The Douglas Model 423 was a bomber aircraft design developed by American aircraft manufacturer Douglas to compete with the Convair B-36 design for a major U.S. Army Air Force contract for an intercontinental bomber in 1941. Although identified as the Douglas XB-31 in some publications, the project documents indicate that it was designed much later than the R40-B competition.
| Douglas Model 423 | |
|---|---|
| Role | Heavy bomber Type of aircraft |
| Manufacturer | Douglas Aircraft |
| Status | Design only |
| Primary user | United States Army Air Force |
| Number built | 0 |
In April 1941, the possibility of Great Britain falling to Nazi Germany seemed very real, and so the United States Army Air Corps unveiled a competition for a long-range bomber with intercontinental range (10,000 miles), making it capable of conducting air-strikes on Nazi-occupied Europe from US bases. Douglas stated that it did not wish to produce an 'out-and-out 10,000-mile (16,090 km) airplane project', instead proposing the Model 423 with a range of 6,000 miles (9,654 km).[1] The Douglas Model 423 was eventually rejected in favor of the Consolidated Model 36, which became the Convair B-36 Peacemaker.
(Note: The primary source labels this project as the XB-31, which was much smaller, earlier project, competing with the B-29 and B-32)
Data from McDonnell Douglas aircraft since 1920 : Volume I (erroneously labelled as XB-31)[2]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
Related lists
Douglas military aircraft | |
|---|---|
| Fighters | |
| Ground attack | |
| Bombers | |
| Observation | |
| Patrol | |
| Reconnaissance | |
| Transports | |
| Gliders | |
| Training aircraft | |
| Experimental |
|