Mystery AAF Tailess Twin-Propellor Attack Aircraft Project Model

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Clioman

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It's been a while since I've posted, but recently I came across an image that includes a large model of a twin-propellor tailless airplane (perhaps a single engine w/gearbox transmission?)--carrying what looks like a large caliber forward-firing gun under the center section--suspended from the ceiling in the wartime showroom of "General Motors' Camouflage and War Services Section." The image is included in a biographical article about a GM car designer/artist named Art Ross; it's in Automobile Quarterly vol. 46, no. 2 (2006).

The design seems vaguely familiar, but I can't place it. Any ideas?
 

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Re: Mystery AAF Tailess Twin-Engine Attack Aircraft Project Model

Well, the design is clearly American...and the markings look to be early wartime, given their red centers.
 
There were a lot of tailless designs in the popular art of the 1930s and 1940s, I suspect that this one is just an artist's fantasy. If real, well, the tailgunner certainly couldn't complain about the field of fire!
 
Hi,

maybe a Curtiss design,this company created many tailless projects.
 
It reminds me very much of the Boeing Model 306 flying wing aircraft family.
Link: http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,304.0/all.html
 
Re: Mystery AAF Tailess Twin-Engine Attack Aircraft Project Model

Clioman said:
Well, the design is clearly American...
Click to expand...

Sure. Just sayin' that it *looks* more like one of those wacky B&V designs, though the props mid-span on the wings driven by shafts leading to engines in the fuselage looks substantially less German. I seem to recall several American concepts from the era that used that sort of propulsion arrangement, though it never seemed to work out.
 
With the General Motors connections, perhaps an Allison engine/drive layout study?
 
The part-span vertical tails are a little reminiscent of the Curtiss XP-55 Ascender, but I think I've seen that precise semi-rectangular vertical tail with increased span outboard format somewhere else, and that should pin it down to specific manufacturer, if I could remember where!

ETA: I may simply be thinking of the Ascender's fuselage mounted dorsal and ventral fin, which does have that low height, long span, rectangular format, but I still think I've seen that wing planform somewhere.

Also interesting to note is that the main gear apparently retracts forwards - look just inboard of the propellor shafts.

I don't think that's a large calibre weapon under the fuselage - it's comparable in size to the tailgun, but I'm not convinced it isn't just an artefact on the print. Equally the gondola doesn't seem to leave a lot of room for a large breech unless it's a very short barrel.

Were US national insignia fixed size? You could potentially scale from that to determine size if they are.
 

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