It was later used with great success, among other, the SR-71 Blackbird. The blended wing body concept however has not died. A prototype crashed and the project was deemed too dangerous to continue. It was underpowered, with poor handling, a long take-off run, terrible fuel consumption and stall characteristics even a 1940s test pilot didn’t have the bottle to explore. The resultant aircraft flew in 1944 and proved the unknown adage ‘if it looks like a stingray it will fly like one’. McDonnell considered serious armament options including a 75-mm gun. The first two manifestations of this design failed to arouse the USAAF, but promises of a 472mph top speed tantalised the authorities and funding was granted. Woyevodsky, a Russian emigre scientist who lived in England. This idea had been seen earlier on the Westland Dreadnought based on the blended fuselage-wing ideas of Russian inventor N. The fuselage, like the wing, had an aerofoil cross-section. The design emphasised low drag and the harvesting of a high amount of fuselage lift through a blended wing/body design. The radical aerodynamics of the Moonbat gave this US fighter prototype the look of flying stingray. … ADM Towers told me that securing spare parts … and other particulars which compounded the difficulty of building the twin-engine fighter, had ruled out the Skyrocket and that the Bureau had settled on the Wildcat for mass production.” The effort was not a waste of time however, as the design evolved into the Tigercat, one of the finest piston-engined fighters ever flown. The F5F was a carrier pilot’s dream, as opposite rotating propellers eliminated all torque and you had no large engine up front to look around to see the LSO (landing signal officer) … The analysis of all the data definitely favored the F5F, and the Spitfire came in a distant second. I pulled away from the Corsair so fast I thought he was having engine trouble.

I remember testing the XF5F against the XF4U on climb to the 10,000 foot level. Trials in 1941 pitted the type against all the most advanced Allied fighters, including the XF4U Corsair, according to the man in charge of the test, “. Twin-engined carrier fighters were not a thing in 1940, but despite this the first example of this breed proved a winner.

Thirty years before the F-14 Tomcat, Grumman built another extremely advanced twin-engine carrier fighter, the superb G-34. Grumman (G-34) XF5F-1 Skyrocket (1940) ‘The Un-reluctant Rocket’ Rusting away in the desert of history, here are ten charismatic American fighter aircraft that failed to make the grade.ġ0.

Lightwright 6 crash