The XF5F was a twin-engine, twin-rudder single-seat fighter built
for the US Navy and first flew in 1940. The most distinctive feature of
the plane was that the nose was behind the leading edge of the wing,
giving the aircraft the appearance of a wing flying along that a
fuselage had desperately latched on to for a ride. During testing,
however, the nose was slightly extended, as well as other small
changes. While the plane performed well enough in flight, it was
decided that a fresh, more capable design should be undertaken (leading
to the F7F Tigercat, which arrived too late for the war). The XF5F had
double the climb rate of the F4F Wildcat and was better than the later
F6F Hellcat and F4U Corsair. Unfortunately, the Navy wasn't yet ready
for a twin-engine carrier=based fighter. The lone XF5F continued to be
used for testing until it crashed in late 1944.
The Skyrocket was most famous as the plane used by the Blackhawks (a
comic book flying group, first appearing in print in 1941) during most
of the 1940's. In an alternate history, it might have been forced into
production rather than waiting for the F7F to be developed. It did have
some streamlining problems which were never really solved; hence it was
slower than expected, but would have still been quite fast for a USN
plane in 1942 (50 mph faster than the Wildcat and as fast s the
Hellcat). Alternately, the Marines might have flown it, as they often
got aircraft the Navy didn't want. As no armament was installed, the
weaponry listed is a reasonable speculation.
The XF5F uses 89.5 gallons of aviation fuel per hour at routine
usage.
Subassemblies: Medium Fighter chassis +3, Light
Fighter-Bomber
Wings with folding option +3, 2xLarge Weapon Engine Pods +2, 2x full
three retractable
wheels +0.
Powertrain: 2x895-kW aerial HP gasoline
engines [Pods] with 2x895-kW props and 217-gallon self-sealing
fuel tanks [Wings]
Occupancy: 1 CS Cargo: 16 Body
Statistics
| Size: 29'x42'x11' | Payload: 0.88 tons | Lwt: 5.07 tons |
| Volume: 100 |
Maint.: 35 hours | Price: $32,900 |
HT: 7.
HP: 120 [body], 120 [each wing], 120 [each pod], 12 [each wheel]
| aSpeed: 383 |
aAccel: 4 |
aDecel: 17 |
aMR: 4.25 |
aSR: 2 |
Stall: 72 |
Design Notes
Design aSpeed was 359 mph and Stall 79 mph. The historical speeds have
been used, as well
as the actual wing area (305 square feet). Loaded weight was reduced
1.5%. Most of the
unused body volume is treated as waste space.
Performance numbers do not include a bombload. The fuselage
hardpoint can also carry a 58-gallon drop tank.