North American XA2J Super Savage
{{Short description|Prototype carrier-based bomber aircraft}}
{{Infobox aircraft
|name = XA2J "Super Savage"
|image = File:XA2J-1 Super Savage in flight 1952.jpeg{{!}}border
|caption = The XA2J-1 Super Savage in flight in 1952
|type = Attack aircraft
|manufacturer = North American Aviation
|national_origin = United States
|designer =
|first_flight = 4 January 1952
|introduction =
|retired =
|status = Cancelled
|primary_user =
|more_users =
|produced = 1
|number_built =
|unit cost =
|developed_from = North American AJ Savage
}}
The North American Aviation XA2J "Super Savage" was a prototype carrier-based attack aircraft built in the early 1950s. It was developed by North American Aviation (NAA) from the smaller AJ Savage.
Design and development
The XA2J was intended to be a turboprop-powered derivative of the AJ Savage, with the design as initially proposed in December 1947 a simple modification of the Savage, with extensive use of components of the earlier aircraft. The design gradually evolved, however, to improve performance and increase compatibility with operations from aircraft carriers,Air Pictorial December 1959, p. 453. as it was recognized that the AJ Savage was deficient in performance and was a less-than-satisfactory carrier aircraft.{{harvnb|Miller|2001|pp=90–9}}
File:XA2J-1 during first flight at Edwards AFB 1952.jpeg
The A2J was essentially an enlarged AJ Savage with the two reciprocating engines replaced with two Allison T40 turboprop engines and removal of the tail-mounted turbojet. Like the AJ, it was a high-winged monoplane with unswept wings. The wings were fitted with leading edge slats and large trailing edge flaps, and folded outside of the engine nacelles to ease storage aboard ship. It had a crew of three: pilot, co-pilot/bombardier, and gunner who sat in a pressurised cabin in the nose of the aircraft. Up to {{convert|10500|lb|kg|abbr=on}} of bombs could be carried in a large enclosed bomb-bay in the center fuselage, while the planned defensive armament was a remotely controlled tail turret with two 20 mm cannon.Air Pictorial December 1959, p. 454.
Construction of two prototypes started 1 October 1948, but due to delays developing the engines, the first flight was not until 4 January 1952.{{harvnb|Wagner|1982|pp=389–490}}{{page needed|reason=needs something more precise than a 100 page page range|date=December 2011}} The competing Douglas XA3D, the prototypes of which were ordered the year after construction had begun on the XA2J prototypes, first flew in October 1952. The A3D had far superior performance, which doomed the XA2J.
The root cause for the failure of the XA2J was the protracted development and poor reliability of the Allison T40 engines. The T40 engine was an ambitious engine design with two power sections, (the T38 was developed from the T40 to assist in its development, by using a single power section with extension shaft and gearbox),{{cite journal |last1=Nolan |first1=D. J. |title=TURBO-LINER : Development of the Allison T-38 Engine in a Convair 240 |journal=Flight |date=8 August 1952 |volume=LXII |issue=2272 |pages=157–159 |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1952/1952%20-%202161.html |access-date=5 January 2019 |format=pdf}} driving two large contra-rotating propellers through a combining gearbox. Both the engines and the gearbox proved to be unreliable. The T40 engine was also used in the developmental of other aircraft. After a number of engine-related mishaps, the XA2J project was abandoned and the second prototype was never flown.
Operators
;{{USA}}
Specifications (XA2J-1)
File:North American XA2J-2 3-view line drawing.png
{{Aircraft specs
|prime units?=imp
|ref=
|crew=3
|length ft=70
|length in=3
|length m=21.42
|span ft=71
|span in=6
|span m=21.80
|height ft=24
|height in=2
|height m=7.37
|wing area sqft=836
|wing area sqm=77.7
|empty weight lb=35350
|empty weight kg=16035
|gross weight lb=46890
|gross weight kg=21269
|max takeoff weight lb=61200
|max takeoff weight kg=27760
|eng1 name=Allison T40-A-6
|eng1 type=turboprops
|eng1 number=2
|eng1 hp=5035
|max speed mph=451
|max speed kmh=726
|range miles=2180
|range km=3508
|ceiling ft=37500
|ceiling m=11400
|climb rate ftmin=6820
|climb rate ms=34.7
|wing loading lb/sqft=56
|wing loading kg/m2=274
|power/mass=0.21 hp/lb (350 W/kg)
|armament=
- 10,500 lb (4,763 kg) of disposable stores
- 2 × 20 mm cannons in tail (never fitted)
}}
See also
References
=Notes=
{{reflist}}
=Bibliography=
- {{Cite book|last=Miller|first=Jerry|title=Nuclear Weapons and Aircraft Carriers|date=17 April 2001|location= Washington D.C.|publisher=Smithsonian institution Press, 2001|isbn= 1-56098-944-0}}
- {{cite magazine|title=They didn't quite: 5: Turbine-driven Savage|magazine=Air Pictorial|date=December 1959|volume=21|issue=12|pages=453–454}}
- {{Cite book|last=Wagner|first=Ray|title=American Combat Planes (3rd edition)|year=1982|location=Garden City, NY|publisher=Doubleday & Company, 1982|isbn=0-385-13120-8|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/americancombatpl0000wagn}}
External links
{{commons category|North American A2J Super Savage}}
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=oiEDAAAAMBAJ&dq=popular+science+1930&pg=PA141 "Navy Gets Turboprop Bomber."] Popular Science, April 1952, p. 141.
{{North American Aviation aircraft}}
{{USN attack aircraft}}
Category:Aircraft with contra-rotating propellers
Category:Carrier-based aircraft
Category:Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United States
Category:Aircraft first flown in 1952