Cool Airplanes: Bell XP-77

[AAFO_WSagar]

Was just watching the Discovery Wings channel and a show (have not caught the name) featured a prototype by Bell at the beginning of the 40's that caught my eye



More Info Here

The shots on the web do not look as good as the video shots of the airplane on the show... Strangely enough, from some angles, it looks a little bit like the Questair airplanes.. maybe just the size but the "look" is there to my eye....

Sort of an interesting design, the size, likely, would have kept it from being a serious fighter/pursuit airplane but as a racer... hummn....

Wayne

[blacksheep]

power?

lets see , 27.5ft wingspan, 22.9ft long ,change the wood construction to composites

Wonder how much horsepower you could get out of the original Ranger 6 cyclinder engine?


Dan

[Unregistered]

It seems as though I saw a first-hand pilot report that the XP-77 had less than sterling handling properties...

I have wondered if anyone would take on an accurate replica as a homebuilt project, though.

[Peashooter]

Here are the specs:

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/research/p77.htm

It had the inverted V-12 Ranger of 520 hp. Peas

[blacksheep]

supercharged

It was suposed to be built with the supercharged version of the Ranger AIr cooled V12 and have a top speed of over 400 but never got the "Big" engine so had rated top speed of 330 mph at a weight of a little over 3,000 lbs



Dan