Certainly not too late. A damn fine idea I think.
Thanks for the suggestion! I'm glad there is a 15 April deadline...
I have only one word to say: Grumman...
Completely FORGOT to submit the whif I had prepared for the occasion. In fact I remember now: I had left it aside to rework it a bit (fuselage seemed to long compared to plans) but then I went on holiday and completely forgot about it... What a disappointment!!!
Anyway, here it is "as is", for your enjoyment (hopefully...). The
Grumman G-66C, known inhouse as
The Chinese Cat. Officially the U.S. Navy canceled the XTSF-1 torpedo-bomber program before a prototype could be completed. The truth of the matter, however, is that the prototype had been partly completed, so that when Free China requested a multi-purpose aircraft from Grumman for possible local production, they merely took the unfinished G-66 prototype and finished it as the
Chinese Cat. Due to rising tensions with Communist China the aircraft was test-flown in secrecy and shipped in crates to Formosa. It is unclear why the aircraft never reached its destinatation, but some sources pretend that a Communist Tupolev SB bomber raided the ship a few miles from the Chinese coasts. Anyway, that was the end of the aircraft which was to have been the
GJ-1 彪 (
Biaoor "tiger cat").