Boeing P-26 Peashooter - Wikipedia

20/11/2017

Boeing P-26 Peashooter - Wikipedia

Boeing P-26 Peashooter The Boeing P-26 "Peashooter" was the first American all-

P-26 "Peashooter"

metal production fighter aircraft and the first pursuit monoplane to enter squadron service with the United States Army Air Corps.[N

1]

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.

Contents 1

Design and development

2

Operational history 2.1 U.S. Army Air Corps 2.1.1 Overseas deployments 2.2

Combat service

P-26 Peashooter in flight Role

Fighter

National origin United States Manufacturer

Boeing

3

Variants

First flight

20 March 1932

4

Operators

Retired

1956 (Guatemala)[1]

5

Surviving aircraft 5.1 Replicas

Primary users

6

Specifications (P-26A)

7

See also

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

8

References 8.1 Notes 8.2 Citations 8.3 Bibliography

Number built

151[2]

Unit cost

$14,009[3]

Variants

Boeing P-29/XF7B-1

9

External links

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

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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.

Operational history U.S. Army Air Corps 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. Air Corps units using the P-26[4] were the: 1st Pursuit Group (17th, 27th, and 94th PS), Selfridge Field, Michigan; 4th Composite Group (3d, 17th, and 20th PS), Nichols and Clark fields, Philippine Department. 8th Pursuit Group (33rd, 35th, and 36th PS), Langley Field, Virginia; 16th Pursuit Group (24th and 78th PS), Albrook Field, Panama Canal Zone; 17th Pursuit Group (34th, 73d, and 95th PS), March Field, California 18th Pursuit Group (6th and 19th PS), Wheeler Field, Hawaii; and 20th Pursuit Group (55th, 77th, and 79th PS), Barksdale Field, Louisiana.

Formation of nine Boeing P-26s of the 20th Pursuit Group

Overseas deployments Between 1938 and 1940, P-26s were assigned overseas to supplement Seversky P-35s in two defense units based at Wheeler Field, Territory of Hawaii: 18th Pursuit Group (6th, 19th, 73d, and 78th PS) 15th Pursuit Group (45th and 47th PS).

Boeing P-26A Peashooter of the 34th Pursuit Squadron 17th Pursuit Group

The 17th PG became the 17th Attack Group in 1935, and its P-26s were transferred in 1938 to the 16th Pursuit Group (24th, 29th, and 78th PS) at Albrook Field in the Panama Canal Zone. These P-26s were transferred in 1940 to the 37th Pursuit Group (28th, 30th, and 31st PS) which flew them until they were replaced by P-40s in May 1941. Some continued service with the 32d Pursuit Group (51st and 53rd PS), but only nine P-26s remained operational in Central America at the start of World War II. P-26As were also flown by the 3d PS of the 4th Composite Group, based in the Philippines. Between 1937 and 1941, 31 were sold to the fledgling Philippine Army Air Corps.

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Combat service The first Boeing P-26 to experience major combat operation was the Chinese Model 281. On 15 August 1937, eight P26/281s 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.[5] 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.[6][7] 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.[8] 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.[9] 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.[10] 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.[11] El P-26 fue el último avión de combate de la compañía Boeing en entrar en servicio hasta que Boeing adquirió McDonnell-Douglas con producción y contratos de soporte continuo para el Boeing F / A-18E / F Super Hornet en 2002. Entre esos aviones, Boeing sí produjo el prototipo XF8B en 1944, así como la entrada X-32 en el concurso Joint Strike Fighter en 2000.

Variantes XP-936 Tres prototipos de aviones para el Cuerpo Aéreo del Ejército de los EE. UU., Propulsados por motores radiales Pratt & Whitney R-1340-21 Avispa de 525 hp (391 kW) . Primer vuelo: 20 de marzo de 1932. P-26A Aviones de combate de un solo asiento, propulsados por un R-1340-27 de 600 hp (450 kW); 111 construido. P-26B Combatiente de un solo asiento, propulsado por un motor de 600 HP (450 kW) con inyección de combustible R-1340-33; dos construidos. P-26C Luchador de un solo asiento, con un R-1340-33 carburador y un sistema de combustible modificado; 23 construido. Modelo 281 Versión de exportación del P-26C; 11 construidos para China, uno construido para España, 12 construidos.

