Grumman XP-50

The Grumman XP-50 was a land-based development of the shipboard XF5F-1 Skyrocket, entered in a United States Army Air Corps contest for a twin-engine heavy interceptor. The Corps ordered one prototype on 25 November 1939 as the XP-50, which Grumman called Design 34 and later G-41, with a reworked nose to house tricycle landing gear and provisions for self-sealing fuel tanks and pilot armor. It lost the competition to the Lockheed XP-49, and the prototype was destroyed on 14 May 1941 when a turbo-supercharger exploded and the test pilot bailed out. The Corps then recommended two more advanced G-51 fighters as the XP-65, a parallel project that was abandoned.