Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Pretty advanced for the late 40's


Convair XB-53 design for a jet powered bomber.  Originally called the XA-44 (A for attack), the project was initiated by the Army in the mid 40′s at the conclusion of WW2.  Wing design and jet engine technology was taken from German research, and the idea gained some traction until it was canceled in 1949.  


3 comments:

  1. Flip the wings 180° and it would look a bit like an F-105..........

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  2. Actually NASA kept the forward swept wing program alive until the present day. So did the USAF test squadron. There is good film on the 'net of that things great grand child in flight.---Ray

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  3. The X-29, in the 80's, required multiple computers to keep it from falling out of the sky. It was too unstable to fly without them. This also had the effect of giving it a marvelous angle of attack (before thrust vectoring).

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