Operadores República de China Fuerza Aérea Nacionalista China - (China Nacionalista, 1930)

Guatemala Fuerza Aérea Guatemalteca - (Hasta 1957) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_P-26_Peashooter

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Mancomunidad de las Filipinas Cuerpo Aéreo del Ejército de Filipinas (Hasta finales de 1941)

España Fuerza aérea republicana española - (1 demostrador utilizado brevemente)

Estados Unidos

Operadores del P-26.

Cuerpo Aéreo del Ejército de los Estados Unidos

Sobrevivir a los aviones P-26A c / n 1899 número de serie 33-123 se encuentra actualmente en exhibición en el Museo Planes of Fame ubicado en Chino, California . Este avión se vendió a la Fuerza aérea guatemalteca el 11 de mayo de 1943, y voló como FAG 0672 hasta que se retiró en 1957 cuando fue recuperado por Ed Maloney. Una vez volado regularmente con el registro N3378G, el P-26 del museo se colocó en pantalla estática a mediados de la década de 1980 para protegerlo. En 2004, se tomó la decisión de volver a volar el P-26, y se inició una restauración para devolver el P-26 a condiciones de vuelo. Esto se completó en la primavera de 2006, con la primera aparición de la aeronave durante el espectáculo aéreo del museo en mayo de 2006. [12]El avión fue transportado sobre el Atlántico y volado y exhibido en el aeródromo de Duxford, Inglaterra, en julio de 2014 durante la primera visita de posguerra a Europa. P-26A c / n 1911 número de serie 33-135 se encuentra en la colección del Museo Nacional del Aire y el Espacio . Este avión se asignó originalmente al Escuadrón de Persecución 94º en Selfridge Field, Michigan , y fue uno de los P-26A enviados a la Zona del Canal de Panamá . Fue vendido a la Fuerza Aérea Guatemalteca el 11 de mayo de 1943, y volado como FAG 0816 hasta que fue retirado en 1957. Luego fue donado a la Institución Smithsonian . Este avión fue restaurado por la Fuerza Aérea de los EE. UU . Y se exhibió en el Museo Nacional de la Fuerza Aérea de los Estados Unidos. en las marcas del 34to Escuadrón de Ataque, hasta 1975, cuando fue devuelto para su exhibición en el Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.

Replicas

P-26A 33-123 exhibido en Duxford Airfield en julio de 2014 durante la primera visita de posguerra a Europa

P-26A 33-135 en exhibición en el Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center ( Virginia ) en las marcas de 1934 del 34 ° Escuadrón de Persecución, 17 ° PG.

A P-26A is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio.[13] It is painted as the commander's aircraft of the 19th PS / 18th PG, stationed at Wheeler Field, Oahu, in 1938. The San Diego Air and Space Museum has made a reproduction of an early model to Boeing's plans with the original design's "streamlined tailwheel" and without flaps and the crossover exhaust that were later additions. In addition, Mayocraft Inc., completed the final assembly in September 2006, and it went on display in June, 2011 after nearly 12 years of construction.[14][15] P-26D: A flying replica completed in 2006 is in the collection of the Military Aviation Museum, Virginia Beach, Virginia.[16] P-26C: two aircraft are being constructed by Golden Age Aeroplane Works (http://www.peashooter.net/index.php), Seymour, Indiana.[17]

Specifications (P-26A) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_P-26_Peashooter

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Data from Aviation-history.com[18]

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)

P-26A replica on display at the NMUSAF

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 [19]

See also Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era Breda Ba.27 Dewoitine D.500 Grigorovich I-Z Mitsubishi A5M Vickers Vireo Vickers Jockey Yakovlev AIR-7

Related lists List of fighter aircraft List of military aircraft of the United States

References Notes 1. The P-26 continued the pursuit fighter concept that had been employed since World War I. The P for Pursuit designation was derived from the French Chasseur designation (literally, hunter) for fighters.

