Martin Baker MB5 – Best British Fighter to Never Serve?

The British Martin-Baker MB 5 was the ultimate development of a series of prototype fighter aircraft built during the Second World War. Neither the MB 5 nor its predecessors ever entered production, despite what test pilots described as excellent performance.

Martin-Baker Aircraft began the MB 5 as the second Martin-Baker MB 3 prototype, designed to Air Ministry Specification F.18/39 for an agile, sturdy Royal Air Force fighter, able to fly faster than 400 mph. After the first MB 3 crashed in 1942, killing Val Baker, the second prototype was delayed. A modified MB 3 with a Rolls-Royce Griffon engine, rather than the Napier Sabre of the MB 3, was planned as the MB 4, but a full redesign was chosen instead.

The redesigned aircraft, designated MB 5, used wings similar to the MB 3, but had an entirely new steel-tube fuselage. Power came from a Rolls-Royce Griffon 83 liquid-cooled V-12 engine, producing 2,340 hp (1,745 kW) and driving two three-bladed contra-rotating propellers. Armament was four 20 mm Hispano cannon, mounted in the wings outboard of the widely spaced retractable undercarriage.

A key feature of the design was ease of manufacture and maintenance: much of the structure was box-like, favouring straight lines and simple conformation.[4] It was built under the same contract that covered the building of the MB 3.

Performance

Maximum speed: 460 mph (740 km/h, 400 kn) at 20,000 ft (6,100 m)
Range: 1,100 mi (1,800 km, 960 nmi)
Service ceiling: 40,000 ft (12,000 m)
Rate of climb: 3,800 ft/min (19.3 m/s)
Wing loading: 45.9 lb/sq ft (224 kg/m2)
Power/mass: 6.3 lb/hp (3.82 kg/kW)

Sources: YouTube; Wikipedia