McDonnell XP-67 Moonbat Newsreel - 1945
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- čas přidán 12. 11. 2013
- Very cool & RARE promo for the XP-67 "Bat", or "Moonbat".
Like so many of these aircraft that "Pushed the boudaries" in the late 1940s & 1950s, the aircraft suffered from being underpowered, and never made it past the prototype stage.
My best guess is that she was a ball to fly above 250 mph at altitude, but was quite skidish at lower speeds, with difficult recovery time, and bad stall characteristics due to the low aspect ratio wing, and underpowered engines.
Surely the airplane would have been a real "Bomb" given powerful enough engines. As it was, I don't think she could outpace a P-51 Mustang.
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You can clearly see McDonnell's early jet designs represented here in the blended wing body concept. A concept that is still experimental even today. A lot of modern jets are using similar designs where the fuselage makes a significant amount of their lift. This plane was one of the first to take advantage of that concept. Really remarkable. It's a shame the engine manufacturers never came through. Would've been interesting to see how it would've performed with jets in the wings.
Yes, I believe many of the engine manufactures around late 1943-early 1944 started getting lazy. Only making the engines they needed to build, and scrapping the ones they planned to make, which many prototype planes were expecting to have ready for them. Makes sense knowing that the tide of war had changed, and many of the aircraft roles were already filled too. Jet prototypes were being tested also.
@@TeenWithACarrotIDK Yup, engines were really only developed if they had a current use or a guaranteed pending use. Like the Wright R-3350. It was originally developed for the XB-19, but the only reason it actually got developed at all was because the B-29 was an inevitability, and the B-32 went on to use them as well. The XB-19 actually got up-engined with an inline Allison that was a development of the P-38's engines and was even more powerful than the ridiculously-powerful R-3350, but because there was no airframe in the works that was guaranteed to use it, Allison kind of abandoned the engine and as far as I'm aware the XB-19 was the only airframe to ever get them.
Dad worked at NACA. They called it the flying fillet. A beauty
This is the most unattractive aircraft ive seen good god batman.
What a gorgeous Sci-Fi space plane of the '40s. I had no idea this film existed!
This was one of the options that the brass decided was superfluous. There were several developmental aircraft that fell short of expectations 'because they failed to meet requirements' (because they were designed to use unavailable engines or were more expensive than planes that got the good engines) or were designed for missions that evaporated due to victories or new jets.
This plane was a real beauty ! Sometimes I wish they had kept building the WW II planes for other uses after the war... besides the big birds used as passenger craft.
McDonnell didnt get into large passenger jets till acquiring Douglas. All combat from F1 thru F-18s
Such a beautiful fighter. Graceful and devastating looking at the same time.
This particular bird may have been a bust, but take a closer look at the fuselage design from the view at the 1 minute mark and you can see an XR71 Blackbird as a twinkle in some engineer's eye.
I saw that too, right off the 'bat ;) No question about it.
Unfortunately Kelly Johnson only ever worked for Lockheed, not Mcdonnell, so had no involvement with this aircraft.
you know it kind of has an advanced stealthy look to it.
Actually... what I'm seeing is closer to a prop-driven Gloster Meteor.
I saw an A12 Oxcart. The fastest jet ever made. Because it was always flown by the CIA its true capabilities remain classified. But Oxcart pilots derisively referred to the later 2-seat SR-71 as the "family model." In other words: The SR-71 was the station wagon to the Oxcart's Ferrari.
8x 37mm cannon. OMG you wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of that one!! A real beauty.
Mark Warwick Actually, it's six 37mm cannons, not eight, but still makes for devastating firepower
At 3:56 they talk about modified versions, including an 8 x 37mm.
Close Air support anyone.
Mark Warwick But it would have a slow cyclic rate for that old shell. .
