XTB2D-1 SKYPIRATE

The Douglas XTB2D Skypirate was a prototype on-board bomber and torpedo aircraft of American production from the Second World War. The drive was provided by a single engine Pratt-Whitney R-4360-8 Wasp Major. The first flight of this machine took place in March 1945 - the machine never entered mass production. The on-board armament was to consist of six 12.7 mm machine guns and a load of bombs or torpedoes weighing up to 3,600 kilograms. The Douglas XTB2D Skypirate was designed as a successor to the increasingly aging TBD Devastator aircraft, as well as for use with Midway-class aircraft carriers. When designing the Skypirate machine, Douglas focused on providing it with the highest possible payload for a bomb-torpedo charge and a powerful defensive shooting weapon, much stronger than on the TBD Devastator. However, the high bar meant that the flight of the machine took place only at the beginning of 1945, when World War II was already coming to an end, and the implementation of a new piston engine-powered aircraft was pointless. For this reason, the entire project was canceled in the same, 1945. Probably only two examples of this plane were built.