Tucker XP-57 was the designation of a lightweight fighter which was proposed to the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

(USAAC) in 1940. Nicknamed the "Peashooter", it was developed by the Tucker Aviation Corporation under Preston Tucker, who later became famous for the Tucker '48 Sedan. To minimize weight, the aircraft was to have a steel tubular frame with

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

skin and

plywood Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...

wings. The inline-8 engine, designed by Harry Miller of Indy 500 racing fame, was to sit behind the pilot in a configuration similar to the

P-39 Airacobra The Bell P-39 Airacobra is a fighter produced by Bell Aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. It was one of the principal American fighters in service when the United States entered combat. The P-39 was used by th ...

. The USAAC ordered an XP-57 prototype. When design was delayed due to financial problems in the company, the contract was allowed to lapse. No production aircraft was built because the USAAC was moving towards larger fighters and had lost interest in the project.

Prototype specifications (XP-57)

References

* * American Combat Planes, Ray Wagner, Third Enlarged Edition, Doubleday, 1982. * The American Fighter, Enzo Angelucci and Peter Bowers, Orion Books, 1987. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tucker Xp-57 Tucker P-57 Single-engined piston aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear

Prototype specifications (XP-57)

See also

References