2 min.
Lockheed XP-49: Trying to Do the P-38 One Better
IT MADE NUMEROUS TEST FLIGHTS and at least one cross-country journey, yet no air-to-air picture of it appears to have survived.
It was going to be an improved version of the P-38 Lightning with an advanced new engine, yet the improvements were few and the engine never materialized.
It was the Lockheed XP-49, or company model 522, designed by the fabled engineering team headed by Clarence “Kelly” Johnson. At a glance, it was not easy to distinguish from a P-38. It had the familiar twin booms, tricycle gear, and pilot’s gondola on the centerline. Had it been fitted with its planned two 20mm cannon and four .50-cal. machine guns, these nose guns would have fired straight forward, with no propeller in their way.
The plan was, it would begin life…
