Decades before the A-10 Warthog hit the drawing board, there was the
XA-38 Grizzly. A large twin-engined, two-seat ground attack plane, the
XA-38 design originated in 1942 at the request of the US Army. Finally
flying in 1944, the Grizzly was dominated by a nose-mounted 75mm T15E1
cannon. A pair of Browning .50-cal M-2 MGs were located along side of
it. The gunner sat to the rear of the cockpit, using a periscope to aim
two remotely-controlled turrets, dorsal and ventral, each armed with
.50-cal HMGs. Finally, up to 2,000 pounds of external ordnance could be
carried. One unusual feature was that the nose section containing the
cannon was modular, and could be easily removed for repair or
replacement with alternate armament.
The XA-38 exceeded all expectaions when it flew. However, it used
the same engines as the B-29 Superfortress (p.W:MP102) and it was clear
that it would not be able to enter production before the (expected)
invasion of Japan in 1945. The project was cancelled with only the two
prototypes being built/
The XA-38 uses 172 gallons of aviation fuel per hour at routine
usage.
Subassemblies: Light Fighter-Bomber chassis +3, Medium
Fighter-Bomber
Wings with STOL option+3, 2xSmall TD Engine Pods +3, 2x full rotation
Small Weapon turrets +1, three retractable wheels +1.
Powertrain: 2x1,641-kW aerial HP supercharged gasoline
engines [Pods] with 2x1,641-kW props and 620-gallon self-sealing
fuel tanks [Body and Wings]
Occupancy: 2 CS Cargo: 2.5 Body
Statistics
| Size: 52'x67'x14' | Payload: 4.53 tons | Lwt: 16 tons |
| Volume: 312 |
Maint.: 19 hours | Price: $115,500 |
HT: 7.
HP: 330 [body], 330 [each wing], 285 [each pod], 45 [each
turret], 30 [each wheel]
| aSpeed: 370 |
aAccel: 2 |
aDecel: 14 |
aMR: 3.5 |
aSR: 2 |
Stall: 80 |
Design Notes
Design speed was 346 mph. The historical speed has been used, as well
as the actual wing area (626 square feet). Chassis cost, weight and HP
were multiplied by two. Loaded weight was increased 8%. Most of the
unused body volume is treated as waste space.
Variants
Although no alternate nose armamnets were specified, two possible
options are twelve .50-cal M-2 with 300 rpg or two 37mm M-9 with 45 rpg
(37mm Medium Aircraft AC) and four .50-cal M-2 with 300 rpg.