Curtiss-Wright Corporation in September 1939 began development of the XP-46 fighter for the potential replacement of the newly adopted P-40 Warhawk. In the new aircraft, the designer Donovan Reese Berlin (Donovan Reese Berlin) tried to adopt the experience of European fighters.
The XP-46 was an all-metal low-wing with a retractable landing gear. The main differences from the P-40 were-a new Allison V-1710-39 engine, a new cooling system, a modified chassis design and a cockpit light. The maximum speed is 571 km/h flight distance is 523 km. The armament consisted of 2 × 13-mm machine guns + the possibility of installing 8 × 7.6-mm machine guns.
Tests showed that the Curtiss XP-46 was one of those rare cases when the replacement is worse than its predecessor. It was inferior to the P-40, primarily in speed. As a result, project was drop and only two samples were built.
