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Description
| Manufacturer: | Republic | |
| Base model: | P-72 | |
| Designation: | XP-72 | |
| Designation System: | U.S. Air Force | |
| Designation Period: | 1925-1947 | |
| Basic role: | Pursuit | |
| Status: | Experimental | |
Specifications
| Not Yet Available |
Known serial numbers
Recent comments by our visitors
| CW4 B. Thomason , KY | I recently sat and talked to Ken Jernstedt(Flying Tiger Ace and Republic Test Pilot) He flew the XP-72 on it's last flight. He said he was going to show off and do a max performance take off. The supercharger blew on takeoff, showering the cockpit with hot oil. He had to fly a left pattern, half blind to crash land the aircraft back on the field. He said they cancelled the program the next day. He is a very nice guy. What a thrill to meet him! 05/25/2007 @ 18:13 [ref: 16603] |
| Brian , TX | The second XP-72 prototype flew with the Aeroproducts six-blade contra-rotating prop. This prop also equipped other high performance piston engined aircraft, such as Howard Hughes' XF-11.
Noone got any useful data about performance with the Aeroproducts prop, because the second prototype only flew a few times, before an accident on takeoff ended its career. 04/29/2007 @ 19:31 [ref: 16352] |
| Eric , ON | There was suposed to be a counter rotating prop version.
This version was never made but it was supposed to run on a ~3500hp engine 04/06/2007 @ 09:52 [ref: 16113] |
| Nathanael Wilde Vancouver, WA | I haven't read anything that gave any indication of the R-4360 Wasp Major not being used in the XP-72. There were a number of "odd" engines under developement by various manufacturers during the war as alternatives to engines already in use by other aircraft (the double wasp for example was used in five(?) different fighters by the end of the war). Most of these weren't impressive enough to be persued, Merlin variants and Wasps had 10+ years of maturity already making them difficult to compete with.
So, it's quite possible Chysler was developing something (probably in the 24 cylinder "H" variety), but it most likely wouldn't have been used if history with other projects is any indication. As for the speed of prop aircraft, that's fairly debatable. Most would reason that piston power reaches its practical limits at 500mph (~.8 Mach, acheived by XP-47J). Turboprop aircraft have flown SS, but none reached service because the fully SS prop made an amazing noise on the ground preventing anyone, including the pilot, from wanting to get within a mile of the plane. With swept critical airfoil wings, area ruling, and all moving tails, I'm sure a transonic (~.9 M) piston fighter would have been possible, but why go to the trouble? Later, N W 01/17/2005 @ 01:40 [ref: 9160] |
| C. W. Todd , MO | I have an XP-72 poster that came with my Air & Space magazine. The poster was sponsored by Chrysler and reveals that the Hemi engine was developed for use in this plane. Of course, the war ended, jet engines happened and this plane was canceled.
Can anyone comment on this? Was there really a contract or agreement to build these engines? Would this have been a breakthrough engine as Chrysler describes? If they would have used swept wings on this plane as they did in the early jets, how fast could these prop planes have been? Thanks - Craig 11/03/2004 @ 14:51 [ref: 8548] |
| P.Horn , CA | I believe that most of the foregoing is correct. The version of the XP-72 that hit 480 M.P.H. was the first of the two experimentals with the pre-production R-4360-13 with 3,000 H.P. Mr. Bodie lists no actual 490 M.P.H. (the maximum speed of the aircraft) flights. He lists the maximum speed of the projected production P-72,with the R-4360-19 (3,500 H.P.) at 504 M.P.H. With the "N" wing, I would estimate a 499 M.P.H. maximum and, of course, a range of at least 1,500 miles. I would be extremely skeptical of estimates of 540-550 M.P.H. for advanced 4,000 H.P. P-72's. 04/28/2002 @ 17:20 [ref: 4817] |
| caryn elizabeth mallard Austin, TX | The only *actual* recorded speed for the XP-72 was w/out the supercharger; it hit 480 MPH at around 3,200 feet. Given the contra-rotating props and the "infintely variable" supercharing with a developed Wasp Major, Republic figured the a/c could reach 550 mph (ie, the theoretical limit for the plane). And yet....it was still cancelled. One point to keep in mind, is that manufacturers nearly always overstated the "calculated" performance figures for their designs (eg, F2A Buffalo, P-39 Airacobra). Another, less popular point of contention is that US numbers for US planes tend to run around 10-15 mph over the actual figures for certain planes (esp. the P-47 and the P-51). Still, imagine an Arado 234 pilot's surprise over England in Jan. 45 when he cannot outrun the "P-47" fighter on his tail! 12/16/2001 @ 04:26 [ref: 3842] |
| Bob Krueger , IL | This would have been a bad bird. Warren Bodie collected a bunch of info on this aircraft in his expose'on the Thunderbolt. The R-4360-19 28 cylinder engine equipped with a centrifugal supercharger driven by a fluid coupling (essentially a torque converter), would have pushed this beast to speeds in excess of 500 MPH. According to Bodie the most likely wing configuration would have been the "N" extended wing.
This would have been a formidable aircraft to say the least. 06/24/2001 @ 05:36 [ref: 2516] |
| Nathanael Wilde Vancouver, WA | Yes, the XP-72 had a turbocharger. It was located behind the cocpit, like the P-47. 05/21/2001 @ 23:47 [ref: 2326] |
| Bob Core , KS | Was the P-72 equipped with a turbocharger? 04/24/2001 @ 14:11 [ref: 2149] |
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