Thanks guys! But I'm pretty sure that this one
is silly
I based this on a wind tunnel model:
https://digital.klnpa.org/digital/collection/wcuburke/id/84/This 1944 photograph was taken by E. Burke Wilford who designed pretty much exclusively for the Pennsylvania Aircraft Syndicate. A number of those designs were based on existing airframes. That said, I fairly sure that this one was just an old wind tunnel model that was kicking around - after all, who'd want to further develop the P-39 in 1944?
Nevertheless, I chose to do my version as an operational type - courtesy of a 1/48 Monogram P-39 built by Scott Van Aken. Wing surfaces have been reduced (as befits a convertiplane, I suppose). The big change was that stoppable (and asymmetrical) rotor blade.
There's no details of how that rotor was supposed to work but it seems to have been some form of tip-jet (with an intake on the short end). So, was the aircraft's engine also meant to act as a gas generator for the rotor? Who knows? What I'd really like to know is how that rotor mast was to be braced to the top of the V-1710. That would been tricky
I based the reduced wing shape on the wind tunnel model. But inset are original artwork which show some detail differences. The sketch on the right shows square-cut wing surfaces and (possibly) a fixed undercarriage. The 'short' arm of the rotor also looks proportionately shorter. On the sideview (left), the rotor proportions look the same as the wind tunnel model. But, whereas that latter clearly had a P-39 tailplane, the sideview's tail has a revised outline including a forward raking of the fin/rudder which also has a ventral extension. I'm not sure which, if any, of these variants represents a 'final' design.
https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/wilford-pennsylvania-aircraft-syndicate-projects.21368/#post-416457________________________
Feliz Navidad folks ... or Happy St Stephen's Day, Date Line depending
