Vultee V-61, an early design stage (with a pointed nose) towards the P-66 Vanguard.
A complicated story as it seems.
http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_fighters/p66.html"The P-48 aircraft was to have been powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-1830-S4C4-G air-cooled radial engine rated at 1200 hp for takeoff and 900 hp at 15,400 feet. According to the initial plan, the engine was to be enclosed in an orthodox cowling similar to that fitted to the Curtiss P-36. However,
during construction it was decided to switch to an unorthodox long and pointed cowling on order to reduce aerodynamic drag. In order to accommodate the long and pointed cowling, the engine was fitted with a lengthened drive shaft. Engine cooling was provided by a retractable air intake fitted beneath the nose immediately behind the propeller spinner. The nose of the P-48 looked a lot like the nose of the abortive Curtiss XP-42.
The Model P-48 was given the civil designation NX21755, and was flown for the first time in September of 1939 by test pilot Vance Breese. The name *Vanguard* was chosen. Unfortunately, the Model P-48 ran into the same sort of engine cooling problems that bedeviled the Curtiss XP-42. After a few flights with the initial cowling configuration, the variable air intake underneath the nose was fixed in the open position and another scoop was added above the cowling. At the same time, the rudder area was increased.
[...]
The production version of the Model P-48 was to have been designated Model 61, but by the time of the P-48's landing accident it had already been decided to give up on the pointed-nose for the Vanguard, since the drag reduction that it provided was insufficient to justify the increased weight and the cooling problems that it caused. Consequently, the second prototype Vanguard, the Model 48X (NX19999), reverted to the orthodox radial engine cowling that had originally been planned. The Model 48X made its first flight on February 11, 1940."
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Topic: Quest: Guess what is depicted here (Read 1000947 times)
