Vultee XP54 "Swoose Goose"
Model Airplane News Cover Art for May, 1945
by Jo Kotula
Click to Enlarge

Vultee submitted a proposal in response to a U.S. Army Air Corps request for an aircraft with unusual configuration. The Vultee design won the competition, beating the Curtiss XP-55 "Ascender" and the Northrop XP-56 "Black Bullet" (above) . Vultee had designated it Model 84, a descendant of their earlier Model 78. After completing preliminary engineering and wind tunnel tests, a contract for a prototype was awarded on 8 January 1941. A second prototype was ordered on 17 March 1942.

The Pratt & Whitney X-1800 engine was initially proposed as the powerplant but after its development was discontinued, the liquid-cooled Lycoming XH-2470 was substituted.

Vultee XP-54 "Swoose Goose"

Click to Enlarge

The XP-54 was designed with a pusher engine in the aft part of the fuselage. The tail was mounted rearward between two mid-wing booms, with the 12-ft propeller between them. The design included a "ducted wing section" and radiators and intercoolers in the inverted gull wing. Although it appeared to be a radical design, its actual performance was lackluster and the project was subsequently canceled.

  

Patent Diagrams for the Swoose Goose
Design Patent D-138,795
Click to Enlarge
Click Here to learn how to get free patent diagrams

Click Here for more information about the "Swoose Goose" .

Click to go back and select another cover.

Counter for the Entire Site (not just this page..)