Re: Modern day propeller fighter - hypothetical

[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Nev) wrote:

>Some of the latest developments in propeller aircraft has fascinated
>me. It also brought up an interesting hypothetical question; mostly
>when reading about modern day warbird replicas.
>
>With relatively easily available technology off the shelf (no rail
>guns or laser cannon please). Lets say a reasonable development budget
>of oh say $300 million. The question is are we capable of producing
>superior prop aircraft than the great fighters of WWII and what
>configuration would it take?

[snip]

>If we were to design a new prop, gun armed aircrafy would it
>essentially look pretty similar to a carbon fibre, turbo-prop P-51
>Mustang or would it be some bizzare split wing, dual rear engined
>travesty?

Bizarre, hardly.  Have you taken a look at the Beech Starship?

http://www.bobscherer.com/Pages/Starship.htm and
http://www.brunton.net/starship.html

Seems like that would be a reasonable starting point for such a fighter.
Advanced composite construction, modern avionics and flight controls, and
sexy as hell.

/------------------------------------------------------------\
|     George Ruch                                            |
|     "Is there life in Clovis after Clovis Man?"            |
\------------------------------------------------------------/