Proposed standard armament centered on 4 x 0.50 caliber Browning M2 air-cooled Heavy Machine Guns (HMGs) seated in the hollowed out nose cone - this made possible by positioning the engines at the wings. The machine guns could just as easily be replaced by 4 x 20mm autocannons for a more definitive frontal "punch" against ground (and in some cases airborne) targets. Beyond this there was an optional bomb load of up to 4,000lb with a hardpoint found along fuselage centerline and underwing.
The Packard Merlin liquid-cooled inline engines were rated at 1,600 horsepower each (x2) and these would have driven two pairs of three-bladed propeller units in "contra-rotating" fashion by way of extended spinners ahead of the nacelles. The Westinghouse turbojets would have added an additional 2,200lb of thrust (each unit) for an exceptional boost in performance capabilities.
As finalized, the Model 47 was given an overall length of 59.4 feet and a wingspan of 69 feet. Gross weight reached over 30,000lb. Engineers estimated a maximum speed reaching over 400 miles-per-hour and a combat range out to 2,600 miles (600 mile radius).
The Model 47 was not selected for development and some issues from the available design drawings were notable: the mixed-powerplant approach would have been a complex system for both repairing and general maintenance at-sea while the overall size of the aircraft would have severely restricted it from being used on the smaller USN fleet carrier types of the wartime period. Fuel burn for the turbojet engines would have been an inherent concern, limiting their usefulness in the long-term. Another sticking point was the USN's preference for using air-cooled radial engine types to drive their prop aircraft - the service deeming these more survivable in combat than delicate, complex inline forms.
Beyond this, the aircraft may very well have been a solid, if very fast, performer with a relatively impressive war load capability. Its role was eventually filled by other, more modest and traditional, designs such as the solely-prop-driven Grumman F7F "Tigercat" - which shares a similarity in design configuration (twin, outboard engines) with the Model 47.
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