What kind of aircraft is this?

[Silverplate]

http://www.pbase.com/marauder61/image/64601170

Some great photos on this site:

http://www.pbase.com/marauder61/vintage ... hotography

[gary1954]

I dunno, but I bet it had one heck of a cruise speed for a prop-job, looks very dy-o-namic

[tom d. friedman]

made by republic, don't remember the designation xb 69 or 67?? very advanced & state of the art, very controversial, & washed out fast. very beautiful lines too. i think howard hughes had a hand in this 1 if i recall correctly??

[tom d. friedman]

made by republic, don't remember the designation xb 69 or 67?? very advanced & state of the art, very controversial, & washed out fast. very beautiful lines too. i think howard hughes had a hand in this 1 if i recall correctly??

[visaliaaviation]

This was Republic's follow-on bid to their P-47. Can't recall it's official designation but it's known as the Rainbow, IIRC.

Republic lost it's fighter sales as the USAAF was standardizing on P-51 from mid-'44 onwards. So instead of fighters or bombers Republic developed their SeaBee.

Republic "Rainbow:"

http://www.air-and-space.com/Republic%20XF-12.htm

[T J Johansen]

And you can find some footage of the a/c on youtube if I'm not mistaken.

T J

[The Inspector]

Republic XF-12 (photo recon, not fighter) RAINBOW 4 P&W 4360's and augmented exhaust. PAN AM placed preliminary orders for an airliner version (like they did for the LOCKHEED CONSTITUTION and XC-99) Cool looking but came along at the wrong point in time, everyone was getting high on JP-2 fumes about this time frame=