A bit of a rarity for me, this one is actually a real world profile, not a Whif. As always, click on the image below to see the picture at 100% or view it at
my DeviantArt page.
The loss of Army interest in the XP-61E escort fighter was not to be the end of the line for the Black Widow. In the summer of 1945, the surviving XP-61E was modified as an unarmed photographic reconnaissance aircraft. All the guns were removed, and a new nose was fitted, capable of holding an assortment of aerial cameras. The aircraft was redesignated XF-15 (in the pre-1948 F-for photo recon series, not to be confused with the post-1948 F-for-fighter series). It flew for the first time on July 3, 1945, with Northrop test pilot L. A. "Slim" Parrett at the controls.
A P-61C-1-NO (serial number 42-8335) was also modified to XF-15 standards as the XF-15A. Apart from the turbosupercharged R-2800-C engines, it was identical to the XF-15 and flew for the first time on 17 October 1945. The nose for the F-15A-1-NO Reporter was subcontracted to the Hughes Tool Company of Culver City, California. The F-15A used the existing P-61C wings (without fighter brakes), engines and tail sections but with an entirely new, more streamlined fuselage housing a crew of two under a continuous bubble-canopy.
As a result of continuing development trouble with the Howard Hughes-designed XF-11, the staff of the Army Air Force Headquarters determined an immediate need for 320 F-15 Reporters. Even before the first flight of the XF-15 an initial contract for 175 aircraft was signed in June 1945. Following testing it was determined that the F-15 Reporter possessed similar performance and flight characteristics to the troublesome XF-11, despite the Reporter being powered by less powerful engines, and using mostly pre-existing parts. This spelled the end to further development of the XF-11.
As you can see, there was actually a lot of effort that went into the new nose. The shape is different, the panels are different, the rivets are COMPLETELY different and had to be redone from the XP-61F variant. The camera fairings were new, as well.
So, why was I griping about this so much? Why did I complain about it being so hard? Well, a few reasons. First of all, the existing line art for Reporter noses is terrible. It's almost all wrong. Second, the left side and the right side of the nose are different, so you can't used any photos of the right side of the nose as reference. Some of the line art is actually wrong because you can tell they mirrored the two sides of the nose. The next problem is that there were a few variations of the nose between the prototypes and the production examples, even over the lifetime of the same aircraft. There aren't a lot of good detail shots of the nose, either. There's no surviving examples of the variant. Those that were used postwar were generally modified to either use different cameras or eliminate the windows entirely, so they're also no help as references.
In short, it sucked. But I think it turned out nice.
Cheers,
Logan
