10 best WW2 aircraft that were cancelled

[72modeler]

Believe it or not, this popped up during a search for MB Mk5 bang seats! Very interesting article and photos of some well-known designs that never saw service. Not sure I agree with all ten selections, but hey- everybody here has an opinion, right? My personal two faves are the MB Mk 5, a real rocket ship, and the XA-38 Grizzly- not your father's Twin Beech! I hope you enjoy this! Hmmm...believe it or not, I have an injected or resin kit of every one of these- 1/72 is truly THE scale!

 

https://hushkit.net/2019/07/10/cancelled-the-10-best-aircraft-of-world-war-ii-that-never-saw-service/

[alt-92]

Just don't read the comment section 

[Fukuryu]

4 hours ago, 72modeler said:

Hmmm...believe it or not, I have an injected or resin kit of every one of these- 1/72 is truly THE scale!

 

Plenty of Huma and Aviation Usk in that collection, I bet...

[Fukuryu]

40 minutes ago, alt-92 said:

Just don't read the comment section 

 Well, you piqued my curiosity so I had to read it... Wish I didn't.

[72modeler]

1 hour ago, Fukuryu said:

Plenty of Huma and Aviation Usk in that collection, I bet...

Not really! Here's the available1/72 kits- the one/s I have are in boldface. (Probably have missed some, to be sure!)

 

Miles M20, Kora resin 

Fiat G56 LF and Special Hobby injected

Ki83 Special Hobby and MPM I think there was a Eagles Talon vacform and also an Aviation Usk injected kit

Fw-187 Karo-As and Special Hobby injected

XF5F Rareplanes vacform and MPM injected

He-280 Huma and RS Models injected, and I think Airmodel did a  vacform 

MB3 Magna resin I think Execuform or maybe Formaplane  did a vacform, although Planet and Merlin did the MB2, resin and injected, respectively.

MB5 Falcon vacform and AZ Models injected

I-185 Art Model, Eastern Express, and Model Russia injected I think AModel also did an injected one

He-100 Lindberg and Special Hobby injected

[Dave Swindell]

8 hours ago, 72modeler said:

Miles M20, Kora resin 

Box-kites Vacform, Kubat Jaroslav/ Epoxidovy Resin, Magna Resin 1/72 & 1/48.

[John Thompson]

16 hours ago, 72modeler said:

I-185 Art Model, Eastern Express, and Model Russia injected I think AModel also did an injected one

 

Amodel did the I-180, rather than the I-185:

 

John

[wombat]

It’s interesting how many of the most important British aircraft were developed either without ministry support or in some cases, in the face of opposition. We might have ended up trying to fight the Battle of Britain with P40s and Boomerangs

[Graham Boak]

Don't believe all the self-serving stories put about by the companies and the journalists: the vast majority of British aircraft were designed and produced to Ministry specifications with at least partial government funding.  For the specific WW2 period see Colin Sinott's The RAF and Aircraft Design 1923-1939. if you can find one.

[FinnAndersen]

55 minutes ago, wombat said:

It’s interesting how many of the most important British aircraft were developed either without ministry support or in some cases, in the face of opposition. We might have ended up trying to fight the Battle of Britain with P40s and Boomerangs

Both Hurricane and Spitfire was developed with ministry support, so your alternative history did not happen. 

 

/Finn 

 

BTW: Boomerangs were no good as an air superiority fighter and was developed too late for the BoB

[Mr T]

Both the Spitfire and Hurricane were developed with full knowledge and support of the Air Ministry. Specifications were written around both types well before they flew and sizeable order for both types were placed as soon as a prototype was on the air. The orders for relative out of date types were to enable new squadrons to form and crews trained whilst production started on newer types

There seems to be this myth that in the interwar period the Air Ministry did nothing to push forward advances in aviation technology. This view doesn't entirely explain why the Air Ministry bought foreign airframes to examine and learn from and several of the interwar specifications were an effort to encourage manufacturers to develop new airframes (eg F7/30, even if it failed to produce what was really wanted). The economic situation in the thirties was not good in most countries. 

[Max Headroom]

Imagine an Airfix 1/48 MB.5!

