America's First Turboprop...And It Sucked: Consolidated Vultee XP-81

Video Description

In this video, we talk about the Consolidated Vultee XP-81, a late-World War 2 mixed-propulsion escort fighter design that was a first for the US Air Force and the military, with it using the first American-made turboprop engine. We first talk about the corporate merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft into Consolidated Vultee, also known as Convair. We then talk about the turboprop engine and how it was effectively a midpoint between older piston engines and new jet engines, attempting to combine the best of both worlds. We then talk about the initial XP-81 that flew without the turboprop and how it performed with a normal piston engine and a jet engine. We then talk about the performance with the turboprop, all the growing pains that came with it, and the eventual cancellation of the XP-81 after the war ended. We end by talking about what the engines used on the XP-81 did after the project ended, where turboprop engines went, and the usage of the jet engine on aircraft carrier strength tests.