Your favourite "what if" aircraft

Heinkel He112, what if it had been developed like the bf109 by fitiing DB601/DB605 engines. It had the better airframe, wide track undercarrage.

Although I’m not a fan of eggbeaters the one I’d like to have seen succeed has to be the Lockheed? Cheyanne. IIRC the designation was going to be AH63. No doubt someone better informed will correct me if I’m wrong.

CAC CA-15, very close to being the ultimate in piston engined fighters, and very much Australian, prototype acheived 502 mph in level flight.

I think I’ve done this before, but…

What if Reginald Mitchell had not died young. What would his jet aircraft designs have looked and performed like around the end of WW2?

oooo- Seamaster, I’d forgotten about that one. Better performance then a B-52, and amphibious… :drool:

Matt

I agree the P6M SeaMaster. Because of its thick wing skin approximately 1 inch thick at the root and its J75 engines it was capable of doing Mach 0.89 in the thick air near the deck.
Three P6M-2 were completed by the summer of 1959, the Navy was preparing for them to become operational in the next six months. When the program was abruptly cancelled on 21 August 1959 and all existing aircraft were immediately scrapped. What I find interesting is that NASA, Langley Research Center was still investigating Aerodynamics and Hydrodynamics Characteristics of Supersonic Seaplanes in February, 1960.
There have been statements that manned bombers were an expensive, unreliable way to deliver nuclear weapons and that the P6M could not be justified without the strategic mission.
I believe that US Navy’s Sea Power 21 wish they had a P6M-2 SeaMaster or its technological successor in their arsenal. I find it interesting that the Soviets never gave up their pursuit of advanced Seaplanes, Amphibians, or Wing In Ground Effect Vehicles.

B-70 Valkyrie for me!!- absolutely awesome

Piasecki 16H-3… a smaller cousin of the rotodyne, under development in 1974, but cancelled.

http://www.piasecki.com/compound.htm

Note that the production division of The Piasecki Helicopter Corporation was renamed Vertol in 1956, and was purchased by Boeing in 1960.

Martin P6M SeaMaster, Vought F8U-3 Crusader III, and North American F-107.

oooo- Seamaster, I’d forgotten about that one. Better performance then a B-52, and amphibious… :drool:

Matt

Martin P6M SeaMaster, Vought F8U-3 Crusader III, and North American F-107.

I’ll 2nd the V1000…was it also known as the VC7???
Transatlantic non stop, before the 707 could. And it had round windows! 🙂

Yes, it was also known as the VC.7.
Now whether or not it would have beaten the American jets for non-stop transattlantic service is open to debate. At any rate, the plane was dead by November 1955.

In the end, the RAF said it couldn’t wait until 1958 for transports…so it bought Britannias which were delivered in 1959..and BOAC said it would stick with the Comet and didn’t want to buy a new type for the few (they said six) they’d need for trans Atlantic operations.

Re the TSR. 2…would it have been worth the money in the long run?
Was it adaptable enough to meet the changing requirements of the 60-70s?
Would if have had a long service career or would it have been the UK equivelant of the B-58?

Maybe not the best looking or sexiest cancelled UK projects, but two that woould have helped UK industry…and aviation in general.

The V-1000 airliner. Based on my hero Bill Gunston’s comments in
“Plane Speaking”, it would have given the 707/DC-8 a real competitor. If successful…and developed into a sseries of jetliners…it would have saved (for lack of a better word) the UK airliner industry. Just think of a healthy complete industry, instead of just being a parts supplier to the French & Germans.

I’ll 2nd the V1000…was it also known as the VC7???
Transatlantic non stop, before the 707 could. And it had round windows! 🙂

Douglas Skyshark, Flying Flapjack, Tupolev Boot. In no particular order 😉

Matt

Hey, thanks for that.

I’m pretty sure I saw a photo of a mock-up rather than just an artist’s impression but, yes, it could well have been this idea…

… although just how ‘inexpensive’ it would have been is open to debate!

It might be just my imagination but I’m pretty sure I recall seeing a mock up of Concorde in RAF markings.

Bomber?
Stand off missile carrier?
Super Blairforce One type?

Whatever, it would have been cool x power N….

It might be just my imagination but I’m pretty sure I recall seeing a mock up of Concorde in RAF markings.

Bomber?
Stand off missile carrier?
Super Blairforce One type?

Whatever, it would have been cool x power N….

ill second that, it looked amazing!!! in black too! 😀

Valiant B.Mk2………….great looking aircraft that would have seen service for many years.

whats wrong with the TSR.2?!!

This fascination of some with the TSR2 here begs belief at times…
each to their own

The “Super”Stirling with enlarged wingspan and cranked up tail

Cheers

Cees