Curtiss-Wright CW-24 ( XP-55) "Ascender"
Model Airplane News Cover Art for July, 1945
by Jo Kotula
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The Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender (Curtiss-Wright CW-24), was a 1940s United States prototype fighter aircraft designed by Carl W. Scott responding to an Army solicitation for "unconventional aircraft designs". It had a canard configuration, a rear mounted engine, swept wings and two vertical tails. Because of its pusher design, it was sarcastically referred to as the "Ass-ender." A special feature of the XP-55 was a propeller jettison lever located inside the cockpit to prevent the pilot from hitting the propeller during bailout.

  

Photos of the Curtiss-Wright CW-24 ( XP-55) "Ascender"
Carl Scott Design Patent D-144,143
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In July of 1942, the Army issued a contract for three prototypes under the designation XP-55. The first prototype was completed in July of 1943. Initial testing revealed that the takeoff run was excessively long. To solve this problem the canard (nose elevator) size was increased and the ailerons were adjusted. In 1943 a test of the aircraft's stall performance at altitude resulted in an uncontrolled, inverted descent. The pilot was unable to right the airplane, and it fell out of control for 16,000 ft before he was able to parachute to safety. The aircraft was destroyed. An unusual feature was a device that jettisoned the propellor if the ppilot had to bail out.

     

Photos of the Curtiss-Wright CW-24 ( XP-55) "Ascender"
Propellor Jettison Patent No. 2,432,941
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A subsequent XP-55 was fitted with four machine guns, and incorporated some of the ideas learned from the loss of the first XP-55. It was found that the aircraft's stall characteristics could be greatly improved by the addition of four-foot wingtip extensions, and by increasing the limits of the nose elevator travel. Regardless, the performance of the XP-55 was not very impressive and was often inferior to that of more conventional fighter aircraft already in service. In addition, by 1944 jet-powered fighter aircraft were already well along in development and there was no further development of the XP-55.

Here is a video of the Curtiss-Wright CW-24 ( XP-55) "Ascender" in action:

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