Originally Posted by
Top_Gunn
Today' clue.
Looking for the name of a very-well-known warbird.
1. Thousands built.
2. Flown by many countries.
3. Designed and the first prototype completed in less than a year.
4. It was not a modification of an earlier airplane, but its wing and at least part of its tail feathers had been used on earlier designs. Only the fuselage was entirely new.
5. Tricycle landing gear.
6. Mainly because of its wing design, it was somewhat faster and had a longer range than other similar aircraft of its time.
7. Shortcomings included a lower ceiling and some handling difficulties compared with similar contemporaries.
8. The company that built it was approached with a proposal that it become an additional manufacturer of another company's plane. It responded by offering to design a new airplane that would do the same job. The offer was accepted, and our target airplane was designed and built.
9. Most of the earliest production versions went to countries other than the country in which they were manufactured. Some of these had their armament removed, to serve in a role the need for which had not been fully anticipated before the war began.
Al, I know it can't be this simple, but I keep thinking about the B-24. Thanks; Ernie P.
Answer: B-24
The Liberator originated from a United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) request in 1938 for Consolidated to produce the B-17 under license. After company executives including President Reuben Fleet visited the Boeing factory in Seattle, Washington, Consolidated decided instead to submit a more modern design of its own.
The new Model 32 combined designer David R. Davis's wing, a high-efficiency airfoil design created by unorthodox means, with the twin tail design from the Consolidated Model 31flying boat, together on a new fuselage. This new fuselage was intentionally designed around twin bomb bays, each one being the same size and capacity of the B-17 bomb bays.
The U.S. Army Air Corps awarded a contract for the prototype XB-24 in March 1939, with the requirement that one example should be ready before the end of the year. Consolidated finished the prototype and had it ready for its first flight two days before the end of 1939. The design was simple in concept but, nevertheless, advanced for its time. Consolidated incorporated innovative features such as a tricycle landing gear and Davis wing.