Subject: Number Fifty-Eight in the Series--Lockheed XP-58

From: [email-masked]
Date: 8 Mar 93 17:18:32 GMT

>From [email-masked]

The Lockheed XP-58 is almost a textbook example of what changing 
requirements, military mismanagement, and vacillating officialdom can 
do to a promising military aircraft project.  The XP-58 started life 
as a fairly straightforward development of the P-38 Lightning fighter, 
evolved in stages into an escort fighter, then into an attack plane, 
then into a bomber, then into a tank buster, and then finally into a 
bomber destroyer.  These incessant changes in requirements, combined 
with several changes in powerplants, resulted in the XP-58, which 
started life in 1940, being delayed until nearly the end of the war.  

In early 1940, the US Army reserved for itself the right to refuse 
permission for its American military aircraft suppliers to export 
these aircraft to overseas customers.  This was particularly true if 
the Army felt that the foreign order might possibly result in undue 
delays in deliveries of these aircraft to its own squadrons.  
Consequently, when Britain and France wanted to purchase the Model 322 
Lightning from Lockheed, the Army was reluctant to give its approval 
since it had already ordered YP-38 Lightnings for its own use.  
However, the USAAC finally did grant authorization to export the 
unturbosupercharged Lightning to Britain and France, but only under 
the condition that Lockheed agree to develop and produce at no cost to 
the U.S. government a prototype of an advanced version of the 
Lightning.  The formal agreement was signed on April 12, 1940.  

This advanced Lightning was was given the company designation of 
L-121, and James Gerschler was named as project engineer.  The L-121 
was to be powered by a pair of turbosupercharged Continental IV-1430 
liquid-cooled engines.  It was to be offered in two versions, a 
single- seater and a two-seater.  The single-seat version was to 
retain the standard P-38 armament of one 20-mm cannon and four 
0.50-inch machine guns.  The two-seat version was to have an 
additional armament of a single 0.50-inch machine gun mounted in a 
remotely-controlled barbette situated at the end of each tail boom.  
Gross weight was estimated at 16,500 pounds, and the aircraft was 
expected to attain 450 mph at 25,000 feet.  

During a meeting at Wright Field in May 1940, it was decided to drop 
the single-seater and proceed with the two-seat version, which was 
assigned the designation XP-58.  In July 1940, it was concluded that 
the XP-58 would be underpowered with the Continental engines, and the 
decision was made to switch to a pair of 1800 hp Pratt & Whitney 
XH-2600-9/11 liquid-cooled engines.  The re-engined XP-58 was given 
the company designation of Model 20-14, and revised specifications 
were issued by Lockheed on September 10, 1940.  A second 20-mm cannon 
was added to the forward-firing armament.  The tail boom guns were 
deemed to be highly impractical, and were replaced by a single 
remotely-controlled dorsal turret containing a pair of 0.50-inch 
machine guns.  The serial number 41-2670 was assigned to the 
prototype.  Estimated gross weight had crawled upward to 24,000 
pounds, and estimated top speed had fallen to 402 mph.  Range on 
internal fuel was anticipated to be 1600 miles.  

However, scarcely a month after these revised specifications had been 
issued, Lockheed's new project engineer, Neil Harrison, was told that 
Pratt & Whitney was suspending development of the XH-2600 engine.  The 
XP-58 was now without an engine.  Attention focused on the XH-2470, 
the Continental XH-2860, and on the Pratt & Whitney R-2800, as 
possible choices for the XP-58 powerplants.  

Lockheed preferred the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial engine, and 
estimated that with these powerplants the XP-58 would have a a loaded 
weight of 26,000 pounds and a maximum speed of 418 mph at 25,000 feet.  
However, the USAAC considered this performance to be inadequate, and 
suggested that Lockheed turn to the experimental Wright XR-2160 
Tornado forty-two cylinder, six-row engine offering a power output of 
2350 hp.  One advantage of this engine was that it had an extremely 
small frontal area.  However, the Tornado engine was highly complex, 
and its development was fraught with problems from the start.  
Nevertheless, in March of 1941 the USAAC announced that it was going 
to go with the Tornado for the XP-58.  

Two months later, the USAAC issued an change order for the 
installation of cabin pressurization for the pilot and the aft-facing 
gunner, and for the addition of a remotely-controlled ventral turret 
to supplement the dorsal turret.  These changes caused the estimated 
gross weight to soar upward to 34,242 pounds.  Estimated range had 
dropped to 1300 miles.  Nevertheless, the top speed of the 
Tornado-powered XP-58 was estimated to be no less than 450 mph.  

The XP-58 was scheduled for delivery to the USAAF in August of 1942, 
and to meet this deadline the project team grew to a peak of 187 
people by October of 1941.  However, following Pearl Harbor, the XP-58 
was assigned a lower priority and most of the engineering staff were 
moved off to other more pressing projects.  By early 1942, the XP-58 
staff was down to twelve people.  

In March of 1942, Lockheed suggested that the USAAF order a second 
XP-58 prototype using Government funds.  Since the Tornado engines 
were already experiencing serious delays and were now not expected to 
be delivered until the spring of 1943, Lockheed felt that there was 
sufficient time to redesign the second XP-58 machine in order to 
provide it with enough fuel capacity to increase the range to 3000 
miles.  The USAAF agreed to this request and indeed placed the order 
in May of 1942.  

