[Guest]

I don't know if this is actually the real design or the "what if" product of a modellers furtile imagination as I can only find this reference to it, but it does look as if this engine configuration could have worked, and would have been ideal for Carrier borne operations.

Here a quote from Wiki given earlier in the thread:

Quote:
Lockheed proposed a carrier-based Model 822 version of the Lightning for the United States Navy. The Model 822 would have featured folding wings, an arresting hook, and stronger undercarriage for carrier operations. The Navy was not interested, as they regarded the Lightning as too big for carrier operations and did not like liquid-cooled engines anyway, and the Model 822 never went beyond the paper stage. However, the Navy did operate four land-based F-5Bs in North Africa, inherited from the USAAF and redesignated FO-1.

The wings would probably have needed a "double or Z fold" to fit on the hangar deck (?) and the tail hook is a bit more tricky - it is mounted quite far forward and would probably have missed the wire or pulled the gondola off the wings


The skin used here is the really detailed and realistic one by US Grant, shown earlier on this thread,














That said, I quite like it.... :wink:


GJE52