Boeing P-26 Peashooter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_P-26_Peashooter

The Boeing P-26 "Peashooter" was the first American all-metal production fighter
aircraft and the first pursuit monoplane to enter squadron service with the
United States Army Air Corps. Designed and built by Boeing, the prototype first
flew in 1932, and the type was still in use with the U.S. Army Air Corps as late
as 1941 in the Philippines. There are only two surviving Peashooters, but there
are three reproductions on exhibit with two more under construction.

The project, funded by Boeing, to produce the Boeing Model 248 began in
September 1931, with the US Army Air Corps supplying the engines and the
instruments. The design, which included an open cockpit, fixed landing gear and
externally braced wings, was the last such design procured by the USAAC as a
fighter aircraft. The Model 248 had a high landing speed, which caused a number
of accidents. To remedy this, flaps were fitted to reduce the landing speed. The
Army Air Corps ordered three prototypes, designated XP-936, with the first
flight on 20 March 1932.

The Boeing XP-936 was still tricky to land; sometimes, because of the short
nose, it tended to roll onto its back and would flip forward, injuring a number
of pilots. The prototype's unarmored headrest offered virtually no protection in
such instances. As a result, production Model 266s ("P-26A"s) had a taller,
armored headrest installed.

Two fighters were completed as "P-26B"s with fuel-injected Pratt & Whitney
R-1340-33 engines. These were followed by twenty-three "P-26C"s, with carburated
R-1340-33s and modified fuel systems. Both the Spanish Air Force (one aircraft)
and the Republic of China Air Force (eleven aircraft) ordered examples of the
Model 281 version of the P-26C in 1936.

The diminutive "Peashooter", as it was known by service pilots, was faster than
previous American combat aircraft. Nonetheless, rapid progress in aviation led
to it quickly becoming an anachronism, with wire-braced wings, fixed landing
gear and open cockpit. The stressed-skin cantilever-wing Dewoitine D.500 flew
the same year as the P-26 and two years afterwards the Soviet I-16 was flying
with retractable landing gear. By 1935, just three years after the P-26, the
Curtiss P-36, Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Hawker Hurricane were all flying with
enclosed cockpits, retractable landing gear and cantilever wings. However, the
P-26 was easy to fly, and would remain in service until the U.S. entered World
War II.


Role
Fighter

National origin
United States

Manufacturer
Boeing

First flight
20 March 1932

Retired
1956 (Guatemala)

Primary users
United States Army Air Corps
Republic of China Air Force
Philippine Army Air Corps
Guatemalan Air Force

Number built
151

Unit cost

$14,009

Variants
Boeing P-29/XF7B-1

Deliveries to USAAC pursuit squadrons began in December 1933 with the last
production aircraft in the series coming off the assembly line in 1936,
designated the P-26C. Ultimately, 22 squadrons flew the Peashooter, with peak
service being six squadrons in 1936. P-26s were the frontline fighters of the
USAAC until 1938, when Seversky P-35s and Curtiss P-36s began to replace the
P-26. A total of twenty P-26s were lost in accidents between 1934 and America's
entry into World War II, but only five before 1940.

The first Boeing P-26 to experience major combat operation was the Chinese Model
281. On 15 August 1937, eight P-26/281s from the Chinese Nationalist Air Force
3rd Pursuit Group, 17th Squadron, based at Chuyung airfield, engaged eight out
of twenty Mitsubishi G3M Nell medium bombers from the Kisarazu Air Group sent to
attack Nanking. The Chinese Boeing fighters helped shoot down two of the four
Japanese bombers destroyed that day without suffering any losses. Subsequent
engagements between the Chinese Peashooter pilots and pilots of the Imperial
Japanese Navy flying the Mitsubishi A5M "Claudes" were the first aerial
dogfights and kills between all-metal monoplane fighter aircraft. A single P-26
was in service with the Spanish Republican Air Force during the Spanish Civil
War of 1936–1939, but no aerial kills were recorded with this fighter aircraft.
It was shot down in 1936.

By December 1941, U.S. fighter strength in the Philippines included twenty-eight
P-26s, 12 of which were operational with the 6th Pursuit Squadron of the
Philippine Army Air Corps. Filipino-flown P-26s claimed one G3M and two or three
Mitsubishi A6M2 Zeros before the last of the P-26s were burned by their crews on
24 December 1941.

Only nine P-26s remained airworthy, serving in the Panama Canal Zone. In
1942–43, the Fuerza Aérea de Guatemala acquired seven P-26s ostensibly by the
U.S. government smuggling them in as "Boeing PT-26A" trainers to get around
restrictions of sales to Latin American countries. The last two P-26s in service
were still flying with Guatemala's air force until 1956, when they were replaced
with P-51 Mustangs. The P-26's last combat operation was with the Guatemalan Air
Force during a coup in 1954.

The P-26 was the last Boeing Company fighter aircraft to enter service until
Boeing acquired McDonnell-Douglas with production and continuing support
contracts for the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in 2002. Between those aircraft,
Boeing did produce the prototype XF8B in 1944, as well as the X-32 entry in the
Joint Strike Fighter contest in 2000.

Specifications (P-26A)

General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 23 ft 7 in (7.18 m)
Wingspan: 28 ft (8.50 m)
Height: 10 ft 0 in (3.04 m)
Empty weight: 2,196 lb (996 kg)
Loaded weight: 3,360 lb (1,524 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney R-1340-27 "Wasp" radial engine, 600 hp (440 kW)

Performance
Maximum speed: 234 mph (203 knots, 377 km/h) at 6,000 ft (1,800 m)
Combat radius: 360 mi (310 nmi, 580 km)
Ferry range: 635 mi (550 nmi, 1,020 km)
Service ceiling: 27,400 ft (8,350 m)
Rate of climb: 719 ft/min (3.65 m/s)

Armament

Guns: 2 × .30 in (7.62 mm) M1919 Browning machine guns or 1 x .30 (7.6mm) and 1
x .50 (12.7mm) caliber machine guns
Bombs: 2 × 100 lb (45 kg) GP bombs or 5 x 31 lb (14 kg) anti-personnel bombs





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