circle-5 said:
joncarrfarrelly said:
No three-views, but hopefully helpful, a couple of cutaways posted at the San Diego Air & Space Museum (SDASM) Flickr Photostream, plus a whole bunch of photos, including some of the interior and cockpit (link):Stargazer2006 said:
foiling said:
if you'll PM me your email addressStargazer2006 said:
I have volumes 1 and 2 of books titled Convair Advanced Designs by Robert E. Bradley.
I think that the AAF forced Convair to splice a B-29 tail onto a B-32 in a desperate, and kind of humiliating, attempt to cure stability problems with the airplane. The fielded airplane had an almost comically tall fin, but I'd be surprised if it was based on the Boeing design.
I assume though that a lack of airline interest and backing in the R2Y compared with the Constellation and DC-4 meant that Convair had little choice but to cease work on it.
Because what the USN were looking for was a long range patrol bomber i.e. something capable of operating over long distances of the Pacific Ocean at low to medium altitudes searching out the Japanese fleet (reconnaissance being more important than bombing at that stage). In early 1942 all they had was the slow, poorly armed PBY Catalina and the prospect of low volumes of PBM Mariners and PB2Y Coronados, which in their early versions were similarly not very combat effective.
Well firstly the USN, for whom it was developed in the first place, decided they didn't like it. Wing spars intruded into the fuselage, weight limitations due the bomber undercarriage, estimated takeoff performance & lack of growth potential. A second aircraft was built and leased to American for experimental cargo use. But as no orders were then forthcoming from anyone, military or civil, the whole project was wound up and the aircraft ordered scrapped in Sept 1945.
The Privateer had the advantage of a relatively high amount of commonality with the B-24/
Thanks. I wasn't too sure about the chronology.The single finned Liberator / Privateer models can be traced back to wind tunnel testing by Consolidated in 1942 and then trials by Ford in early 1943 leading to the XB-24K. The USN decision to proceed with the single tailed Privateer predates the USAAF decision to move to the B-24N by some 6 months.
Initially the 3 PB4Y-2 Privateer prototypes flew with twin tails from Sept 1943 (and the first pair with standard B-24 engines). The second was refitted with a C-54 tail and the third (which had the PB4Y-2 engines) with the definitive tall tail which was standard on the production aircraft from March 1944.
One of the early LB-30 Liberator II supplied to the RAF in July 1942 (serial number AL504) and used as a special transport by Churchill, being named Commando, was returned to the US in Sept 1943 and modified with a single tail. It flew again in March 1944 and was lost over the Atlantic near the Azores in March 1945 with no survivors.
Commando (aircraft) - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
So a lot of work had been carried out on the single tailed variants before the USAAF decided that the future was the B-24N in April 1944.
That was actually a pretty common feature of US cargo planes at the time:
