hermankeil
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Does anyone have a photo of the experimental F6F with a bubble?
hermankeil said:Does anyone have a photo of the experimental F6F with a bubble?
The bubble canopy that we tried unsuccessfully on the Hellcat was exactly similarto the Malcomb sliding canopy of the Spitfire. It used the same Hellcat sliding canopy structure but the plexiglass was blown out for the bubble during its manufacture.
It was an attempt to combine the functions of the TBF/TBM and F4F/FM-1 into a single airframe for use on escort carriers. Avenger Fighter was actually its nickname, if memory serves.Hardrada55 said:OK, so I gotta ask, what's the XFTBF-1? Avenger fighter?
CostasTT said:It was an attempt to combine the functions of the TBF/TBM and F4F/FM-1 into a single airframe for use on escort carriers. Avenger Fighter was actually its nickname, if memory serves.
Perhaps with the powerful engine "Avenger" could perform some maneuvers, but in my humble opinion - only against enemy attack aircraft, not capable for dogfight .
You are welcome. Yes, you interpreted the designation correctly as indicating a dual (multi) role aircraft.Silencer1 said:CostasTT said:It was an attempt to combine the functions of the TBF/TBM and F4F/FM-1 into a single airframe for use on escort carriers. Avenger Fighter was actually its nickname, if memory serves.
In US Navy aircraft naming system XFBTF should mean "Prototype of Fighter and Torpedo Bomber, made by Grumman", isn't it?
Those it mean - Single-seat "Avenger" sharing role from torpedo-bomber to fighter?
Perhaps with the powerful engine "Avenger" could perform some maneuvers, but in my humble opinion - only against enemy attack aircraft, not capable for dogfight .
Anyway - impressive photo, thanks for sharing!
As to the "Fighter" version of the Avenger, it was a very hurried up prototype version to see if the many smaller carriers that performed the anti submarine warfare missions in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans could have a single do both fighter and ASW missions in order to simplify all aspects of carrier warfair on these carriers like: training, maintenance, spares etc.,etc. No matter what we did to this prototype the Wildcat took much less space on these space limited carriers and the navy soon decided, as we did, that it would not work as well as the much smaller Wildcat, also in production at General Motors Lindin, New Jersey and discontinued their interest in it, too.
CostasTT said:Hope this helps.
Silencer1 said:Hi CostasTT!
CostasTT said:Hope this helps.
Thanks for comprehensive story!
Without part of their load some heavy aircraft could significantly increase their maneuverability, making a figures, not estimated to their weight and size.
Perhaps, Blue Angels' C-130 without cargo could be good example of it *-)
Jemiba said:Size,weight and payload of the XFTBF-1 seem to be comparable to the Boeing
XF8B, it just lacks a bit with regards to engine power. But for the limited number
of aircraft on a CVE, a multi-role type would have been probably better, than a
mixed complement. And over the North Atlantic, probably no enemy fighter could
be expected.
Have added a rough sketch of the Malcolm hood Hellcat, we had this theme before
somewhere, somewhen ...