The first “Unwanted Blog Identify This Aircraft Contest” to go without a winner had the June, 1943, design for a tanker aircraft by Consolidated Vultee as the subject. This aircraft, while similar in layout to the P-38, was an entirely different beast. A wing span of 94 feet and two P&W R-1830-C9G engines of 1250 BHP each would allow the plane to carry a useful load of up to 21,720 lbs (3620 gallons) of fuel to be transferred in flight to other aircraft, such as long range B-24 bombers. Cruising – and fueling – altitude would be 2,000 feet.
The same aircraft could be reconfigured into a bulk cargo carrier with a “Pack Plane” style pod under the center section, or could carry five 4,200 pound bombs or six 3,400 pound torpedos.
The near-ish future may see an expanded article in APR on this craft.
2 Responses to “Consolidated Vultee “Air Tanker””
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One could think good visibility would be more important in a tanker like that…
_Six_ torpedoes?! What were they going to do, go after the Yamato with it? 🙂
Frankly, if I were Lockheed, I’d have sued them over design plagiarism… it’s virtually identical to a scaled-up P-38.