For all this, the P-304 proposal was nothing more than the XP-55 fitted with a jet engine with a few changes to suit the new approach. The intended engine was to be the General Electric TG-180 turbojet outputting 4,000lb of thrust.
To improve upon the lackadaisical performance figures encountered when flying the XP-55, the P-304 was drawn up with a turbojet engine powerplant from the beginning but this soon led to the two distinct forms being proposed: the P-304-4, with a nose-mounted intake used to aspirate the engine within the fuselage, and the P-304-5, with side-mounted, underwing intakes. Both designs saw the engine exhaust through a single port at the rear of the fuselage, located just under the vertical tail plane. In addition to this, the swept-back wing mainplanes, which promoted high-speed flight, were shoulder-mounted and set near midships. A tricycle undercarriage would be retained from the XP-55 design and aluminum alloy would be used throughout the construction of both aircraft.
With their new P-304, Curtiss engineers hoped to solve various issues encountered with the XP-55 - namely performance (including operational range) and stability / control. Range would be augmented by the use of wingtip fuel tanks, a common fixture in early jet-powered fighters.
Curtiss engineers estimated a maximum speed between 600 and 622 miles-per-hour depending on altitude with a rate-of-climb of 5,530 feet-per-minute possible. Combat radius was listed at 500 miles. Both aircraft had an overall length of around 33 feet with the P-304-5 being slightly longer by a few inches and the P-304-4 was the heavier of the two by a few hundred pounds due to its longer duct work assembly and strengthened undercarriage required for the special configuration. The P-304-4 would also feature more internal fuel stores to achieve the desired range and offset its weight gains.
Neither the P-304-4 nor the P-304-5 were furthered beyond paperwork and concept art. The end of the war in 1945 and the military drawdown that followed doomed such outlying projects like the P-304 in full - leaving their potential and ultimate influence to the imagination of the reader.
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