The Curtiss XP-71 was a 1941 American proposal for an exceptionally large

heavy fighter A heavy fighter is a historic category of fighter aircraft produced in the 1930s and 1940s, designed to carry heavier weapons, and/or operate at longer ranges than light fighter aircraft. To achieve performance, most heavy fighters were twin-eng ...

design. It was intended to serve as an extreme-range

interceptor Interceptor may refer to: Vehicles * Interceptor aircraft (or simply "interceptor"), a type of point defense fighter aircraft designed specifically to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft * Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, a police car * ...

and

escort fighter The escort fighter was a concept for a fighter aircraft designed to escort bombers to and from their targets. An escort fighter needed range long enough to reach the target, loiter over it for the duration of the raid to defend the bombers, and ...

. While significant progress was made in the design phase, no prototypes were ever built, and the design was abandoned in 1943.

Design and development

The proposed aircraft was to have a pressurized cockpit. Power would be provided by two

Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major The Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major is an American 28-cylinder four-row radial piston aircraft engine designed and built during World War II. First run in 1944, at , it is the largest-displacement aviation piston engine to be mass-produced in ...

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ...

s each driving a set of pusher

contra-rotating Contra-rotating, also referred to as coaxial contra-rotating, is a technique whereby parts of a mechanism rotate in opposite directions about a common axis, usually to minimise the effect of torque. Examples include some aircraft propellers, res ...

propellers.Curtiss XP-71 Fact sheet
Retrieved: 11 July 2017. Based on studies of heavy, long-range fighters that had been undertaken prior to the American involvement in World War II, the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

initially ordered two prototypes in November 1941. The major role for the proposed aircraft was to act as an "escort" fighter to protect heavy bombers that would have to operate over occupied Europe even if Britain was conquered.Dorr and Donald 1990, p. 124 Developed around two turbocharged R-4360s driving pusher propellers, the XP-71 would have been the largest fighter aircraft built in the war. The final XP-71 design would have been larger than the contemporary B-25 and was considered a complex industrial project that would have taxed the resources of the Curtiss company as it was evident that development time would stretch out well beyond the projected need for the type. At the time, Curtiss facilities were completely committed to producing existing aircraft; due to the need to keep their production lines open for the current types on order and with shifting combat requirements, the USAAF reconsidered the need for the project before prototype construction had begun. As conditions changed and it was clear that Britain would continue to be available for forward bases, the requirement for the advanced fighter project led to the cancellation of the XP-71 in early 1942.

Specifications (XP-71, as designed)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Dorr, Robert F. and Donald, David. ''Fighters of the United States Air Force''. London: Temple, 1990. . * Jones, Lloyd S. ''U.S. Fighters: Army-Air Force 1925 to 1980s''. Fallbrook, California: Aero Publishers, Inc., 1975. .

External links