Convair XB-53

The XB-53-CO was an intermediate designation for the stillborne Convair XA-44-CO jet attack aircraft begun in 1945 under the old "attack" category. An unusual canard design with forward-swept wings and powered by three J35-GE turbojets, the project was developed in parallel with Convair's B-46 and looked promising enough at one point that the Army Air Force considered cancelling the B-46 in favor of the XA-44 since there was not enough funding for both. Convair argued for completion of the XB-46 prototype as a flying testbed sans armament and other equipment and substitution of two XA-44s for the other two B-46 airframes on contract. The Air Force ratified this in June 1946 but the project did not progress, nor were additional B-46s built. The XA-44 was redesignated XB-53 in 1948 when the "attack" category was dropped but the project was cancelled before the two prototypes were completed.

Sources - Andrade, John M., "U.S. Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909", Midland Counties Publications, Earl Shilton, Leicester, 1979, ISBN 0-904597--22-9.

Knaack, Marcelle Size, "Encyclopedia of U.S. Air Force Aircraft and Missile Systems - Volume II - Post-World War II Bombers", Office of Air Force History, USAF, Washington, D.C., 1988, ISBN 0-912799-59-5.

Wagner, Ray, "American Combat Planes - Second Edition", Doubleday and Company, Garden City, 1968, ISBN 67-10351.