Looking more like a racer than a fighter, the wooden XP-77 design was initiated in May 1942 for two reasons. The first was to counter the highly maneuverable Zero (p.W112) and the second was the possible shortage of light metals during the war, requiring as much wood be used as possible in the design. The plane didn’t fly until April 1944 (when the contract had already been cancelled but flight tests were requested anyway) and the engine’s turbocharger failed to materialize, reducing the projected speed from 410 mph down to 330 mph. The engine shook badly at certain speeds and one prototype was destroyed in a fatal crash in October 1944. In the end, there was no need for a wooden fighter and existing American fighters (F6F Hellcat and F4U Corsair) were doing well enough in the Pacific.
Had it appeared earlier and entered production, the XP-77 would have been an interesting opponent for the light and agile fighters preferred by Japanese pilots. This design assumes that a suitable turbocharger would appear.
The XP-77 uses 21 gallons of aviation fuel per hour at routine usage. Fuel and ammo costs $68.
Subassemblies: Light Fighter chassis with Good streamlining
option +2, Recon Plane Wings +2, three retractable wheels +0.
Powertrain: 467-kW aerial HP turbocharged gasoline engine
with 467-kW prop and 56-gallon self-sealing fuel tank [Body].
Occupancy: 1 CS Cargo: 2 Body, 2.2
Wings.
Armor
Body/Wings: 2/3
Weaponry
2¥Very Long Aircraft HMG/M-2 [Body:F] (300 rounds per gun)
2¥20mm Medium Aircraft AC/M-4 [Body:F] (100 rounds per gun)
Equipment
Body: Medium radio receiver and transmitter, navigation instruments,
autopilot.
Statistics
| Size: 23'x28'x12' | Payload : 0.39 tons | Lwt: 1.18 tons |
| Volume: 144 | Maint.: 46 hours | Price: $18,600 |
HT: 11.
HPs: 100 Body, 100 each Wing, 10 each Wheel.
| aSpeed: 410 | aAccel: 8 | aDecel: 39 | aMR: 9.75 | aSR: 1 |
Design Notes
Design speed was 370 mph. The theoretical historical speed has been
used, as well as the actual wing area (100 square feet). Loaded weight
was reduced 3%.
Variants
As the XP-77 never entered production, there were no variants. However,
there were two other American lightweight fighter designs that received
‘XP’ designations.
The Douglas XP-48 (1939), which failed to reach the prototype stage, was of similar size and weight, and would have used a 392-kW supercharged engine. Armament was only one .30-cal LMG (500 rounds) and one .50-cal HMG (200 rounds). No performance estimates are available.
The Tucker XP-57 (1940) also failed to progress beyond the drawing board. Slightly larger but lighter than the XP-77, it would have used a 537-kW engine with a projected top speed of 308 mph. Armament would have been three .50-cal HMGs (498 rpg) or one .50-cal (400 rounds) and one 20mm Medium Aircraft AC (50 rounds).