The aircraft, designated the XP-67 Bat (or alternatively, “Moonbat”), was conceptually advanced. Yet the plane failed to perform. Only one prototype was ever developed, and it was destroyed ...

But the XP-67, casually called Bat and Moonbat—―it didn’t live long enough to get an official name—was a futuristic design nonetheless. James McDonnell, a pilot and aeronautical engineer ...