@@terranceperkins9656 yea 1 might have had a slow cyclic rate, but I'm sure as many U.S. pilots would attest to being on the business end of just one cannon of that size, even when augmented with just 2 'puney' 23 MM cannon in the MiG 15 over korea could be pretty nerve racking,imagine the cyclic rate of 6 or 8 grenade lobbing 37MM cannon.even though I wasn't there, I know the 4 MK8 Rhinemetal borsik 30MM on the nose of that ME262 absolutely shredded 8th AF bombers over Europe. (Please excuse spelling if wrong). I'm not sure of which version but even just two 30 mm augmented by 2 30 calibers, earned the FW 190 the nickname butcher bird.
What a sleek and beautiful aircraft - wow. Great aviation history footage - thanks for posting this.
That....is....GORGEOUS!
Had a bit of a 'stealth' look to it. Impressive.
That's the first time I've ever heard mention of .60 caliber MGs.
What an unusual looking bird!Nice!Just needed a couple of higher powered engines😎👍!
Swap out the Continental engines for a pair of Rolls Royce Griffons with some big turbo-superchargers and some contra-rotating props.
I wish they'd put the Moonbat in production one of the most amazing looking aircraft of that era...no of all time 🥇
That plane on a diet could be the Grumman Tiger Cat.
Yep, amazing design and they did mention the possibility of 12 50 cal guns. To accommodate the pilots who were really bad shots, I suppose. They mentioned a hybrid IC/jet version. It's a wonder they didn't just replace the IC engines with jets. Not designed for the stress of higher speeds, I suppose.
The 37mm cannon had really poor ballistics, slow as molasses and slow firing. It was used on the Bell P-39 with not mush success. It would wreck anything you hit with it a couple of times, but you had to hit it first.
50 cal Brownings (a dozen?) would have been better in WWII.
@@boydgrandy5769 The Russians LOVED the P-39 because the 37mm was a good tank buster but mostly because they had GOOD RADIOS.
One of my favorite WW2 X Planes...ahead of its time!
Ahead of it's time? Actually, it was OBSOLETE by the time it came on board. 100 mph slower than the Me 262. Very nice looking though.
@@willbranson3216 Obselete? the ME-262 had a shelf life of 20 hours, it could not accelerate to save its life, literally, nor could it be repaired due to the difficulty of the production of its parts. Damaged 262s were just thrown away.
Would've made a great night fighter/bomber interceptor if it had radar
The power ratings quoted in the soundtrack were never reached. Those Continentals never got over 1100 hp in any form, military or otherwise. When McDonnell engineers tried to get more power out of them they either caught fire or failed. Army Air Force engineers kept blaming the lack of engine cooling due to McDonnell's design, but that was baloney. McDonnell immediately requested Allison or RR Merlin's and was denied every time, as "none were available" for test use. That too was baloney. Avro Canada had plenty of Merlin spares on hand at the time.
Good info. Many thanks.
I wonder how it would perform if it had some early jet engines slapped into it! The US had Lockheed P-80's but were too late to see combat in WWII. Great Britain had the Gloster Meteor starting in, 1943 and were used to shoot down German V-1's So, jet engines were just getting under way... Interesting thought, anyway...
@@jhowe5571 fuel load would of been killer. . Those early jets were hungry and 1500 gallons is what 9000 pounds of fuel (1500 x 6) that's not alot of flying time for 2 thirsty 1st get turbo jets...
@@chrisjohnson4666 Yes, that's true. However, I was merely thinking about performance, not distance... Even the P51's and Spitfires had limits on their range. And that's with drop tanks! What's crazy, nowadays, is the secret stuff flying halfway around the world in about an hour!
I remember watching this one Sunday on "The Big Picture." Must have been 1953 or '54.
Best looking plane up to date!
The huge wing root fairings must have restricted downward visibility from the cockpit, while the equally bulky engine nacelles must have restricted visibility to the sides to an equal degree. The unusual Continental engines that powered this prototype never went into production. Nevertheless, this unusual aircraft was the first to be produced by the McDonnell Company, which later produced the F-101 Voodoo and F4 Phantom II.
what a beautiful airplane! WOW! I'll take two!
