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The Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender (pejoritavely nicknamed the Ass-Ender) was so laden with quick fixes to its aerodynamic quirks that it looked terribly offensi
by cf100clunk 3y ago
The Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender (pejoritavely nicknamed the Ass-Ender) was so laden with quick fixes to its aerodynamic quirks that it looked terribly offensive to me:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss-Wright_XP-55_Ascender https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss-Wright_XP-55_Ascender
It was a precursor to engine-in-fuselage jet aircraft design, but it sure was not a ''clean'' aircraft. The Vultee XP-54 and Northrop XP-56 prototypes of the same era (referenced in the Wikipedia article) are equally bizarre-looking.
- Gazoche 3y agoThat plane design looks pretty awesome to me. Remove the propeller and it wouldn't look out of place zipping through space, shooting down TIE fighters.
- verandaguy 3y agoI'd bet money that this was used as an inspiration for the planes from Crimson Skies. Some of the most iconic ones from that game were all WW2/art-deco-styled canard designs with pusher props. Honestly, it's kind of a look.
- cf100clunk 3y agoI think you are right about the influence. It seems the Ascender showed up in Combat Flight Simulator 3: https://combat-flight-simulator-3.fandom.com/wiki/Curtiss_P-55_Ascender https://combat-flight-simulator-3.fandom.com/wiki/Curtiss_P-...
- gtroja 3y agoI thought the same thing! (love de pc game, the "BattleStations, BattleStations, all crews to BattleStations" never leaves my mind)