05/31/2006. Remarks by Jack McKillop: "One of three prototypes built that were comparable to the Martin XBTM-1 and Douglas XBT2D-1. With a gross weight of 20,508 lb (9,302 kg), this was the heaviest carrier-based aircraft built up to the end of WW II. The aircraft had an internal bomb bay that could accommodate bombs or a torpedo. One of the features of the XF8B-1 was a six-bladed contra-rotating propeller. The first flight was on November 27, 1944 but the aircraft never went into production."