This Day in Aviation History

November 27th, 1944
First flight of the Boeing XF8B.

The Boeing XF8B (Model 400) was a single-engine aircraft developed by Boeing during World War II to provide the United States Navy a long-range shipboard fighter aircraft. The XF8B was intended for operation against the Japanese home islands from aircraft carriers outside the range of Japanese land-based aircraft. Designed for various roles including interceptor, long-range escort fighter, dive-bomber and torpedo bomber, the final design embodied a number of innovative features in order to accomplish the various roles. Despite its formidable capabilities, the XF8B-1 was fated to never enter series production.

The XF8B-1 was, at the time, the largest and heaviest single-seat, single-engine fighter developed in the United States. Boeing called the XF8B-1 optimistically, the “five-in-one fighter” (fighter, interceptor, dive bomber, torpedo bomber, or level bomber). It was powered by a single 3,000 hp (2,200 kW) Pratt & Whitney XR-4360-10 four-row 28-cylinder radial engine, driving two three-bladed contra-rotating propellers. It would be the largest single-seat piston fighter to fly in the U.S. to date….

Source:
Wikipedia, Boeing XF8B:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_XF8B

YouTube, Boeing XF8B-1 Navy Fighter Bomber 1945 “Boeing Model 400”: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHyzRJW2N2o

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