U. S. Military Aircraft

Curtiss-Weight XP-55 ASCENDER

Photo by S. H. A. A.

In November 1939, the US Army Air Corps issued a specification for an interceptor powered by the new Pratt & Whitney X-1800-A3G engine, and also indicated that the type could have an unusual configuration if this produced low drag, heavy armament, and exceptional fields of vision for the pilot. The CW-24 design elicited no real USAAC interest, but after Curtiss-Wright had validated its concept with the CW-24B flying mock up the USAAC ordered three XP-55 prototypes, in July 1942, with the V-1710 inline and a soon altered armament of two 20-mm canon and two heavy machine guns. The XP-55 was a all metal construction with tricycle landing gear, an oval section fuselage terminating at its rear in the engine and pusher propeller, fixed canard fore planes with elevators, and a sharply swept low set wing with flaps, ailerons, and vertical tail surfaces. The first machine flew in July 1943 but was later lost in a stalling accident. The other two prototype were modified to overcome the stalling problem, but sill had poor handling characteristics at low speed as well as inadequate performance. No production contract was considered. Photo by Muess de 1' Air

Description	Specifications
Manufacturer: Curtiss	Length: 29 ft. 7 in.
First Flight: July 1943	Height: 11 ft. 7 in.
Model: XP-55	Wing Span: 40 ft. 7 in.
Crew: One	Wing Area: 209.0 sq. ft.
Nickname: Ascender	Empty Weight: 6,354 lb.
Basic Role: Interceptor prototype..	Max. Weight: 7,929 lb.
Other Versions: XP-55	Armament: Four 0.5-in 12.7-mm machine guns.
Principal User: U. S. A.	Propulsion
Performance	Power Plant: Allison V-1710-95 inline piston engine.
Range: 635 miles.	Horsepower: 1,275-hp. (951-kW)
Max. Speed: 390 mph.	No. Of Engines: One
Ceiling: 34,600 ft.
Climb Rate: 20,000 ft. 7 minutes 6 seconds.