ebooksgratis.com

See also ebooksgratis.com: no banners, no cookies, totally FREE.

CLASSICISTRANIERI HOME PAGE - YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Terms and Conditions
Douglas XB-31 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Douglas XB-31

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

XB-31

A model of the XB-31.

Type Heavy bomber
Manufacturer Douglas Aircraft
Status Design only
Primary user United States Army Air Forces
Number built 0

The Douglas XB-31 (Douglas Model 423) was the design submitted by Douglas after the request by the United States Army Air Forces for a very heavy bomber aircraft, the same request that led to the B-29 Superfortress and B-32 Dominator.

Around 1938, United States Army General Henry H. 'Hap' Arnold, the head of the Army Air Force, was growing alarmed at the possibility of war in Europe and in the Pacific. Hoping to be prepared for the long-term requirements of the Air Force, Arnold created a special committee chaired by Brigadier General W. G. Kilner; one of its members was Charles Lindbergh. After a tour of Luftwaffe bases, Lindbergh became convinced that Nazi Germany was far ahead of other European nations. In a report in 1939, the committee made a number of recommendations, including development of new long-range heavy bombers. When war broke out in Europe, Arnold requested design studies from several companies on a Very Long-Range bomber capable of traveling 5,000 miles (8,000 km). Approval was granted on December 2.

Despite the promising design, it never progressed past the design stage, mainly because Boeing had a huge head start with its B-29 Superfortress.

Contents

[edit] Specifications (as designed)

General characteristics

  • Crew: 8
  • Length: 117 ft 3 in (35.7 m)
  • Wingspan: 207 ft 0 in (63.1 m)
  • Height: 42 ft 7 in (12.99 m)
  • Wing area: 3,300 ft² (310 m²)
  • Empty weight: 109,200 lb (49,530 kg)
  • Loaded weight: 134,200 lb (60,870 kg)
  • Max takeoff weight: 198,000 lb (89,800 kg)
  • Powerplant:Wright R-3350-13 "Cyclone" radials, 2,200 hp (1641 kW) each
  • Powerplant after later redesign:Pratt & Whitney R-4360 "Wasp Major" radials, 3,000 hp (2238 kW) each

Performance (estimated)

Armament

  • Guns:
    • 4× .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns in remote ventral and dorsal turrets
    • 2× 1.46 in (37 mm) cannon in tail
  • Bombs: 25,000 lb (11,000 kg) in two ventral bomb bays

[edit] See also

References

Notes

Bibliography

  • 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, CA: Aero Publishers, Inc., 1974. ISBN 0-8168-9126-5.

External links

Comparable aircraft

Related lists

Languages


aa - ab - af - ak - als - am - an - ang - ar - arc - as - ast - av - ay - az - ba - bar - bat_smg - bcl - be - be_x_old - bg - bh - bi - bm - bn - bo - bpy - br - bs - bug - bxr - ca - cbk_zam - cdo - ce - ceb - ch - cho - chr - chy - co - cr - crh - cs - csb - cu - cv - cy - da - de - diq - dsb - dv - dz - ee - el - eml - en - eo - es - et - eu - ext - fa - ff - fi - fiu_vro - fj - fo - fr - frp - fur - fy - ga - gan - gd - gl - glk - gn - got - gu - gv - ha - hak - haw - he - hi - hif - ho - hr - hsb - ht - hu - hy - hz - ia - id - ie - ig - ii - ik - ilo - io - is - it - iu - ja - jbo - jv - ka - kaa - kab - kg - ki - kj - kk - kl - km - kn - ko - kr - ks - ksh - ku - kv - kw - ky - la - lad - lb - lbe - lg - li - lij - lmo - ln - lo - lt - lv - map_bms - mdf - mg - mh - mi - mk - ml - mn - mo - mr - mt - mus - my - myv - mzn - na - nah - nap - nds - nds_nl - ne - new - ng - nl - nn - no - nov - nrm - nv - ny - oc - om - or - os - pa - pag - pam - pap - pdc - pi - pih - pl - pms - ps - pt - qu - quality - rm - rmy - rn - ro - roa_rup - roa_tara - ru - rw - sa - sah - sc - scn - sco - sd - se - sg - sh - si - simple - sk - sl - sm - sn - so - sr - srn - ss - st - stq - su - sv - sw - szl - ta - te - tet - tg - th - ti - tk - tl - tlh - tn - to - tpi - tr - ts - tt - tum - tw - ty - udm - ug - uk - ur - uz - ve - vec - vi - vls - vo - wa - war - wo - wuu - xal - xh - yi - yo - za - zea - zh - zh_classical - zh_min_nan - zh_yue - zu -