The Vultee XA-41 was originally ordered as a
dive bomber
A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...
. After combat experience led the
Army Air Corps to believe dive-bombers were too vulnerable to enemy fighters, the contract was amended to change the role to low-level ground attack. Although the XA-41 was a potent weapons system, the design was overtaken by more advanced technology, and never entered production.
Design and development
The Vultee engineering team decided early in the design process to build the XA-41 (company Model 90) around the 3,000 hp
Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major four-row, 28-cylinder
radial engine. The Model 90's large tapered wing resembled that of
Vultee Model 72 – a two-seat attack aircraft/dive bomber better known as the
Vultee Vengeance (A-31/A-35) – including a straight leading edge, forward-swept trailing edge, and pronounced dihedral on the outer wing panels.
Designed to carry both a large internal load and external stores, the XA-41 was large for a single-engine aircraft. The single-place
cockpit
A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft.
The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...
, set in line with the wing root, was 15 ft (4.6 m) off the ground when the airplane was parked.
As operational priorities shifted during its development phase, the original order for two XA-41 prototypes was cancelled, although the USAAF pressed for the completion of one prototype as an engine testbed for the R-4360 (the same engine used by the
Boeing B-50 Superfortress
The Boeing B-50 Superfortress is an American strategic bomber. A post–World War II revision of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, it was fitted with more powerful Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engines, stronger structure, a taller tail fin, and ot ...
).
Operational history
Flying for the first time on 11 February 1944, the sole XA-41 (S/N ''43-35124'') proved to have good performance with a maximum speed of 354 mph reached in testing and "superb maneuverability, being able to out-turn a P-51B Mustang".
[Thompson 1992, p. 119.] However, with the reduction in military orders due to the approaching end of the war, no production contract was placed, and the aircraft was used as an engine testbed for the USAAF as well as being evaluated by the
U.S. Navy in comparison with other contemporary attack aircraft, especially the
Douglas
Douglas may refer to:
People
* Douglas (given name)
* Douglas (surname)
Animals
*Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking
*Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...
AD-1 Skyraider and
Martin Martin may refer to:
Places
* Martin City (disambiguation)
* Martin County (disambiguation)
* Martin Township (disambiguation)
Antarctica
* Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land
* Port Martin, Adelie Land
* Point Martin, South Orkney Islands
Austral ...
AM-1 Mauler. After its Navy trials, the XA-41, bearing civil registration ''NX60373N'', was consigned to the Pratt & Whitney division of
United Aircraft to continue engine tests. These continued until 1950 before the XA-41 was scrapped.
Specifications (Vultee XA-41)
Notes
Bibliography
* McCullough, Anson. "Grind 'Em Out Ground Attack: The Search for the Elusive Fighter Bomber". ''Wings'' Vol. 25, No. 4, August 1995.
* Thompson, Jonathan. ''Vultee Aircraft 1932–1947''. Santa Ana, California: Narkiewicz/Thompson, 1992. .
External links
Vultee XA-41
{{USAF attack aircraft
Vultee A-41
XA-41
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1944
Mid-wing aircraft
Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United States