Grumman XF5F Skyrocket
1940
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Grumman XF5F Skyrocket

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).

3-View 
Grumman XF5F SkyrocketA three-view drawing (1276 x 794)


Specification 
 MODELXF5F-1
 WEIGHTS
    Take-off weight4599 kg10139 lb
    Empty weight3677 kg8106 lb
 DIMENSIONS
    Wingspan12.80 m41 ft 12 in
    Length8.75 m28 ft 8 in
    Height3.45 m11 ft 4 in
    Wing area28.19 m2303.43 sq ft
 PERFORMANCE
    Max. speed616 km/h383 mph
    Range1930 km1199 miles

Grumman XF5F Skyrocket


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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