Lockheed competitor(s) to the 1941 Intercontinental Bomber program (B-36)?

Skybolt

Skybolt

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Thanks to my friend Lark, I can post a simple 3-view of the Lockheed L-130-1, AKA as Model 90 (actually just the first to be called so). Only info are that it was studied in 1941 and was intended as a long-range bomber. Estimated data wre GTOW 250,000 lb, mx speed 380 mph max range 8160 miles. Cruise altitude is given as 15,000 feet. Dimensions are estimated as the same is valid for the engines layout, since six 3000 HP units were indicated (the arrangement in the drawing would imply a rather complex asymmetrical gearing). There were other four configurations (no drawing ) with GTOW going from 194,500 to 279,000 lb and max speed from 340 to 377 mph, cruise altitude 10,000 feet. Only L-130-1 would have adhered fully to the specification. Now, what specification. Being 1941 and looking at the drawing I'd bet the Intercontinental Bomber. If so, Lockheed too participated, besides Consolidated, Boeing, Douglas, Northrop, NAA and Burnelli. Any more info on this design?
 

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Yes, same AAHS source. I work from a photocopy. WHat do you think, could it possibly be a IB submission?
 
No mention of a Lockheed contender in 'B-36-Magnesium Overcast' - by D.R. Jenkins - Speciallity Press
 
Sure, but no one ever imagined a NAA proposal until Scott discovered it in the Boeing's archives and published on APR .. ;)
 
I was just reading Convair Advanced Designs: Secret Projects from San Diego, 1923-1962 by Robert Bradley and he stated that no other company offered any design to compete for the B-36 project.
 
Didn't Boeing toss out a proposal as well?
 
According to Tony Buttler, American Secret Projects (Bombers, Attack and Anti-Submarine Aircraft 1945-1974), p.29, a request for proposals went out in August 1941. Boeing responded with models 384 and 385 and Douglas with model 423 as well as Consolidated with its model 56 36. The latter was selected in October 1941. So, no mention of a Lockheed design.
 
Jos Heyman said:
According to Tony Buttler, American Secret Projects (Bombers, Attack and Anti-Submarine Aircraft 1945-1974), p.29, a request for proposals went out in August 1941. Boeing responded with models 384 and 385 and Douglas with model 423 as well as Consolidated with its model 56. The latter was selected in October 1941. So, no mention of a Lockheed design.
Click to expand...

Erm... The B-36 was Convair's Model 36 !!!
 
I have the XB-31 project listed as both the Model 332F and the DS-423. Is it possible that the 332F design was reworked as a B-36 competitor into the DS-423?
 
Stargazer wrote: Erm... The B-36 was Convair's Model 36 !!!

Oops - one of these days I must take typing lessons.
 
NAA Proposal for B-36 program - where?

Where would I find the information on the North American entry for th the B-36 program mentioned by Skybolt in 2007? And what is the APR he mentioned??
 
Okay. Got it. I've actually downloaded several items from "APR". Too many acronyms to keep track of.

In which of those publications are the NAA B-36 competitor found?

Thanks
 
But for the APR's mentioned by Jemiba , the only bit of info about the NAA contender I ever
found was in the afore mentioned B-36 book published by Specilalty Press.

( only a three view with extended caption)
 
Stargazer2006 said:
I have the XB-31 project listed as both the Model 332F and the DS-423. Is it possible that the 332F design was reworked as a B-36 competitor into the DS-423?
Click to expand...
No. I have a copy of the book American Secret Projects 1: Fighters, Bombers and Attack Aircraft, 1937-1945 and the lead author of this book makes clear that the association of the Model 423 with the XB-31 in some older publications is erroneous because the Model 332F design for the R-40B competition that produced the B-29 and B-32 received the XB-31 designation and the Model 423 proposal was conceived in the second half of 1941, long after the XB-31 lost the R-40B competition to the B-29 and B-32. The document Model Designations of Army Aircraft is a bit incorrect in describing the XB-31 as a bomber derivative of the C-54 (the Douglas Model 412 was a bomber adaptation of the C-54, as explained by Griffith [2019], while the XB-31/Model 332F was virtually a vastly scaled-up A-20 Havoc due to its high-mounted wing).

Griffith, A., 2019. "Ploughshares to Swords." The Aviation Historian 28: 20-31.
 
Jos Heyman said:
According to Tony Buttler, American Secret Projects (Bombers, Attack and Anti-Submarine Aircraft 1945-1974), p.29, a request for proposals went out in August 1941. Boeing responded with models 384 and 385 and Douglas with model 423 as well as Consolidated with its model 56 36. The latter was selected in October 1941. So, no mention of a Lockheed design.
Click to expand...
The Models 384 and 385 were envisaged in the second half of 1942 and postdate the USAAF intercontinental bomber contract awards to Consolidated and Northrop in late 1941, in which case they weren't the Boeing submissions to the 1941 USAAC/USAAF requirement for an intercontinental bomber, as noted on page 121 of the book American Secret Projects 1: Fighters, Bombers, and Attack Aircraft, 1937-1945. Boeing worked out four intercontinental bomber designs in 1941, and given that Alan Griffith doesn't consider the six-engine Model 363 to have been submitted for the intercontinental bomber competition, I strongly believe that the Models 360 and 362 flying wing bombers along with the more conventional Model 361 were Boeing's submissions to the USAAC/USAAF intercontinental bomber competition because they were conceived in August-September 1941, and the Model 363 was drafted the same day the B-36 contract was awarded.
 
The Lockheed and Douglas entries were evaluated and rejected with just Convair and Boeing getting contracts.
 
Actually, the Lockheed entry was not evaluated and rejected. Lockheed withdrew from the competition because it had too many other projects under production to take on another big airplane. The AAF discussed Lockheed's bomber project periodically and wondered if they could get Lockheed to reconsider. However, nothing was forthcoming on this front.

AlanG
 

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