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Vought VS-302


Twin-Engine Medium Bomber Proposal


United States | 1939



"The Vought VS-302 was drawn up to satisfy a new USAAC medium bomber requirement of the pre-World War 2 period - it was not selected."

Power & Performance
Those special qualities that separate one aircraft design from another. Performance specifications presented assume optimal operating conditions for the Vought VS-302 Twin-Engine Medium Bomber Proposal.
2 x Wright R-2600 air-cooled radial piston engines OR 2 x Pratt & Whitney R-2800 air-cooled radial piston engines of unknown output power each driving three-bladed propeller units.
Propulsion
351 mph
565 kph | 305 kts
Max Speed
35,597 ft
10,850 m | 7 miles
Service Ceiling
Structure
The nose-to-tail, wingtip-to-wingtip physical qualities of the Vought VS-302 Twin-Engine Medium Bomber Proposal.
5
(MANNED)
Crew
51.8 ft
15.80 m
O/A Length
75.0 ft
(22.85 m)
O/A Width
27,227 lb
(12,350 kg)
MTOW
Armament
Available supported armament and special-mission equipment featured in the design of the Vought VS-302 Twin-Engine Medium Bomber Proposal .
PROPOSED:
1 x Machine gun in nose position.
1 x Machine gun in left waist blister position.
1 x Machine gun in right waist blister position.

Internal bomb bay carrying between 2,000lb and 2,200lb of conventional drop bombs (1 x 2000lb; 2 x 1,000lb; 4 x 500lb; 20 x 100lb).
Variants
Notable series variants as part of the Vought VS-302 family line.
VS-302 - Base Project Designation; project not selected for further development by the USAAC.
Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 06/05/2019 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site; No A.I. was used in the generation of this content.

The Vought VS-302 was drawn up to satisfy a 1939 United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) requirement covering a twin-engined, medium-class bomber aircraft capable of flying at speeds around 300 miles-per-hour out to a range of 2,000 miles while carrying a war load of up to 3,000lb. The requirement, XC-213, was eventually fulfilled by two classic American war time designs, the North American B-25 "Mitchell" and the Martin B-26 "Marauder". The Chance Vought VS-302, therefore, fell by the wayside and is largely forgotten today.

Like other medium twins, the VS-302 was to carry shoulder-mounted mainplanes each with underslung engine nacelles. The nose section was heavily glazed and the cockpit (also glazed) was stepped for optimal viewing. The fuselage was deep and squared-off along its ventral edges while dorsal lines were relatively smooth and rounded. At the waist were positioned blister gun positions for defense and additional defense would come from guns mounted at the nose and ventral-aft locations - attempting to provide all-round coverage. The bomb bay resided towards the nose and could house between 2,000 and 2,200 lb of drop-ordnance. A "tail-dragger" undercarriage would provide the needed ground-running capability - though of note was the positioning of the tail wheel at the fuselage's extreme aft-end. To round out the physical qualities of this proposed aircraft, a twin-rudder fin tail unit was used.

The mainplanes at the engine nacelles held straight lines at both leading and trailing edges while the outboard sections tapered towards the wing tips for a most unique shaping of the planform when viewed from the top-down perspective. Each engine would drive three-bladed propeller units and power was to come from 2 x Wright R-2600 air-cooled radials or 2 x Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial units. VS-302A was used by Vought covered the former and VS-302B was used to cover the latter.

As finalized, VS-302 had an overall length of 51.9 feet with a span reaching 75 feet. Weight was listed at 26,000lb to 27,000lb depending on internal loads (including fuel stores). Estimated maximum speeds were between 290 and 350 miles-per-hour with a service ceiling between 30,000 feet and 35,000 feet.

In any event, this Vought submission was passed over by the competition and ended its days as nothing more than a "paper airplane".

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Operators
Global customers who have evaluated and/or operated the Vought VS-302. Nations are displayed by flag, each linked to their respective national aircraft listing.

Total Production: 0 Units

Contractor(s): Vought - USA
National flag of the United States

[ United States (cancelled) ]
1 / 1
Image of the Vought VS-302
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