Some interesting & Unusual ideas & uses ...

[Mark Allen M]

Never a shortage of ideas going on back in the day ... sources NMNA archives, Fold3 U.S. Air Force photos. SDASM archives.

Part 1


Grumman F4F Wldcats with experimental wing extensions. Obviously never came to a practical use for the type. Almost looks to be a photoshop illusion.


Experimental XTDL-1 fighter aircraft that is one of two delivered for use as target drones. Bell Aerospace in Buffalo, NY c 1946, I don't see much of a difference to the P-39 here. During World War II, the U.S. Navy acquired a single P-39Q from the USAAF and converted it to a radio-controlled target drone with the designation XTDL-1. In 1946, the Navy operated two additional P-39Q drone conversions as the F2L-1K. The latter were possibly also designated as XTDL-1 orginally.


XTDL-1 fighter aircraft that is one of two delivered for use as target drones. Bell Aerospace in Buffalo, NY.


A-25A, the Army Air Forces version of the SB2C Helldiver, pictured in a hangar, possibly at Wright Field in Dayton, OH 1944. Interesting location for guns in the wings and the half white wall tires for some reason. Any ideas?


F6F-3K Hellcat of the Joint Task Force of Operation Crossroads lauched off the flight deck of USS Shangri-La (CV-38). Weird to see no pilot.


F6F-3K Hellcat of Operation Crossroads in flight preparing for testing. The base was probably at NAS Atlantic City, NJ c 1946


Navy Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat using Jet Assist to take off c 1943


P-40K 42-9870 25th FS 51st FG with belly tank configured to carry mail c 1944


P-40K 42-9870 25th FS 51st FG with belly tank configured to carry mail c 1944


P-40K 42-9870 25th FS 51st FG with belly tank configured to carry mail c 1944


P-40K 42-9870 25th FS 51st FG with belly tank configured to carry mail c 1944


F-5B of the 28th PRS with modified drop tanks for high speed Medevac ops c 1944


F-5B of the 28th PRS with modified drop tanks for high speed Medevac ops c 1944
Axis & Allied paintworks
With the island hopping campaign in the Pacific, it became apparent that a faster way was needed too get wounded from the front line.
P-38's/F-5's were used with specially designed drop tanks, that could accommodate injured servicemen.
This was a very uncomfortable way to fly. Some of the pods weren't even fitted with a window to let the victim see out or bring in light. One fellow who hitched a lift on a P-38 in one of these pods later said that whoever designed the darn thing should have been forced to ride in it!!!


F-5B of the 28th PRS with modified drop tanks for high speed Medevac ops c 1944


F-5B of the 28th PRS with modified drop tanks for high speed Medevac ops c 1944


F-5B of the 28th PRS with modified drop tanks for high speed Medevac ops c 1944


SNJ-5C Texan contracted for use by All Amercian Airways conducts testing of operating the aircraft on hydroskis in the Chesapeake Bay c 1951


FM-1 of NOTS (Naval Ordnance Testing Station) of China Lake, at Inyorkern, CA c 1943, looks to be rocket launchers


Target release mechanism on an FM-2 of VC-94 at NAS Pasco, WA 1944


P-47 with fins attached to wing tanks. P-47 42-28102 Republic P-47D-23-RA Thunderbolt (508th FG, 468th FS) crashlanded at Mokuleia AAF


P-47 with fins attached to wing tanks. P-47 42-28102 Republic P-47D-23-RA Thunderbolt (508th FG, 468th FS) crashlanded at Mokuleia AAF


P-47 with fins attached to wing tanks. P-47 42-28102 Republic P-47D-23-RA Thunderbolt (508th FG, 468th FS) crashlanded at Mokuleia AAF


AT6 with a 165 gallon wing tank equiped with heavy fins


Axis & Allied paintworks.
TODAY'S EXPERIMENTS with visual stealth have their roots in a 1943 U.S. Navy project code-named Yehudi. The intent of the program, which was highly secret at the time and came to light only in the1980s, was to give Navy patrol aircraft a better chance of sinking enemy submarines. During 1942, German U-boats took a heavy toll on merchant marine shipping off the East Coast of the United States. Aircraft scrambled to attack the U-boats, but submarine captains called for crash dives whenever they spotted approaching planes. By the time an aircraft got close enough to fire upon a sub, it had disappeared beneath the surface of the ocean.

Yehudi's inventors needed a way to make the antisubmarine aircraft harder to see, and they realized that camouflage paint wouldn't do the job: Regardless of its color, the airplane would stand out as a black dot against the sky. The only way to make the plane less visible was to light it up like a Christmas tree.

