I don't understand why you think it has anything to do with Britishness, or being offended? I have no problem, for example. in acknowledging that the
design of the V-bombers took a huge amount from Germany after WW2 (Victor = Heinkel/Arado, Vulcan = Lippisch/Junkers/BMW designs etc. Not to mention
our hopeless attempts at transonic swept wings in the 1940's when the Supermarine 510 is compared with the MiG 15 and F-86. No, national pride has no
part in what I was trying to explain.
I am simply showing you the root of the Vampires design, and that it was not influenced by the P-38 at all, but that similar ideas were already in
circulation before the P-38 was created. Given that the one I showed looks the same as the Vampire from above (propellers apart) and was designed by
the Airspeed division of De Havilland, don't you think it more likely that this was the root of its design than an American plane which didn't exist
at the time?
Besides, who is to say that a Jet P-38, had it been attempted, might not have tried to keep the engines in the booms? It would have been a far simpler
conversion than a brand new fuselage because the undercarriage would still be accomodated in the same way and the structural design of the airframe
would be unchanged. It might have turned out with the jets exhausting underneath the boom which might be raised up very slightly, like the Yak 15's
underbelly exhaust? (Sounds like a good idea for a model

)
[edit on 1-8-2006 by waynos]