The Vultee XP-54 ''Swoose Goose'' was a prototype
heavy fighter
A heavy fighter is an historic category of fighter aircraft produced in the 1930s and 1940s, designed to carry heavier weapons or operate at longer ranges than light fighter aircraft. To achieve performance, most heavy fighters were twin-engine ...
built by the
Vultee Aircraft
Vultee Aircraft, Inc., was an aircraft manufacturer founded in 1939 in Los Angeles County, California, when the ''Vultee Aircraft Division'' of the aviation holding company AVCO was reorganized as an independent company. It had limited success b ...
Company for the
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
(USAAF).
Design and development
Vultee submitted a proposal in response to
U.S. Army Air Corps request R40C. The Vultee design won the competition, beating the
Curtiss XP-55 Ascender and the
Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet. Vultee 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. Although it appeared to be a radical design, performance was lackluster, and the project was canceled due to budget overruns and extreme delays.
The XP-54 was designed with a
pusher engine
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.
Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...
in the aft part of the fuselage. The tail was mounted rearward between two mid-wing booms, with the twelve-foot propeller between them. The design included a "ducted wing section" developed by the
NACA
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency that was founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its ...
to enable installation of cooling radiators and
intercooler
An intercooler is a heat exchanger used to cool a gas after compression. Often found in turbocharged engines, intercoolers are also used in air compressors, air conditioners, refrigeration and gas turbines.
Internal combustion engines
Mo ...
s in the
inverted gull wing. The
Pratt & Whitney X-1800 and
Wright R-2160 Tornado engines were proposed as possible powerplants, but after the discontinuation of the
Pratt & Whitney X-1800 and being denied access to the
Wright R-2160 Tornado the liquid-cooled
Lycoming XH-2470 was substituted.
In September
1941
The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...
, the XP-54s mission was changed from low-altitude to high-altitude
interception
In Ball game, ball-playing Competitive sport, competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for ...
. Consequently, twin Wright B
turbo-superchargers and heavier armor was added, and empty weight increased to 18,000 lb (5,200 to 8,200 kg).

The XP-54 was unique in numerous ways. The pressurized cockpit required a complex entry system: the pilot's seat acted as an elevator for cockpit access from the ground. The pilot lowered the seat electrically, sat in it, and raised it into the cockpit. Bail-out procedure was complicated by the pressurization system and pusher configuration, necessitating a downward ejection of the pilot and seat to clear the propeller arc. Also, the nose section could pivot through the vertical, three degrees up and six degrees down. In the nose, two
37 mm M4 T-12/T-13 cannons were in rigid mounts while two
.50 cal machine guns were in movable mounts. Movement of the nose and machine guns was controlled by a special compensating
gun sight. Thus, the cannon trajectory could be elevated without altering the flight attitude of the airplane. The large nose section gave rise to its whimsical nickname, the Swoose Goose, inspired by a song about Alexander who was half-swan and half-goose: "Alexander was a swoose." – a name shared with
the oldest surviving B-17.
Operational history
Flight tests of the first prototype, ''41-1210'', began on 15 January 1943. Trials showed the XP-54 had great handling although, the performance was found to be substantially below guarantees. Simultaneously, development of the XH-2470 engine was discontinued. Although the
Allison V-3420 engine could be substituted, that required substantial airframe changes. Projected delays and mounting costs resulted in the decision to not consider purchasing of production aircraft.
The prototypes continued to be used in an experimental program until problems with the Lycoming engines and lack of spare parts caused termination. The second prototype, ''42-108994'' (but mistakenly painted as ''42-1211'') had the twin Wright
turbo-supercharger setup replaced with a single experimental GE XCM
turbo-supercharger,
this airframe made ten flights before it was relegated to a "parts plane" to keep the first prototype in the air.
[Thompson 1992, p. 114.]
Specifications (XP-54)
See also
Notes
Bibliography
* Balzer, Gerald H. ''American Secret Pusher Fighters of World War II: XP-54, XP-55, and XP-56''. North Branch, Minnesota: Specialty Press, 2008. .
* Green, William and Gordon Swanborough. ''WW2 Aircraft Fact Files: US Army Air Force Fighters, Part 2''. London: Macdonald and Jane's Publishers Ltd., 1978. .
* Jenkins, Dennis R. and Tony R. Landis. ''Experimental & Prototype U.S. Air Force Jet Fighters.'' North Branch, Minnesota: Specialty Press, 2008. .
* Thompson, Jonathan. ''Vultee Aircraft 1932–1947''. Santa Ana, CA: Narkiewicz/Thompson, 1992. .
External links
USAAF Resource Center – Vultee XP-54
{{USAF fighters
XP-54
Vultee P-54
Twin-boom aircraft
Inverted gull-wing aircraft
Single-engined pusher aircraft
Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United States
Aircraft first flown in 1943