I'm going to plonk this here ... but this isn't an official entry (there must be some checks and balances on the awesome powers held by GB Moderators!). I had a really long backstory for this one but I'll spare you the details ...
My inspiration was three-fold. First, Greg posted a civilian-mod Mustang fitted with a CF-100 Canuck canopy. Second, after doing a CAF Tucano, I got wondering about just how far back a turboprop trainer was practicable. Third, I was also pondering whether Canadair's successful postwar 'recycling' approach (leading to the C-5 North Star) could have been employed by other Canadian airframers?
Combining the above thoughts prompted the 1949 Canadian Car & Foundry Corvid powered by a 810 shp Gas Turbine Canada Ltd GTC.8 Chinook turboprop engine. [1] The latter was the result of hand-wavium by which the GoC regained rights to the smaller TR.4 turbojet when Avro Canada chose to pursue Turbine Research's TR.5 Orenda exclusively. The Crown Corporation - rebranded as GTC - then applied some 500 lbs of reduction gearbox and five-bladed Rotol prop to the TR.4 (just as RW Rolls-Royce had created its 1945 RB.50 Trent turboprop by modifying a centrifugal-flow RB.26 Derwent turbojet).
The prototype airframe was heavily based upon collected, war-surplus Bell Model 33 (P-63A Kingcobra) components. However, with its cruciform tailplane and one-piece fuselage, the production Corvid T.1 retained only the wings and main undercarriage from the wartime Bell fighter. For the Corvid T.2, even those wings were modified (to accept new tip tanks for extra fuel).
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[1] In an ideal 'straight-through' installation, exhaust gases could add as much as 1350 lb in residual thrust. However, the CC&F Corvid's bifucated exhaust reduced that residual thrust to less that 900 lbf.
