Talk:Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet

Military history: Aviation / North America / United States / World War II

This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history

This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: criterion not met Coverage and accuracy: criterion met Structure: criterion met Grammar and style: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion met

Associated task forces:
/
	Military aviation task force
	North American military history task force
	United States military history task force
	World War II task force

Aviation: Aircraft

This article is within the scope of the Aviation WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see lists of open tasks and task forces. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.AviationWikipedia:WikiProject AviationTemplate:WikiProject Aviationaviation

This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: criterion not met Coverage and accuracy: criterion met Structure: criterion met Grammar and style: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion met

This article is supported by the aircraft project.

XP-56 serial numbers

The serial numbers for the XP-56 prototypes were 41-1786 and 42-38353.

The Smithsonian web site gives them as 41-786 and 42-38353. Jones; "US Fighters: Army-Air Force 1925 to 1980s", Aero (1975) gives 41-786 and 42-38553 but shows a photo on which 238353 can be clearly seen, so we may take that "553" as a typo. — Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 10:14, 1 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Name?

Was the "Black Bullet" nickname sufficently well-known to justify its inclusion in the article title? Everythign I ever read about the XP-56 either didn't mention the name at all or as an aside... - The Bushranger _{One ping only} 00:56, 18 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Jones; "US Fighters: Army-Air Force 1925 to 1980s", Aero (1975) titles it the "Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet" I seem to recall some suggestion - the poster was asking for confirmation - that the first prototype was painted black some time after the photos were taken, but I cannot place it now. — Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 09:53, 1 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

[Update] From these photos it looks like it was the second prototype that got painted black. — Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 10:05, 1 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Cause of the crash?

The article currently states that "the first XP-56 was destroyed 8 October 1943 when the tire on the left gear blew out during a high-speed (~130 mph) taxi". This is unreferenced. However, Jones; "US Fighters: Army-Air Force 1925 to 1980s", Aero (1975) says that "the first machine suffered nose-wheel shimmy during a high-speed ground run." Can anybody support the left-tyre story or should we change the article as per Jones? — Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 09:56, 1 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

[Update] The Smithsonian web site gives the left-tyre story. Any chance of a tiebreaker? — Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 10:26, 1 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]