Word: vought
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Horsepower? Where design will go next is anybody's guess. Because the engine design comes first, the plane next, this year's engine must go into next year's plane. Thus this year's 2,000-h.p. radials will not power Republic and Vought-Sikorsky airplanes in production quantities until 1942. And for 1941, British and U.S. pilots flying the latest U.S.-made fighter planes will shove the throttle on last year's engines-power plants ranging from 1,000 to 1,350 horsepower...
...head. It has bought an Allison-powered plane or two to keep up with the development parade but has stuck to the air-cooled engine for its fighter designs. Result of the Navy's unwillingness to abandon one design for another is that its newest fighter, the Vought-Sikorsky F4U (TIME, Dec. 9), is the fastest airplane built in the U. S.; its 2,000-h.p. air-cooled engine has power to burn...
...headed south, landed an hour later at Washington (275 miles), where Navy pilots flew it, found it good. Of Vought-Sikorsky's new F4U, built on contract to Navy specifications, Secretary of the Navy Knox had proudly announced that it had a high speed in excess of 400 m.p.h. Tough, seasoned Rear Admiral Jack Towers, the Navy's veteran flying air chief, had said to newsmen: "I believe this to be the fastest airplane in the U. S. today." One newsman, remembering glowing reports of 450-m.p.h. speeds by other U. S. fighting aircraft, asked how come...
When P. & W. came out with its 1,850-h.p. radial engine, later stepped up to 2,000, the Vought-Sikorsky F4U became feasible, with the assistance of research-wise National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which helped slick the new plane up as no air-cooled job had ever been slicked before. An old flying adage is that "there is no substitute for soup," i.e., horsepower. In soup the new radials were ahead of the Allison by close to 2-to-1, even when the Allison was putting out its full power. Excess power means not only more speed...
Burdened with a lot of weight that Army pursuit ships do not need-catapult and arresting gear, a beefed-up tail for carrier service, flotation gear-the Vought-Sikorsky F4U still has a cruising radius of more than 1,000 miles, a service ceiling in excess of 30,000 feet. Fitted with the new 2,000-h.p. engine - in place of the 1,850-h.p. that now drives it-it will have still better performance...