The engineers fitted a portly TBM-3D Avenger torpedo-bomber with 10 sealed-beam lights installed along the wing's leading edges and the rim of the engine cowling. When the intensity of the lights was adjusted to match the sky, the Avenger blended into the background. Tests proved that the Yehudi system lowered the visual acquisition range from 12 miles to two miles, allowing the Avenger to get within striking distance of its targets before they submerged. A B-24 Liberator bomber was also modified, with similar results.

Yehudi was not put into production, because better radar had already enabled Navy airplanes to regain the tactical advantage, but the idea was revived after air battles over Vietnam. Concerned that the big F-4 Phantom could be seen at a greater range than its much smaller Russian adversary, the MiG-21, the Pentagon started a program called Compass Ghost. An F-4 was modified with a blue-and-white color scheme and nine high-intensity lamps on the wings and body. reducing the detection range by as much as 30 percent.


F9F-3 BuNo122562 with optional angle firing gun experiment. Can't imagine this idea work too well.


F9F-3 BuNo122562 with optional angle firing gun experiment.

Would you like to see more? ....

[seagull61785]

Yes please - I sure would Mark.

On the last pic of the F9 with the angled battery of .50 calibres, the angle of the alignment seems to suggest the engagement of ground targets while maintaining an accurate turn. Brings to mind the mini-gun equipped Dragon Ships. Is this for a similar mission capability maybe?

Thanks

Barry

[Cherrybomber13]

It would have been a heck of alot safer to take on bombers in formation if you were going to strafe them, it would seem.

[Mark Allen M]

Part 2

Glidebombs, more drones, radio controlled aircraft etc.


BG-1 Glidebomb B-17G 279th BG 8 June 1944


BG-1s being shackled 390th BG 29 Sept 1943

art
BG-1 Glidebomb B-17G 303rd BG 27 Oct 1943


BG-1 Glidebomb B-17G 303rd BG 27 Oct 1943


BG-1 Glidebomb B-17G 279th BG 8 June 1944


BG-1 Glidebomb B-17G 279th BG 8 June 1944


This B-17 is controlling the other B-17 by radio control. If you look for the belly turret it has been removed and replaced by a radio transmission device.


B-17 44-85820 58th BG, used in Bikini Atoll A-Bomb tests


Boeing B-17 Drone


Boeing B-17 Drone


TBM controller 12 Oct 1943


InterstateTDR-1


InterstateTDR-1


Culver Pq 8A 'Red Fox', Radio Controlled Airplane. Wheeler Field, Oahu, Hawaii, April 1945


Metal Stick Operator, On Top Of Radio Control Truck, Guides Culver Pq 8A 'Red Fox', Radio Controlled Airplane On Take Off. Wheeler Field, Oahu, Hawaii, April 45


Metal Stick Operator, On Top Of Radio Control Truck, Guides Culver Pq 8A 'Red Fox', Radio Controlled Airplane On Take Off. Wheeler Field, Oahu, Hawaii, April 1945


Culver Pq 8's


Culver Pq 8's


Culver Pq 8's in flight with a B-24


Culver Pq 8's in flight with a B-24

[SaxMan]

That must have been a pretty wild ride in the medevac drop tanks slung under a P-38. Scary AND claustrophobic.

[Speedy]

That must have been a pretty wild ride in the medevac drop tanks slung under a P-38. Scary AND claustrophobic.

Hey, they could sell 'experiences' with those today....two at a time.

[bdk]

Looks like PQ-14s with the B-24s.

[Mark Allen M]

Looks like PQ-14s with the B-24s.

Correct you are. Thx for the correction.

Wasn't one of those glass nosed P-38 tanks used by a LIFE photographer to shoot Okinawa's invasion activity?

[Mark Allen M]

Add a few more photos to that F9F idea.

"In the summer of 1950, a re-engined F9F-3 (BuNo 122562) was fitted with an experimental electro-hydraulically driven Emerson Aero X17A roll-traverse turret housing four 0.50-inch machine guns. The guns could be directed at any angle from directly forward to 20 degrees aft, and the gun mount could be rolled the full 360 degrees in either direction. The turret could roll at a rate of 100 degrees per second, and the guns could be traversed at up to 200 degrees per second.

Although the tests with the turret went fairly well, delays in the development of the associated radar and fire control system led to the project being cancelled in early 1954."

[maxum96]

A-25A, the Army Air Forces version of the SB2C Helldiver, pictured in a hangar, possibly at Wright Field in Dayton, OH 1944. Interesting location for guns in the wings and the half white wall tires for some reason. Any ideas?

Probably to tell if they're turning or locked. Drag racers and semi trucks do this to tell if the tires are spinning.

[JohnB]

That must have been a pretty wild ride in the medevac drop tanks slung under a P-38. Scary AND claustrophobic.

They'd have to fly low to keep the poor guy from freezing.

Still, it's not much different fro the enclosed external litters on H-5s and HO3S in Korea.