Warbird Information Exchange

Greetings all,

I need images of this airplane. Any help

Somewhere I have some cockpit pics of the Stringaree at Quonset Air Museum. Send me a PM with your preferred e-mail address, and I'll see what I can do.

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It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

Mgawa,
Approx. when was this a/c built and flown?
Canso42

From this year,



Bill

http://users.ids.net/~qam/AircraftPages ... f15c1.html

You're getting lazy, Canso. Google it, Man.

_________________
It was a good idea, it just didn't work.

Dan-K... chwck your PM box. BTW- I have try to contact this museum where sole sample is preserved but email return as well wrong address [I copy\paste this]

Short history:

Curtiss designed a mixed-powered fighter as Model 99. It received the U.S. Navy type designation F15C-1. On 7 April 1944 Curtiss received a contract for the construction of three XF15C-1 prototypes. The assigned Bureau of Aeronautics serial numbers were 01213, 01214 and 01215. The new Curtiss fighter was fitted with a nose-mounted Pratt and Whitney R-2800 radial engine and an Allis-Chalmers J36 jet engine, which was in fact a licence built De Havilland H1-B Goblin from the U.K. The air intakes for the jet engine were placed in the wing roots. The exhaust of the jet engine was fitted under the fuselage. Further, the XF15C-1 was of modern all-metal construction, fitted with a teardrop shaped cockpit canopy and an undercarriage with a nose wheel.
The first XF-15C-1 made its maiden flight on 27 February 1945, still without the jet engine since this was still mounted in the bomb-bay of a converted TBF Avenger torpedo bomber for in-flight testing. Pilot on this occasion was Curtiss test pilot Lloyd Childs. On 3 May 1945, the first flight with both engines mounted could be made. Five days later, this machine crashed when on the landing approach the piston engine quitted because of fuel starvation. Curtiss test pilot Charles Cox was tragically killed in this crash.
The second XF15C-1 made its first flight on 9 July 1945, again flown by Lloyd Childs. All three prototypes were originally fitted with a fuselage mounted horizontal tail plane. To improve the flight characteristics, it was later reallocated to the top of the vertical stabilizer at the second and third machine. With the remaining two prototypes, operational evaluation tests were conducted until October 1946. Since the performances of the XF15C-1 were far below these of pure jet fighters, the program was terminated. Both prototypes were transferred to the Naval Air Test Centre at Patuxent River as general test aircraft, but eventually, they were hardly flown. No. 01214 was scrapped, but the last machine, no. 01215, still exists. It is now part of the collection of the Bradley Air Museum in Connecticut.

Technical details:
Power plant: one Pratt and Whitney R-2800-34W radial engine of 2100 hp and an Allis-Chalmers J36 jet engine of 1226 kg thrust
Sizes: wingspan 14.64 m
length 13.42 m
height 4.65 m
wing area 37.16 m2
Weights: empty weight 5737 kg
loaded weight 7543 kg (maximal 8481 kg)
Performances: max. speed 695 km/h at sea level ( 755km/h at 7715 m)
service ceiling 12,750 m
range 2228 km
Armament: four 20 mm cannons in the wings for the production version. The prototypes were unarmed
Accommodation: pilot

Bill- nice image Is there any archive images?

Same concept as the Ryan Fireball. Ryan did iit better.

In the moment I can not remember source, some old book I think, but in that time engeneers did not thrust much in sole jet power. There was several turner/burner project but all of them failed to enter in wide use. Simply jet power offer more for fighter design. In other hand jet power did not have the same as classic engine and bombers were more prefer to have piston engine in a reason of endurance and range.

A year ago I have made profile of this XP-81

Biggest problem from a Naval standpoint was the slow spool up time compared to instantaneous power from the recips. This was a serious problem when a Naval pilot needed to initiate a go round on the boat. The other problem with the early engines was low thrust. These compound designs allowed the Navy to work out the bugs as theybegan the transition to jets onboard ship.

True- reaction of the engine on throttle control was slower and also engine ratio of total weight vs thrust was also low. And at sea this could be very very critical factor.

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WOW! I didn't even know one survived. YAY!

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Must have been comforting to know you were flying under Allis-Chalmers power! Wouldn't it be cool to see this in formation with Planes of Fame's Fireball? Maybe with a C-119 and a C-123 too. 6 turning and 6 burning.

I say we put together an Allis-Chalmers Heritage Flight Program... er, Heritage TAXI Program... with this:

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Ryan Keough
Stow, MA

I have another image from the reverse side I will process after the weekend. I don't have any other images.

The museum (QAM) seems to have numerous email issues, I could never get through to them either before or after my visit.

Bill.

What many people don't realize is that the XF15C is still in it's original, as flown, condition. Except for the white on the markings, it has never been re-painted. The interior is original also.
When the New England Air Museum had custody of the aircraft, I spent many hours dusting it. It is a very unique time capsule and represents a dead end/stop gap attempt to blend to eras of aviation together. (until the new one could catch up!)
I remember taking Jeff Ethell up and into the cockpit back in 1996. He was amazed at the originality of the airframe. He thought it would be pretty neat to get it flying again and fly into an air show with the prop feathered and perform a fly by and landing!
Neat aircraft and if you're ever around Rhode Island, you should definitely stop by and see it.
Jerry

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."