XP-67 Moonbat
Rareplanes, 1/72
In the early 1940's, the newly formed McDonnell Aircraft Corporation (which then bought Douglas and became McDonnell/Douglas, and has since been purchased by Boeing) produced a design for a twin-engined heavy fighter. This fighter was to have six 37mm cannon, but no armament was ever installed. It was also to use the new Continental I-1430 turbo supercharged V-12 engines, driving four bladed propellers. The airframe itself was to provide a great deal of lift and was of the blended fuselage design that is so prevalent in today's fighters.
The first of two prototypes was completed in December 1943 and taxi tests were conducted at Lambert Field in St. Louis. The aircraft was then trucked to nearby Scott Field for flight testing. First flight was on 6 January 1944 and lasted six minutes due to engine problems. The next two flights were accomplished without difficulty. During the fourth flight, however, the engines were oversped and the bearings burned out.
Upon return to the factory the cooling ducts were reworked and the tailplanes raised a foot. Then followed more flight tests before AAF pilots finally got to fly the plane on 11 May of 1944. During the following flights, several problems were cured, but engine related ones never were satisfactorily corrected. The biggest problem was engine overheating which led to a fire in the right nacelle on 6 September 1944. The ensuing fire caused major damage and on 13 Sept, McDonnell and the USAAF agreed to terminate the contract. The second airframe was never completed.
First published on Modeling Madness and reproduced with permission from Scott Van Aken (Owner MM).
Text and photos Copyright © 2002 Scott Van Aken
Page created August 31 2002.