Only one ever built ;-)
6x37mm cannons. That would ruin someone's day.
No Axis Aircraft could survive the hits from that amount of firepower. Even Tiger tanks would have their engines blown out by those guns if attacked from above.
A number of years back one aircraft magazine did a story on this airplane ! It was destroyed on the ground due to fire .W W II was on the down side . And not a need for this type aircraft was needed anymore . Enjoy all the old films always looking in the
back ground for more interesting planes . ( like the B-29 landing ) I grew up in Wichita Ks. in the 40 and 50's great time to be a kid. All kinds of aircraft around in peoples back yards drive way's , small airports everywhere . We had a link trainer in are back yard to play in. Doug in Dallas Tx.
six 37mm cannons would make short work of any bomber!
Yea . All the pilot has to do is Salvo them Cannon and the plane
does the time worp and its back in the hanger before it ever took off
@@gunashanuman8300 They were "compensated" cannon, so the recoil was dampened out, one presumes.
What a beast. Bet it would have made an excellent present day COIN platform
Did this airplane entered in production? What was the cruise velocity in quilometers? What was the maximum speed in quilometers? The range of 2,000 miles = 3.218Km(1 mile = 1,609Km). Of how much was the MTOW? How much did it weighted empty, and also with all tanks full?
Sir the maximum speed,according to the great William Green,was405MPH at 25,000 feet, empty weight 17,745 pounds,normal weight loaded 22,114 pounds and a maximum of 25,400. Maximum range stated as 2,385 miles. Hope that helps you.
Grandpa of sr71???
I was thinking similar, a forerunner of the Blackbird, SR-71...
I saw that too
6x37mm cannons. You would want to be on the wrong side of that thing even today.
It's the U2 or the B57 Canberra with propellers.
A winning design.
Beautiful airplane! I never heard of it before. But who chose that music beginning at the 1:56 mark? What a strange composition to accompany a military aircraft newsreel. It sounds like a soundtrack from Ozzie and Harriet, LOL!
Dig the name ... Moon Bat!
The aircraft is cool looking but good god man, where did you get that horrible fiddle playing from?
Pretty common music for the time period.
Bummer this rig burned up during test . I bet you could have fitted a couple of jets in this design and end up with something hotter then the P-59 . TO INFINITY AND BEYOUND! Patents 672256, 3190554, 3013505 .
A shame that it was cancelled due to the inability of the engine manufacturers to produce a reliable powerplant. The 37mm guns were a bit of overkill but the 20 mm or .60 cal armament would have proven more practical and deadly. Totally unique looking aircraft. Too bad that the only model "kit" of it was a Rareplanes vacuform in 1/72 scale.
The air frame design looks sound. It's a shame this plane wasn't further developed.
Looks like the Horton aircraft.
Radical! 😃
Six 37mm cannons? I think that'd be enough to sink a battleship.
Those might be enough to stop the plane in mid-air.
If only that had been available as a bomber escort from 1943,the luftwaffe would have received one hell of a surprise.
It is too bad this aircraft was not available in 1940.
The part about chemical tanks as part of the external bomb load was pretty scary.
I went HMMM when I heard that too. However, can you say NAPALM?
You know, the USAF is looking for a nice low cost CAS plane... and I expect this one has less engine complications than the P-38, and it packs a lot of firepower, so... maybe grab your latest turboprop engine design, cram it in there, and go talk to the boys in blue eh McBoeing?
As nice as it looks, the smooth laminar flow body would probably be very expensive to manufacture. Piper is make a P51 like turboprop for that exact role.
Take a peek at a Grumman F7F Tigercat. Very similar to this plane.
This plane is much better.
Yup, it was an excellent piece of kit right at the end of the piston era. Tigercat or Hornet, take your pick.
Magic mirror. Potentially perhaps, but only one was ever made and lacking development it never fulfilled the design spec.
Batplane?
