Lockheed XF-90
The Lockheed XF-90 was one of the beautiful designs of the Cold War. Although like most fighters of the era it was underpowered and heavy but as with most things in life you can get away with murder when you look this good.
Lockheed XF-90
The XF-90 was part of a penetration fighter competition with the F-88 Voodoo in 1949. It’s role would have been primarily as a bomber escort had it been put into production. Designed around two newer Westinghouse axial flow jet engines the F-90 was also saddled with high weight holding back it’s performance potential. We were still early in the development of jet engines when the thrust numbers were still low. It wasn’t until the addition of afterburners on the second prototype that the plane could even take off fully loaded.
In the end it lost the competition to the XF-88 Voodoo with neither going into production because of the Korean War. With the beginning of war all production was focused on existing types. The F-88 would later go on to become one of the longest serving aircraft in the US Air Force inventory as the second member of the century club the F-101 Voodoo.
From the US Air Force Museum we get the specifications below:
TECHNICAL NOTES:
Engines: Two Westinghouse J34-WE-15 turbojets of 4,100 lbs. thrust each with afterburner
Armament: Designed for six 20 mm cannons, eight 5-inch HVAR rockets and up to 2,000 lbs. of bombs
Maximum speed: 665 mph
Cruising speed: 473 mph
Range: 2,300 miles
Service ceiling: 39,000 ft.
Span: 40 ft. 0 in.
Length: 56 ft. 2 in.
Height: 15 ft. 9 in.
Weight: 27,200 lbs. loaded
Crew: One
F-90 in the comic book world
The F-90 led an odd second life thanks to its use in the comics. The Blackhawk’s originally used another failed navy design because of it’s unusual look called the XF-5 Skyrocket. During the Cold War they moved to jets and naturally an artist will want to find one easy to draw and that as futuristic as possible. For this the XF-90 got called into service.
DAYTON, Ohio (Feb 07) – XF-90 awaiting restoration at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. (U.S. Air Force photo)
[image credit – http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil]
The sole surviving XF-90 prototype currently waits for restoration at the US Air Force museum in Dayton Ohio. As you can see from the photo above it’s not in the best condition but it has survived. Had it gone into production the XF-90 would have likely had a very short service life. It’s performance wasn’t spectacular and it was a bit on the heavy side. Something to keep in mind with the XF-90 is that it mirrors the same thing with the YB-60. The XF-90 uses a lot of P/F-80 knowledge and parts. Just like how the B-60 carried over mostly B-36 parts. The USAF knew this and wanted something new. The F-88 was a loaded gun though. There is a lot to be said about what would have been with the XF-90. The F-80 and by proxy F-90 were a known product. The Voodoo ended up being a widow maker. That may not have been as much due to the aircraft as much as the fact that it was the beginning of the second generation of jets were the F-90 was the end of the first. So who knows what the Lockheed would have done.
