Vought XF5U-1 - The Flying Pancake

Would you like to see this in-game?
  • Yes
  • No
0 voters

Vought XF5U-1

   Hello everyone, I’d like to suggest the Vought XF5U-1 for the US aviation tech tree in War Thunder. It was an experimental US Navy fighter aircraft designed by Charles H. Zimmerman for Vought and the US Navy during World War II. It had an unconventional fuselage design consisting of a flat disc-shaped body with two piston engines buried in the body, driving propellers on the leading edge, at the wingtips. Hence, it had the following nicknames: Zimmer’s Skimmer, Flying Flapjack, and Flying Pancake. Unfortunately, the XF5U-1 only made a few hops before the project suffered delays and overruns and was canceled in 1947. Nevertheless, I believe this is a valid suggestion for this aircraft to fit as a premium battle pass or event in the game.

Key Characteristics

  • Experimental naval fighter
  • Flat disc-shaped fuselage with two propellers on the leading edge
  • Two 1,350-hp Pratt & Whitney XR-2000-2 radial engines
  • High maneuverability and low stall speed
  • Provisions planned to install either six HMGs or four cannons

Conclusion | Why it should be in the game

   The Vought XF5U-1 was an experimental US Navy fighter aircraft designed for the Navy to explore and test its maneuverability and low-aspect ratio platform with short takeoff and landing capability. It was canceled in 1947, with only two prototypes built and a few short hops completed. I feel this aircraft is the best fit to become an upcoming battle pass or seasonal event vehicle, given the circumstances of the XF5U’s history. It would be a unique aircraft in War Thunder, as it has no wings and only has a flat disc-shaped fuselage with ailavators. The flight model would be incredibly amusing and wicked since it has a short takeoff and landing capability and could hold low stall speed at a high angle of attack. With its small wing area, it would have high maneuverability, with durable structural strength, excelling in withstanding significant damage. That’s why I think it’s best to come as the rare premium aircraft that would attract the great interest of dedicated completionists.

Sources

Thank you for taking the time to read my suggestion! 😃

17 Likes

+1 for the flying pancake!!

+1 is not enough!

1 Like

lmfao, any pancake is approved already

1 Like

This gets my absolute 100% +1; I’ve wanted the Flying Pancake for eons!

1 Like

great post, lots of relevant information +2

Lmao real

I hope it has chocolate chips on it 😁

better not be a event or premium

I’m honestly quite astonished that it’s not in the game already

+1

The day this pancake is in WT I buy the freedom fighter for grind it

./. 500 from immersion perspective
+1 from an aircraft enthusiast perspective.

Why?

Just another (US) dead end postwar plahe that will ending up polluting WW 2 lobbies with actual WW 2 planes - if you check the performance it will end up somewhere between 5.7 and 6.0 with 0.50 cals (6.3 - 6.7 with 20mm) in Air RB as the plane lacks firepower with 0.50 cals or is too slow for a 7.0 BR. On top of that the average US pilot lacks the skill to use his aircraft properly, so the effect we see with A6M5s and Re 2005s (=highly overtiered) won’t happen.

Gaijin stated countless times that won’t add stuff which can be described as “Il-2 Sturmovik 1946” with stuff like the Focke Wulff Triebfluegel to the game - but thanks to the BR setting policies we have already a hell of USSR and US postwar aircraft at WW 2 BRs (like Yak-3U, I-225, La 9 or F2G, AD-2/4, F-82) accompanied by very late planes like P-51 D-30/K/H-5, F8Fs or prime examples like the Tigercat & the Hornet - they all saw no combat and scored not a single kill in WW 2.

But - from an enthusiast’s perspective the plane should be added. First because it is a very interesting concept and second: Air RB is already Air AB+ - a plain fantasy shooter without any immersion - an additional plane like this won’t hurt.

+1 from me!

Because it is an interesting aircraft, and with how often US aircraft are copy-pasted into other trees it can do with a few prototype aircraft in the main tech tree, especially fascinating examples such as the XF5U, and it isn’t as though there aren’t a bunch of aircraft ingame that never saw combat as it is. Moreover it isn’t a paper aircraft, it was built to the point where it could’ve flown.

7 Likes

One of the biggest +1s from me for a WWII prop plane

Whilst i see and acknowledge your points, i am not sure if you got mine.

It is not an issue of being a (rather interesting) prototype or having not seen combat. WT simply sets BRs on factors like pilot performance on average and other parameters like burst mass which allows that in this case a 1947 prototype would fight 1944 service aircraft like the Spit Mk 22 or the Ta 152 H-1 whilst being at a much lower BR.

I mean if play wt for WW 2 prop feeling i expect a somehow realistic combat experience, so if i would use this suggested aircraft from 1947 i would expect fighting Luftwaffe or RAF jets.

If you are fine with this fantasy setup, there is nothing wrong with that. But this does not mean that we have the same understanding what we like or dislike.

Have a good one!

I feel that’s a bit of a silly reason when Gaijin never has cared all that much about when a vehicle was introduced, only where it would fit BR wise.

S-199 is post-war, yet is at 3.3

Almost all of Sweden’s early to mid tier vehicles are post war modifications.

Early German and Japanese jets routinely face cold-war jets.

ME 163s and Ki-200s are solidly in the cold war jet bracket.

The Skyraiders were introduced a year after the war ended, yet regularly face WW2 aircraft.

The Wyvern is a post war aircraft that routinely faces WW2 aircraft.

F-82 was introduced in 1946.

The Strikemaster is a modern aircraft at 6.3.

And likely a number more.

While I do understand the issue of not wanting ‘fantasy’ battles, I feel that ship has long since sailed in being something Gaijin considers, if they ever did in the first place, and it isn’t as though the XF5U-1 is THAT much of a timetraveler. The prototype was completed only a couple years after WW2’s end, and it’s not a modern trainer or a COIN aircraft, and would probably be in the late prop fighter bracket along with most of the other late/post war prop aircraft, maybe even the early jet br range, so it’s not like it would be somewhere out of place either.

5 Likes

I want funny pancake

4 Likes

World of Warplanes looking thing

I surely wonder why my suggestion suddenly got bumped today.

Clueless

5 Likes

one can only hope it’s this they were talking about
(i would of course rather have literally anything italian but ts cool as hell :P)