought it would be too hard to maintain a twin-engined fighter in the field, which strikes me as odd...the F5F had radial engines, simple and reliable, whereas the P-38, the adopted twin-engine fighter, had in-lines...which are more complicated and harder to service...
If development had continued, the history of the twin-engined fighter would have been very different...
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Do you have any comments concerning this aircraft ?
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