However, shortly thereafter, the USAAF began to go through a 
protracted series of flip-flops in their thinking about the ultimate 
mission for the XP-58.  First, the USAAF suggested that the 
nose-mounted forward-firing armament should be changed to a 75-mm 
cannon with a 20-round automatic feeder plus a pair of 0.50-inch 
machine guns.  This was an odd choice of armament for an escort 
fighter, so the USAAF began to think seriously of the XP-58 as a 
ground attack aircraft.  This in turn led to considerations of several 
different alternative configurations, including a two-seat attack 
aircraft with six forward-firing 20-mm cannon and a three-seat bomber 
with a bombardier in the nose, an enlarged central nacelle containing 
an internal bomb bay, and with or without the 75-mm nose cannon.  In 
both the attack and bomber versions, the dorsal and ventral turrets 
were to be deleted, and unsupercharged engines were to be used.  

It was soon realized that the last thing the USAAF need was another 
attack bomber.  The Douglas A-26 Invader was already in production, 
and it more than adequately filled all USAAF attack bomber 
requirements.  The experimental Beech XA-38 Grizzly then under 
development showed considerable promise as a low-altitude tank buster 
and ground attack aircraft (this airplane always looked to me like a 
Beech Model 18 on steroids :-) ).  Consequently, the USAAF decided 
that there was little point in trying to make the XP-58 into a 
low-level attack plane.  

The XP-58 program was then re-oriented back to its original role as a 
high-altitude aircraft.  However, this time it was to be bomber 
destroyer rather than an escort fighter.  The turbosuperchargers and 
the dorsal and ventral turrets were put back on.  The first prototype 
was to have four forward-firing 37-mm cannon, whereas the second was 
to have a 75-mm cannon and two 0.50-inch machine guns.  Gross weight 
was now up to an astronomical 38,275 pounds, and top speed was down to 
414 mph at 25,000 feet.  Range was only 1150 miles.  

However, at this stage of the war (late 1942), the enemy bomber threat 
had largely disappeared, both in the European and in the Pacific 
theatres.  The P-58 was being designed for a role it was unlikely ever 
to have to perform.  

By early 1943, the XP-58 program was in utter chaos because of the 
constantly changing Army requirements.  In desperation, Lockheed 
recommended in January 1943 that only one prototype actually be built, 
and that it have interchangeable noses that would permit the fitting 
of either type of forward-firing armament.  

To make things even worse, the trouble-ridden Tornado engine program 
finally collapsed in February 1943, leaving the XP-58 without engines 
once again.  Lockheed and the USAAF both agreed to switch to a pair of 
turbosupercharged Allison V-3420-11/13 twenty-four cylinder 
liquid-cooled engines, rated at 2600 hp for takeoff and 3000 hp at 
28,000 feet.  

With these Allison engines, the XP-58 (serial number 41-2670) was 
finally completed in June of 1944, more than four years after its 
design had begun.  Its company designation was now Model 20-86.  When 
the XP-58 rolled out of the factory it was really only 
half-finished--no cabin pressurization equipment was provided, no 
forward-firing armament was installed, and dummy dorsal and ventral 
turrets were fitted in place of the real things.  It made its initial 
flight from Lockheed Air Terminal at Burban on June 6, 1944 (what else 
happened that day? :-) ), piloted by test pilot Joe Towle.  On its 
first flight, it was ferried to Muroc AAB (later Edwards AFB) 
Twenty-five flights were made at Muroc prior to the delivery of the 
XP-58 to Wright Field in Ohio on October 22, 1944.  These flights were 
marred by turbosupercharger problems.  

Once at Wright Field, the XP-58 quickly became a white elephant--by 
the end of 1944, the USAAF certainly had no further need for bomber 
destroyers.  Maintenance of the prototype proved to be such a headache 
that it was very rarely flown.  In early 1945, it was transferred for 
use as a non-flying instructional airframe.  I don't know anything 
about the eventual fate of the XP-58.  In all likelihood, it was 
scrapped.  However, perhaps there is the odd chance that bits and 
pieces of the XP-58 are still sitting today in some forgotten corner 
of a hanger at WPAFB, waiting for a patient restorer to come along and 
discover them.  

The second XP-58 was abandoned before construction could be completed.  

The XP-58 project, which started off its career as having absolutely 
no cost to the US government, ended up costing the taxpayer over two 
million dollars.  $400,000 of this money covered the USAAF-requested 
changes to the first prototype, and the rest of the money covered the 
government-ordered, but then cancelled, second prototype.  

Specifications of the XP-58: 

Maximum speed: 436 mph at 25,000 feet, cruising speed: 274 mph at 
25,000 feet, initial climb rate: 2660 feet per minute, service 
ceiling: 38,400 feet, normal range: 1250 miles, maximum range: 2650 
miles.  Weights: 21,624 pounds empty, 39,192 pounds normal loaded, 
43,000 pounds maximum.  Dimensions: wingspan 70 feet 0 inches, length 
49 feet 4 inches, height 16 feet 0 inches, wing area, 600 square feet.  

Armament was to consist of a quartet of 37-mm cannon with 250 rpg or, 
alternately, one 75 mm cannon with 20 rounds and two 0.50-inch machine 
guns with 300 rpg, all mounted in the nose.  Two 0.50-inch machine 
guns were to be fitted in each of two remotely-controlled turrets.  It 
was anticipated that external military loads of up to 4000 pounds 
could be carried.  The XP-58 was, in fact, never fitted with any 
armament.  

Sources:

  The American Fighter, Enzo Angelucci and Peter Bowers, Orion, 1987.

  Lockheed Aircraft Since 1913, Rene J. Francillon, Naval Institute
  Press, 1987.

  War Planes of the Second World War, Fighters, Volume Four, William
  Green, 1964.

  American Combat Planes, Third Edition, Ray Wagner, Doubleday, 1982.

Joe Baugher       AT&T Bell Laboratories    2000 North Naperville Road 
		  Naperville, Illinois 60566-7033.   (708) 713-4548