XP-67 Moonbat - The Experimental Fighter that Kept Catching on Fire

The little-known XP-67 Bat warplane prototype was the McDonnell Aircraft Company's first attempt to enter the aviation industry before the United States joined World War II.

The Moonbat was a single-seat, long-range, twin-engine fighter-interceptor aircraft. It was the response to a United States Army Air Corps request for a warplane capable of destroying enemy bomber formations.

McDonnell's design was sleek and advanced for its time, and it had the potential to become one of the fastest and most lethal aircraft in the United States Army Air Corps.

But technology could not catch up to its novel concept. The Bat was underpowered and never achieved the desired top speed of 475 miles per hour, with its full arsenal of six .50 caliber machine guns and an M4 cannon to destroy enemy bombers.

A fatal crash in late 1944 was the last straw, and the Army and Air Force moved to other projects. Still, the knowledge obtained from the Moonbat would incentivize McDonnell to produce some of America's most influential military aircraft over the following decades, and even help NASA develop the Mercury and Gemini space capsules.

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