The Douglas Model 423 was a bomber aircraft design developed by American aircraft manufacturer Douglas to compete with the Convair B-36 design for a major U.S. Army Air Force contract for an intercontinental bomber in 1941. Although identified as the Douglas XB-31 in some publications, the project documents indicate that it was designed much later than the R40-B competition.
| Douglas Model 423 | |
|---|---|
| Role | Heavy bomber |
| Manufacturer | Douglas Aircraft |
| Status | Design only |
| Primary user | United States Army Air Force |
| Number built | 0 |
Development
editIn April 1941, the possibility of Great Britain falling to Nazi Germany seemed very real, and so the United States Army Air Corps unveiled a competition for a long-range bomber with intercontinental range (10,000 miles), making it capable of conducting air-strikes on Nazi-occupied Europe from US bases. Douglas stated that it did not wish to produce an 'out-and-out 10,000-mile (16,090 km) airplane project', instead proposing the Model 423 with a range of 6,000 miles (9,654 km).[1] The Douglas Model 423 was eventually rejected in favor of the Consolidated Model 36, which became the Convair B-36 Peacemaker.
Specifications (Model 423)
edit(Note: The primary source labels this project as the XB-31, which was much smaller, earlier project, competing with the B-29 and B-32)
Data from McDonnell Douglas aircraft since 1920 : Volume I (erroneously labelled as XB-31)[2]
General characteristics
- Crew: 8
- Length: 117 ft 3 in (35.74 m)
- Wingspan: 207 ft (63 m)
- Height: 42 ft 7 in (12.98 m)
- Wing area: 3,300 sq ft (310 m2)
- Empty weight: 109,200 lb (49,532 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 198,000 lb (89,811 kg)
- Powerplant: 4 × Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major 28-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines, 3,000 hp (2,200 kW) each
- Propellers: 3-bladed constant-speed propellers
Performance
Armament
- Guns:
- 6× 0.50 in (13 mm) machine guns in remote ventral and dorsal turrets
- 2× 37 mm (1.5 in) cannon
- Bombs:
- 25,000 lb (11,000 kg) of bombs
See also
editAircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
Related lists
References
editCitations
edit- ^ Buttler, Tony, and Griffith, Alan, 2015. American Secret Projects: Fighters, Bombers, and Attack Aircraft, 1937–1945. Manchester: Crecy Publishing. ISBN 978-1906537487.
- ^ Francillon, René J. (1988). McDonnell Douglas aircraft since 1920 : Volume I. London: Naval Institute Press. p. 607. ISBN 0870214284.
Bibliography
edit- Francillon, René J. McDonnell Douglas Aircraft since 1920. London: Putnam & Company Ltd., 1979. ISBN 0-370-00050-1.
- Jones, Lloyd S. U.S. Bombers: B-1 1928 to B-1 1980s. Fallbrook, California: Aero Publishers, Inc., 1974. ISBN 0-8168-9126-5.