If the Peregrine had as much work put into its development as Merlin needed, the Westland Whirlwind would've been one of the great planes of the war. Engines were choke-points in production for Total War economies. Transmissions and engines evolved rapidly during the war, but that evolution was driven by the objective vagaries of the procurement process. Great ideas were lost in the shuffle, while preferred manufacturers got the biggest windfalls, despite some of their planes being Mules; racehorses designed by committee.
Example: if anyone tried to push the B29 through today's approval process they'd be laughed out of the hall. It had terrible problems with both engines and airframe and was an operational nightmare to maintain in forward zones. But Boeing was THE Bomber Guy . . . and Pressurized Cockpits (troublesome in operations), remote operated defensive armament (troublesome in operations), and engine woes (fires, thrown rods, and explosions) were common enough that the provision of midway "crash points" covered by Destroyers, Submarines, and Seaplanes, became a major logistical headache. But they stuck with it in spite of all its untested, and problematic features.
My point? If the Army wanted Moonbat they would've gone ahead with changing out those trouble-plagued engines, or sent pilots up anyway and Devil take the hindmost, as they did with the B29 and B32. Those of us who love the P38 have to appreciate its most evolved descendant, too. It exceeded that beloved "twin" in every way, being faster in level flight, climbing flight, and the dive.
William Cox
Your point on the B-29 is very well taken: my father was in one in the CBI theater, and his account of the harrowing ordeals of the flight engineer during the interminable wait on the flight line on Tinian (which, as you may know, often lasted long enough so that the last planes taking off for a mission often met the first coming back to the field) was enough to give me a nightmare or two.
She is definitely a fast lady!
Sad the only one was lost due to an engine fire
This is a US government film. By definition it is not copyrighted.
"60 Caliber Machine Guns" ?
It was very easy to convert to jet engines!!!
Tigers of Terra brought me here...science fiction can be science fact
The plane looks like something Batman would use.
The music doesn't fit lol
With all those military films the music never did fit. I think it was the same music used in every one.
Big_Lenny v1 listen to the music at 1:55, seems more like an old romance film than a fighter plane video. Still just an opinion.
+M B
( Can You Hear the Music .) Goats Head Soup Rolling Stones
"can you feel the magic "
.60 caliber machine guns?🤔
Aerodynamics are odd looks so good but appeared not great
Continental 1600 hp.........hell they could barely get 1000 hp. 450 mph....What??
"new" propeller aircraft in 1945...
Trying to build modern mossie
That would be the Hornet.
The British Vickers company did build an aircraft that closely resembled the "Mosquito" but which was made mostly of conventional alloys. It had a poor performance, esp. in spin-recovery, and remained a "one-off", like the more advanced "Moonbat".
Horten looking plane.
Jets. Good bye 262.
Prop driven Bat Plane.
Looks like an early attempt at the Warthog .
I had heard this film was just a propaganda flick to keep Iven off the Ox cart project .
Love the music...
3200-4000 HP, underpowered?
Compared to the planes weight, yes.
There would have been improvements but as it was, its 4.23 pounds per HP was second only to the Grumman f7F's 3.87 pounds per HP. For comparison of contemporary twin engined aircraft the power to weight ratio of the Douglass DC-3 is 7.03; North American B-25 is 5.97; Martin B-26 is 5.45; Douglass A-26 is 5.71; Lockheed P-38 is 6.67 There was many variations of all of these aircraft so direct comparisons are impossible but the figures I used are the published empty weights and the maximum HP of the engines.
+dhy5342 Hm. Well then I don't know. I do know that the plane had rather small wings which is why it buffeted so much upon stall.
+dhy5342 I just watched the video again, it said it had 2100hp. And that is with WEP.
Ethan Mitchell it was 1600 HP and War Emergency power of 2100 HP - PER ENGINE.
Gaijin please add this to war thunder
Stupid music, let us here the engine.
A terrible design. That thing will have been unpredictable to fly.