TONY BUTTLER

During World War II America s air arms fielded some superlative fighters such as the Republic P 47 Thunderbolt North American P 51 Mustang and Vought F4U Corsair The large numbers of these excellent fighters produced by the US aircraft industry made a significant contribution to the eventual success of the Allies However even as the war was raging and the industry was working flat out to produce the huge numbers of aircraft required for front line duties extensive research and development programmes were also being pursued to create the next generation of fighters This book focuses on the aircraft generated by those programmes and provides a detailed survey of the fighter prototypes produced and flown during the period from 1940 to 1946 which for various reasons did not progress to production and service The work has twenty four chapters that embrace the great diversity of design and layout of these prototypes They demonstrate the remarkable creative flair that was present in the US aircraft industry during the war There are designs of all shapes sizes and configurations powered by piston jet and mixed power plants The designs encompassed various configurations including pusher layouts swept and flying wings Each of these prototypes is given its own

This completes a trilogy that covers the design and development of British fighters and bombers basically from the end of the biplane to the present day. This new volume will again place the emphasis on unbuilt designs that competed with those that flew and it covers the aircraft influenced by World War 2 - projects that were prepared from the mid-1930s in the knowledge that war was coming through to some which appeared after the war was over. The latter will include early jets such as the Attacker, Sea Hawk and Venom which all flew post-war but to wartime or just post-war requirements. In-between will be found fixed gun fighters, turret fighters, twin engine cannon fighters, light, medium and heavy bombers, torpedo bombers and flying boats. The treatment given will match the earlier volumes with detailed descriptions and data and numerous photographs of models or impressions by artist''s showing how these designs would have looked. Unlike the post-war years, many unbuilt projects have been lost in time but a great number did manage to survive and these will form the most complete record yet to be published.