 

Trevor

[FinnAndersen]

17 hours ago, 72modeler said:

MB5 Falcon vacform and AZ Models injected

 

CMR did a 1/72 MB5. 

Nice kit 

[72modeler]

1 hour ago, FinnAndersen said:

CMR did a 1/72 MB5. 

Nice kit 

Wow- how did I miss that one? Of course, I also found out about their excellent Spit FR18 after it was no linger available, although I did hear back from them after sending an email asking if they would consider a re-release, that if they did, it would most likely be from new molds...one can only hope!

Mike

[Jackson Duvalier]

On 1/16/2022 at 8:30 PM, 72modeler said:

MB5 Falcon vacform and AZ Models injected

 

 

 

Skybirds '86 kitted the MB5 as well.  Don't ask me how my brain elected to retain that bit of trivia.

[Ed Russell]

Here's a few more, including some already mentioned. Most if not all curently unavailable......😃

 

Miles M20 – Kora, JK, Magna resin Box-Kites vacform

Martin-Baker MB3 – Magne, Vami resin

Martin Baker  MB5 – Airframe, Falcon vacform. Pegasus, Skybirds86, AZ Models injection. Vami, CMR resin

Mitsubishi Ki83 - Special Hobby, Aviation Usk injection Eagles Talon, Wings72, KPL vacform  L,F Mechadoll, Planet resin

Focke Wulf Fw-187 Airmodel, Aristocraft, Karo-As, Classic, Cruver, Special Hobby injected. WK, CMR resin Airmodel, O’Neill vacform

[Giorgio N]

4 hours ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

 

 

Skybirds '86 kitted the MB5 as well.  Don't ask me how my brain elected to retain that bit of trivia.

 

I remember well that kit, it was reviewed very positvely in magazines of the era: main parts in short run plastic, all details in white metal and pre-cut vacform canopies. IIRC the Pegasus kit was issued around the same time but was more crudely moulded and less detailed.

I was thinking of this kit only a few days ago while commenting on a post on the cost of today kits: in the July 1987 issue of Scale Models International this kit is listed at £ 7.40 ! To give an idea, the then brand new Fujimi Phantom FG.1 was listed at 7.99 but the other Phantoms from the same company sold for £6.99. Heller "black box" Spitfires retailed for 2.95, same as Matchbox "orange" series aircraft (purple series kits were 1.90). The magazine price was £1.25... The Pegasus kit was cheaper, at £5.20.

I'd have loved a Skybird MB5 but it was way too expensive for a boy in high school, more so as I'd have had to add postage from the UK on top of that price. For some reason I've yet to buy the AZ kit though...

[Giorgio N]

Speaking of the real aircraft in the list, I have to say that these things often amuse me as aircraft with very different histories are generally thrown together, sometime with no real logic...

Now I admit that I'm not really familiar with Japanese and Soviet aircraft development, but considering the others there are very few that I think may have had any sort of success !

IMHO the number 1 would be the G.56 ! That however was not a new aircraft as a G.56 is to a G.55 roughly what a Spitfire XIV is to a Spitfire VIII: in the same way as the Spit XIV improved on the already good quality of its predecessor, the G.56 offered a useful power increase to an aircraft that already had good qualities. Would have worked well for sure, although the limited production capabilities of Fiat in 1944/45 would have meant that only a small number would have been built anyway.

 

The MB5 was likely to be the other succesful type, as every report seems to point at a very well built aircraft. Of course not having entered service it's hard to tell if the aircraft really was vice-free... Still it is understandable that this was not put into mass production, with the war already going a certain way it was clear that the massive production of other types would have been sufficient while any new development was better put into jet engined types. It may have been a pity for us enthusiasts not to see the MB5 in service but I can't blame the authorities that took these decisions

[Seahawk]

54 minutes ago, Giorgio N said:

 

I remember well that kit, it was reviewed very positvely in magazines of the era: main parts in short run plastic, all details in white metal and pre-cut vacform canopies. IIRC the Pegasus kit was issued around the same time but was more crudely moulded and less detailed.

