[pursuivant]

And the Ass-Ender wasn't so hot. However,it did manage to make the ground crews sick because of the noise. It appears to be one of Curtiss' last gasps to produce a decent AC for the USAAF. The P 40 really was the last plane the company produced that was combat-worthy.

Actually, the Ascender was a product of one of odder USAAF contracts for experimental planes, the Request For Data R-40C, which also produced the Bell XP-52, Vultee XP-54 Swoose Goose and Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet, among others.

http://www.internetmodeler.com/2001/sep ... m_xp56.htm

I don't think that either Curtiss or the USAAF really expected the Ascender to go anyplace. Of the three requests for a canard-wing fighter, I think that the Shinden actually came closest to becoming a production fighter.

I agree with you about the Super Corsair, however. I can't imagine why some modder hasn't glommed onto that project, given the popularity of late war uber-fighters.