The Republic XP-69 was an American fighter aircraft proposed by Republic Aviation in 1941 in response to a requirement by the United States Army Air Corps for a high-speed fighter. Manufacturers were encouraged to consider unorthodox designs; although the design was ordered as a prototype it was canceled because of delays with the engine that was to power it.
Development
The United States Army Air Corps began the R40-C fighter competition in February 1940. The competition encouraged manufacturers to propose unorthodox high-speed fighter aircraft that met the requirements of Type Specification XC-622. The specification called for a single-engined high-performance fighter aircraft, with a maximum speed between , armed with both machine guns and cannons, and be capable of landing on a long grass runway.
Republic was one of six companies selected for the competition, and one of the aircraft proposed to the USAAC by Republic was the AP-12 Rocket. As proposed, the AP-12 was to be powered by a 2,500 hp Wright R-2160-3 Tornado 42-cylinder liquid-cooled radial engine mounted in the mid-section of the aircraft's streamlined, cigar-shaped fuselage, behind the cockpit, which drove a pair of three-bladed contra-rotating propellers. It was to be armed with four nose-mounted machine guns firing through the propeller arc, and a single 20 mm cannon firing through the propeller hub. The large radiator was to be mounted under the fuselage. The pressurized cockpit was to feature a bubble canopy, and an armament of four .50 in machine guns and two 37 mm cannons mounted in a laminar flow wing was planned.
|empty weight kg=
|empty weight lb=15,595
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|gross weight lb=18,655
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|max takeoff weight lb=26,164
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Powerplant
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|eng1 number=1
|eng1 name=Wright R-2160-3 Tornado
|eng1 type=42-cylinder turbo-supercharged liquid-cooled radial engine
|eng1 kw=<!-- prop engines -->
|eng1 hp=2,500
|eng1 shp=<!-- prop engines -->
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|prop blade number=6
|prop name=Hamilton Standard contra-rotating propellers
|prop dia m=<!-- propeller aircraft -->
|prop dia ft=13.7
|prop dia in=<!-- propeller aircraft -->
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|max speed mph=450
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|range miles=1,800
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|ceiling ft=48,900
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|climb rate ftmin=2,750
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Armament
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|guns=<br>
- 4 × .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns (1,280 rounds)
- 2 × 37 mm cannons (80 rounds)
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