What plane is in this ebay photo?

[Liberator]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TEST-PILOTS-ORI ... 45fda8d3ab

It is has the most unusual nose profile i have ever seen and a bomb bay too?

What is this - anyone got a idea?

XB-51 maybe?

Phil

[JDK]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_XB-43_Jetmaster

"Douglas delivered the second prototype, designated YB-43, in April 1948. That aircraft was nicknamed Versatile II by USAAF personnel."

[TAdan]

Now at the NMUSAF in Dayton in the Restoration hanger. Interesting to see the change in the font of "Versatile II."

[PinecastleAAF]

Cool stuff. Check out the plywood nose cone. Early plywood, rare by itself.

[Steve Nelson]

According to the tour guide, the nose was replaced with wood because the original plexi nose kept cracking during test flights. I'm not sure if the NMSUAF plans to replicate the wooden nose or the original plexi (the XB-42 us sitting next to it..that aircraft retains it's plexi nose, but everything except the bomb-aimer's window has been painted over.) Of course, with all the projects in the restoration queue, it may be decades before they get to the Mixmaster and Jetmaster.

SN

[TAdan]

I am just glad the Mixmaster and Jetmaster are out of NASM storage. Atleast they can be seen in the restoration hanger. I only learned they had been transferred a few days before I visited Dayton so it was a big thrill to see them. I hadnt even realized they had survived at all. Really interesting seeing them fresh out of long term storage and partially disassembled with all of their dents and dings.

[The Inspector]

The photo has some considerable cachet too. Arthur W. (Kit) Murray 12/26/1918 - 7/25/2011 started out in the Army Cavalry in 1939 and by 1943 was flying P-40's in Africa. Became a test pilot after the war and flew (amongst other types) the X-1A and B, X-4, X-5, XF-92A. In 1954 he became the first Space Pilot by climbing the X-1A to 90000 ft and becoming the first human to see the curvature of the Earth at mid day.He was transfered to Europe as an evaluation pilot and flew the FIAT G-91 'Gina' and the British Javelin fighters. Became the Air Force Project Manager for the X-15 program.
He was recruited by Boeing and worked there from 1960 to 1969 on the crew development for the X-20 DYNASOAR and later the Apollo capsule. He joined BELL in 1969 and worked on their tilt rotor system designs.
Awarded the DFC and Air Medal with 8 Oak Leaf Clusters and French awards of merit.

[airnutz]

Cool stuff. Check out the plywood nose cone. Early plywood, rare by itself.

It doesn't really appear to be plywood, but rather stacked and bonded rings of wood. As for plywood being rare in aviation at that date, it would be long past the mark set pre-WW1-ish thru the 20's.

[Steve Nelson]

I've seen them a couple of times now on the "Behind the Scenes" tour (I highly recommend it if you're visiting the NMUSAF on a Friday.) Both aircraft are quite impressive, even in their current states. Unfortunately, I understand only one of them has wings (I don't remember which.) Whenever they're restored, the wings from one will have to be used as patterns to scratchbuild wings for the other.

SN

[JohnB]

I can't believe I didn't see them when I visited the rerstoration hangar a few months ago. I wasn't on the tour, so I guess I missed out.
Now I've got to go back...at least I have a good excuse.

BTW: That airframe might be the sole remaining example of Douglas' "twin canopy" phase...as seen on the C-74 and assorted paper proposals of the immediate post-war period.
It's about time the NASM let the NMUSAF have them. Americda's first jet bomber ...rather historic I'd say.

[shrike]

Cool stuff. Check out the plywood nose cone. Early plywood, rare by itself.

Early plywood would be several thousand years old. The ancient Egyptians used it. In fact one could argue that papyrus, given it's base material and manufacturing methods is a really thin sheet of plywood.

[Steve Nelson]

I think it's fantastic that both airframes were saved..it provides a fascinating window into the recip-to-jet transition.

SN

[Canso42]

About ten or twelve years back, A&S had a feature on unusual, rare, one-of-a-kind's in the collection and the YB-43 was one mentioned with a photo of the stacked wooden nose.

[DaveG]

as an aside here on the topic of visiting the Restoration Hangar, I've done it twice on the way up to Thunder Over Michigan and it's really fantastic. This year, however, it was very hot in the hangar and the lovely ladies who conduct the tour were very concerned with everyone's exposure to the heat. They had water that was handed out but they definitely err on the side of caution and so our tour ended a bit quicker than the previous year. While we had plenty of time with the Swoose and the Belle, we ended up moving very fast through the storage area. It's probably a similar situation when it's good and cold in the winter, so I think a nice Fall or Spring tour would be the way to go.

You can register by phone at (937) 656-9436 or through this link:

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/visit/tours.asp

[The Inspector]

I just noticed in Steves pictures that the NMUSAF has a Boeing IM-99 BOMARC sitting inside and accessable to just about anyone. I find that incredibly ironic as the Seattle Fire Dept will not allow the MoF to put their BOMARC on display because the skins are mildly RADIOACTIVE!!! 'sound the alarms! Ring the church bells! Hide the women and children, tear you clothes!!, sacrifice a small furry animal'

These are the same rocket scientists who, several years ago threatened to take every raduim faced instrument away from the museum and demanded the humidity inside the Great Gallery be set very low for some stupid reason-net effect was that the very dry air was destroying every volume in the reference library (including the Wright Bros papers), after some serious mud wrestling the SFD did relent on that but still nurses a grudge about it with some serious thumb sucking included.