I was thinking of this kit only a few days ago while commenting on a post on the cost of today kits: in the July 1987 issue of Scale Models International this kit is listed at £ 7.40 ! To give an idea, the then brand new Fujimi Phantom FG.1 was listed at 7.99 but the other Phantoms from the same company sold for £6.99. Heller "black box" Spitfires retailed for 2.95, same as Matchbox "orange" series aircraft (purple series kits were 1.90). The magazine price was £1.25... The Pegasus kit was cheaper, at £5.20.

I'd have loved a Skybird MB5 but it was way too expensive for a boy in high school, more so as I'd have had to add postage from the UK on top of that price. For some reason I've yet to buy the AZ kit though...

You missed a treat.  £ for £, the Skybirds kit was a far better deal.  Mike Eacock was a true engineer who worked to very high standards.  I remember looking at mine and thinking that, apart from seat-belts, Reheat trim wheel and Reheat instrument transfers, there was little that I wanted to add. (I have never bothered with individual instrument transfers in 1/72 but it was the sort of kit that inspired you to go the extra mile.)  That was once I'd got over the psychadelic plastic: Mike used recycled plastic resulting in spectacular swirly patterns.

 

Far too nice a kit to actually build of course.  I'm saving mine for when I grow up.

Edited January 18, 2022 by Seahawk

[GiampieroSilvestri]

Arkmodel makes the Polikarpov I-185 in 1/48 scale.The Fiat G56 with Daimler Benz DB603 engine would have been the standard fighter of the Luftwaffe but the main difficulty was as Giorgio said and to produce the Daimler Benz DB603 engine in sufficient numbers under licence in Italy.

 

Saluti

 

Giampiero

[Giorgio N]

3 hours ago, GiampieroSilvestri said:

Arkmodel makes the Polikarpov I-185 in 1/48 scale.The Fiat G56 with Daimler Benz DB603 engine would have been the standard fighter of the Luftwaffe but the main difficulty was as Giorgio said and to produce the Daimler Benz DB603 engine in sufficient numbers under licence in Italy.

 

Saluti

 

Giampiero

 

I don't think that the Luftwaffe would have ever selected the G.56, Fiat had not only problem in producing engines but also in producing airframes, Producing the G.56 in Germany would have meant setting up production lines from scratch, something that at point of the war would have meant diverting resources that were better used in intensifying production of the existing types. Afterall while the G.56 would have have been a pretty impressive machine, the Fw.190D wasn't really much worse while requiring less resources than setting up new production lines.

The same applies to a number of types in that list, introducing a new type needs time and resources, if the new type has serious advantages it may make sense but for a modest increase in capability resources are better spent in the production of what is already well proven.

[Graham Boak]

Must admit to a soft spot for the MB5, long before the AZ kit or even the Skybirds, but there is a lot of wishful thinking built up around a fighter that flew a year behind its direct equivalents (Tempest, Spitfire 20 series) let alone the jets.  A single prototype that was never properly tested, with no follow-on examples for service testing, without a factory to built it.  This places it well behind the G-56 for the Luftwaffe option in the race for credibility.

 

Which leads me to wonder whether an aircraft that was never ordered can be said to have been cancelled?  How about the more honest "10 nice designs that never made the grade but I think cool"

 

I can offer the "What If" enthusiast something from the latest Aviation Historian.  B-29s for Bomber Command with Centaurus engines, unturbocharged, unpressurised, manned turrets without central fire control.   Yes they were, if fairly briefly, serious.  Or, in the next issue, B-32s?

[Fukuryu]

11 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

B-29s for Bomber Command with Centaurus engines, unturbocharged, unpressurised, manned turrets without central fire control.   Yes they were, if fairly briefly, serious. 

I  am not into wiffies but this sounds interesting. Is there any conceptual art around to look at?

[Graham Boak]

The article includes side-views but not art.  I suspect that some changes would have been made to the nacelles, but these are not suggested.

[dnl42]

Minicraft's 1/48 XF5F. The wings are a perfect fit; the nacelles were quite wonky. LSM makes a cockpit--thinning the sidewall parts enables them to conform to the plastic.

The fugly parent of the lovely F7F Tigercat.