XP-55 ASCENDER

The Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender was an American World War II prototype fighter in a metal low wing design. The drive was provided by a single engine Allison V-1710-95 with 1275 hp. The first flight of this machine took place in December 1941. The plane never entered mass production - only three prototypes were produced. The deck armament was to consist of four 12.7 mm machine guns. The Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender was constructed as part of a competition announced in November 1939 by the US Air Force, which wanted to acquire an interceptor designed to defend strategically important points such as military bases or cities. The air force also allowed for the use of unusual aerodynamic solutions, which will radically increase the performance of the aircraft and - possibly - will be used in other constructions. As a result, Curtiss-Wright developed an airplane with a rudder in the bow, vertical stabilizers at the wingtips, and a push propeller rather than a pull propeller. Finally, the XP-55 turned out to be a plane with a high maximum speed, exceeding 620 km / h, which was a good result at the turn of 1941/1942 and with a good rate of climb. In the course of tests, however, it turned out that the plane showed significant problems with horizontal flight stability and has problems with recovering from a stall - the latter was the cause of the crash of one of the XP-55 in 1943. Also, its modernization potential was small, which in the face of the coming era of jet aircraft resulted in the cancellation of the entire program in 1946.