During WWII, there were many remarkable ideas for new aircraft. Sometimes, however, the plane being imagined was at best impracticable and was cancelled before valuable resources could be wasted on it, the craft destined to fade into obscurity. The Curtiss XP-71 was such an airplane.
Proposed in late 1941 as a bomber escort, the XP-71 would have been larger and heavier than the B-25 medium bomber (p.W:DF84) and would have been powered by four contra-rotating propellers in a pusher configuration. The powerful (but slow firing) armament of three cannons was concentrated in the nose and the two-man crew sat in tandem in a pressurized cockpit. Befitting a long-range escort, fuel sufficient for a 3,000 mile trip was carried.
In an alternate WWII campaign, the XP-71 may see service as either a heavy ground attack aircraft (trading fuel for underwing hardpoints) or a bomber destroyer. The problem with the first role is that versions of the B-25 already fill it and, as for the second role, the Axis had no significant number of heavy bombers to justify such a design (however, if General Weber had not died in an accident before the war and had managed to push his vision of a heavy bomber fleet for Germany, a bomber destroyer of similar abilities to the XP-71 might have come about).
The XP-71 would have had a crew of two, pilot and navigator. The plane would have used 232 gallons of aviation fuel per hour.
Subassemblies: Heavy Fighter-Bomber chassis +4, Light
Bomber Wings +4, two Large AFV Pods +3, three retractable wheels +1.
P&P: two 2,574-kW aerial HP turbo-supercharged gasoline
engines w/two 1,287-prop each [Pod:F] with 1,940-gallon self-sealing tanks
[Body and Wings]
Occ: 2 CS Cargo: 13 Body.
Armor
All: 2/3
Cockpit: FBU 0/+20
Weaponry
2¥ 37mm Medium Aircraft AC [Body:F] (60 rounds each)*
75mm Short TG [Body:F] (20 rounds)
Equipment
Body: Sealed, large radio receiver and transmitter, IFF, autopilot,
navigation instruments, 1 man/day life support.
Statistics
| Size: 62'x82'x19' | Payload : 6.1 tons | Lwt: 19.9 tons |
| Volume: 640 | Maint.: 15 hours | Price: $171,700 |
HT: 8.
HP: 525 Body, 600 each Wing, 50 each Wheel, 225 each Pod.
| aSpeed: 391 | aAccel: 7 | aDecel: 22 | aMR: 5.25 | aSR: 2 |
| gSpeed: 213 | aAccel: 10 | aDecel: 10 | aMR: 0.5 | aSR: 2 |
Design Notes
The planned wing surface of 902 sf was used. Weight was decreased 4%
to match expected weight. Expected aSpeed was 428 mph and Stall was 97
mph; individual GMs can decide which speeds to use.