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Attempting to regain its position as a supplier of fighter aircraft to the U.S. Navy (a position then dominated by
Grumman Aircraft), Curtiss proposed in early 1941 the development of a high-performance, heavily-armed fighter designed
around a liquid-cooled engine. At that time the Navy was dedicated to air-cooled engines, but Curtiss' experience with the P-40 gave
the company good grounds for its faith in a liquid-cooled unit, and on June 30, 1941 it received a contract for two
prototypes, to be designated XF14C-1. The Lycoming XH-2470-4 engine in the first prototype failed to deliver the expected
performance during wind tunnel testing, and the Navy eventually concluded that the performance of the XF14C-1
would be inadequate by the time it could be ready to enter service, and the program was cancelled in December 1943. Because
the first airframe was virtually complete, the Navy suggested that it be flown with the Wright XR-3350-16 Cyclone engine,
driving six-blade contra rotating propellers. In this configuration the aircraft was redesignated XF14C-2, and
the first flight was made in July 1944. Performance again fell below expectations, and the R-3350 engine continued to suffer teething
problems. The progress of the war in the Pacific made further development of the XF14C-2 unnecessary, and the program was
cancelled in the early months of 1945.
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