Vultee XP-81

History

The Consolidated Vultee XP-81 is a proposed long-range high-altitude fighter design that would be the answer to European bomber escort and, more importantly, island hopping campaigns throughout the Pacific. The XP-81 combines the power of the ever-growing turbojet with the development of America's first turboprop.

The single-seat twin-engine fighter was built around GE's complex engine design, and the XP-81 was never designed to live up to expectations. To further advance the twin-engine concept, the aircraft should have a sizeable fighter design, even compared to its contemporaries P-51 Mustang, P-38 Lightning and P-47 Thunderbolt.

The pilot sits in front of the wing assembly and has a huge field of view from the bubble cap overlooking the front of the plane. There is a four-bladed propeller in the front, driven by a turboprop assembly in the nose.

The laminar flow wing sits right in the middle of the design, with a low tricycle landing gear system under huge deployment. Dual air intakes are installed in the upper part of the fuselage, just behind the cockpit.

Therefore, these air intakes were placed to feed the single turbojet exhaust through the stern below the rudder and tail assemblies.

On paper, the design is solid. Estimated capabilities suggest the system can reach over 500 miles per hour and over 35,000 feet per hour.

Since the impressive range was part of the pedigree of American aircraft throughout the war (British and German aircraft rarely posed a long-range threat to each other), the XP-81 was aiming to have a range of 2,500 miles - enough to match the B-17 and B-29 Bomber formations storm the Empire and the Empire of Japan.

Unfortunately, engine problems forced the only flying prototype to install a P-51 engine replacement. When the turboprop arrived and installed, the system produced much less than expectedin fact, a full 1,000 horsepower less than the proposed capacity.

With the war in Europe now dominated by the existing fighter escort variety, and island hopping in the Pacific making equally good progress albeit slow and costly for U.S. ground forces the XP-81 project was cancelled. 13 YP-81 development models.

While having 6 x weapons. 50 caliber machine guns, which were never installed on planes. Provisions for drop tanks or bombs are acceptable. The two surviving prototypes were later found to be almost completely scrapped and are currently awaiting the fate of the U.S. Air Force perhaps to restore at least one model for the U.S.

Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. A solid concept, but the twin-engine creation never really took off.

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