Hughes D-2 / XA-37

1943

Back to the Virtual Aircraft Museum
  RECONNAISSANCEVirtual Aircraft Museum / USA / Hughes  

Hughes D-2 / XA-37

There is no text information for this aircraft at the moment.

3-View 
Hughes D-2 / XA-37A three-view drawing (1278 x 904)

Specification 
 ENGINE2 x 2000hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800-49
 WEIGHTS
  Take-off weight14366 kg31672 lb
 DIMENSIONS
  Wingspan18.29 m60 ft 0 in
  Wing area57.23 m2616.02 sq ft
 PERFORMANCE
  Max. speed697 km/h433 mph
  Cruise speed441 km/h274 mph
  Ceiling10975 m36000 ft
  Range1610 km1000 miles

Comments
Trevor Webb, e-mail, 29.01.2021 06:10

Apparently the D-2 was built for reconnaissance dutues. However in its short career it was designated XP-73 (it was not a fighter) and XA-37 (it was not an attack aircraft).

reply

Earles L. McCaul, e-mail, 02.04.2016 23:45

Think of the Hughes D2 as being the American counter-part to the British "wooden wonder" Mosquito...both being made of wood, although using different processes: D2 using 'Dura-Mold' and Mosquito using plywood.

reply

Francis Blake, e-mail, 22.02.2016 02:48

I explored the burned D-2 hangar site on Harper Dry Lake, NW of Barstow, in November 2014. I found many bits of pieces including burnt wood, and possibly a partially melted alloy metal piece of the D-2. It has cast and stamped codes on it. Does anyone have D-2 code reference? data?

reply

rantam, e-mail, 06.12.2012 06:33

What is the value of a vintage original engineers' Hughes Aircraft 3 ring binder from 1943 containing original photos of the d-2 blueprints printed on Hughes aircraft logo emblazened photo paper. Not the blueprints themselves but actual photos of the actual blueprints in a Hughes Aircraft stamped denim 3 ring binder. If you reply to this post please email me also as I may not able to find this website again to check the posts. thanks. RanTam111@gmail.com

reply

Dave Harris, e-mail, 22.01.2010 15:47

Like the P-38, the D-2 featured an unusual twin-engine, twin-boom configuration. What made it unique was that it was built of alternating layers of heat-treated wood veneers and epoxy resin glues. This so-called Duramold process enabled exceedingly smooth surfaces. Better still, wood was cheap and widely available. But brief test flights in 1943 exposed the airplane's flaws. "It turned out to be a dog," Burk says. "The ailerons were almost completely ineffective, so it had no lateral control." It was no great loss when the lone D-2 was destroyed in 1944 by a fire said to have been caused by a lightning strike.

reply

Do you have any comments?

Name    E-mail


All the World's Rotorcraft

All rhe World's Rotorcraft AVIATION TOP 100 - www.avitop.com Avitop.com