Chapter 730 American High-Altitude Fighter

Washington, USA.

Army Air Force Commander Arnold rushed into President Wilkie's office excitedly. "Mr. President, Mr. President, good news!! Our high-altitude fighter has been successfully developed!!"

"Great! What good news!" President Wilkie stood up excitedly. These days, German bombers have been visiting every day, and the frustration in his heart is about to explode. "Is it North American Aviation or Lockheed?"

Commander Arnold shook his head. "Neither, it's McDonnell."

"McDonnell?" President Wilkie was stunned. At this time, the main aircraft manufacturers in the United States are North American Aviation, Consolidated-Voltie, Douglas Aircraft, Curtiss-Wright, Grumman Aircraft Engineering, Boeing, Lockheed Aircraft, Republic Aircraft, Bell Aircraft, Glenn Martin Aircraft, etc. Ten large manufacturers; in addition, there are many small and medium-sized manufacturers, but this McDonnell company is unheard of.

Commander Arnold explained. "This McDonnell company is a new company that was just established two years ago. Previously, it was only responsible for the production of aircraft parts, but in my opinion, it is a company with great potential."

In order to deal with the German high-altitude bombers, the US Army Air Force proposed the R-40C bidding plan. This bidding plan is very bold, and there are not many restrictions on the body structure, allowing design companies to give full play to their imagination and bold exploration. As long as the high altitude and high speed requirements can be met, it is okay to design the aircraft into the shape of a toilet.

McDonnell, which has just entered the field of fighter design, also intends to get a share of the pie. They have designed a very novel fighter before. Unlike the engine and blade connection structure of traditional propeller aircraft, this is a new structure with gear transmission. An engine is arranged behind the cockpit, and the power is transmitted to the propeller on the wing through gears, transmission shafts and other structures.

However, this fighter was not favored by the US Army Air Force, and in this bidding, McDonnell changed the previous design plan. This fighter, codenamed XP-67, adopts many very novel designs. The fuselage adopts a structure similar to wing-body fusion. The designer hopes that the airflow can pass smoothly from the back of the aircraft to generate greater lift and reduce flight resistance. Under this design concept, the appearance of XP-67 is extremely simple and smooth, even a bit like the style of jet fighters in the 1960s and 1970s. Its flat streamlined structure has earned the nickname "Bat".

"Although this prototype has various minor problems (many problems were found during wind tunnel testing, such as unreasonable engine cooling airflow structure, and the pursuit of smooth fuselage requires very strict finishing, etc., but overall it is still successful), it can indeed rise to an altitude of 14,000 meters." At that altitude, there is almost no maneuverability, but it is still no problem to attack German bombers.

"No matter whether it is a new company or an old company, no matter whether the cat is black or white, it is a good cat if it catches mice!" President Wilkie immediately made the decision. "Put it into production immediately. Even if we can't shoot down the German bombers for the time being, we have to let them know that we have fighters that can climb to an altitude of 14,000 meters, which can at least make them restrain themselves a little." So far, the German army has no more than 150 high-altitude bombers. These bombers must be finely crafted and expensive; the Germans will feel distressed if a few are shot down.

Arnold couldn't help but sigh. "I'm afraid the Germans already know." The German spy network has not been cracked yet, and he suspects that the news has reached Germany.

His guess was right. At this moment, in the Berlin Palace on the other side of the Atlantic, Reinhard was reporting this intelligence to Yannick. "Your Highness, the American McDonnell Company has developed a prototype of a high-altitude fighter code-named XP-67."

"Oh?" Yannick raised his eyebrows slightly. "Pretty fast."

He knew that although the design of this XP-67 fighter was very novel, the engine was not very reliable. The engine was not only underpowered, but also prone to overheating and malfunctions, which caused fatal damage to the subsequent prototype test flight. The first one caught fire during the last test flight due to overheating due to excessive speed. Although the pilot successfully landed, the plane was still burned by the fire.

McDonnell could not tolerate the delay of the engine to the project and prepared to raise funds to improve the engine. However, the military at that time believed that the development prospects of XP-67 were not as good as those of P-51 Mustang fighter, so P-51 fighter was selected.

Although XP-67 failed to be put into production, it did not mean that it failed, because during World War II, McDonnell not only developed XP-67, but also jet aircraft, and the exploration of XP-67 in aerodynamics was not in vain. Jet fighters such as F2H "Banshee" after the war were more or less affected.

"Pay close attention to the development trend of this fighter. Once the Americans produce and deploy it, we should stop bombing the US mainland."

He didn't know whether the Americans had solved the problem of XP-67 engine, but even if it took off for a short while, it could pose a threat to their own bombers.

Just like the German Me-163 "Comet" fighter in the original time and space, its actual combat hovering time was only a few minutes, but its participation in the war still caused considerable fear to the Allied pilots. There was once a "Comet panic" among the Allied forces. Because of its small size and fast speed, the Allied aircraft did not have time to aim and shoot at it. Even the 4-engine heavy bomber with 360-degree self-defense firepower like the B-17 "Flying Fortress" did not cause any damage to it. As a result, when carrying out the bombing, the Allies had to bypass the combat area of ​​the Me163 fighter.

Although the XP163 "Comet" was so exaggerated, the Me-264D high-altitude bomber of the Allies cancelled all self-defense weapons and was not equipped with even a machine gun or a turret. Therefore, once the opponent's fighters climbed to this height, these behemoths would be lambs to be slaughtered and had no power to fight back.

As for letting fighters escort, that was even more a fantasy.

Even with external fuel tanks, the latest model of the FW-190D has a maximum range of only 2,700 kilometers, and a combat radius of 1,000 kilometers at most, so it is naturally impossible to escort bombers to the U.S. mainland. But you have to know that this range is already quite amazing. Throughout World War II, only the Zero Fighter (the Zero Fighter 21 can fly more than 3,300 kilometers in a straight line when carrying external fuel tanks) and the F-47N Thunderbolt (range 3,200 kilometers) can exceed this range. As for jet fighters, even if they have developed to the second generation, there are very few that can exceed this distance.