Citations 1. Maloney 1973, p. 47. 2. Bowers 1976, p. 24. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_P-26_Peashooter

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3. Bowers 1976, p. 20. 4. Maloney and Ryan 1965, Squadron Assignments 5. Gustavsson, Håkan. "Sino-Japanese Air War 1937–1945." (http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/sino-japanese-1937.htm) surfcity.kund.dalnet.se, 14 April 2010. Retrieved: 5 August 2010. 6. Nash, David. "Aircraft that took part in the Spanish Civil War." (http://www.zi.ku.dk/personal/drnash/model/spain/di d.html) Aircraft of the Spanish Civil War, 31 March 2008. Retrieved: 5 August 2010. 7. Green and Swanborough Air Enthusiast December 1980–March 1981, p. 73. 8. Shores, Cull and Izawa 1992, p. 56. 9. Shores, Cull and Izawa 1992, pp. 184–185, 195. 10. Baugher, Joe. "Boeing P-26". (http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_fighters/p26.html) USAAC/USAAF/USAF Fighter and Pursuit Aircraft: Original Fighter Series-1922 to 1962. Retrieved: 5 August 2010. 11. Cooper, Tom. "Guatemala since 1954." (http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_162.shtml) Central and Latin American Database, 1 September 2003. Retrieved: 5 August 2010. 12. "Photo 33-123 (airliners photo collection)." (http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?codesearch=33-123) airliners.net. Retrieved: 5 August 2010. 13. "P-26 Peashooter." (http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsID=338) Archived (https://web. archive.org/web/20071226032750/http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsID=338) December 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. National Museum of the United States Air Force. Retrieved: 5 August 2010. 14. "P-26 Projects." (http://www.mayocraft.com/projects.html) Mayocraft. Retrieved: 17 March 2007. 15. ""Peashooter" fighter goes on display in San Diego" (http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/jun/15/peashooter-fig hter-goes-display-san-diego/) San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved: 30 March 2015. 16. "P-26 Peashooter." (http://www.fighterfactory.com/p26-peashooter) Military Aviation Museum. Retrieved: 31 May 2013. 17. O'Comnnor, Tim. "Golden Age P-26 Page." (http://peashooter.net/?content=gallery) Golden Age Aeroplane Works (http://www.peashooter.net/index.php). Retrieved: 26 July 2017. 18. "Boeing P-26 Peashooter." (http://www.aviation-history.com/boeing/p26.html) The Aviation History On-Line Museum, The Aviation Internet Group, 2002. Retrieved: 1 July 2006. 19. Fitzsimons 1978, pp. 2062–2063.

Bibliography Angelucci, Enzo and Peter M. Bowers. The American Fighter. Sparkford, Somerset, UK: Haynes Publishing Group, 1987. ISBN 0-85429-635-2. Bowers, Peter M. Boeing Aircraft since 1916. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989. ISBN 0-85177804-6. Bowers, Peter M. Boeing P-26 Variants (Aerofax Minigraph 8). Arlington, Texas: Aerofax Inc., 1985. ISBN 0942548-13-2. Bowers, Peter M. "The Boeing P-26A". Aircraft in Profile, Volume One, Part 2. Windsor, UK/Garden City, NY: Profile Publications/Doubleday, revised 4th edition, 1976. ISBN 0-85383-411-3. Crosby, Francis. "Boeing P-26." Fighter Aircraft. London: Lorenz Books, 2002. ISBN 0-7548-0990-0. Davis, Larry. P-26 (Mini in Action number 2). Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications Inc., 1994. ISBN 089747-322-1. Dorr, Robert F. "Boeing P-26 Peashooter". Air International, Vol. 48, No. 4, 1995, p. 239. Fitzsimons, Bernard, ed. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare (Volume 19). London: Purnell & Son Ltd, 1978, First edition 1971. No ISBN. Green, William and Gordon Swanborough. "Boeing's Fighter Finale... The Peashooter Chronicle". Air Enthusiast, Fourteen, December 1980–March 1981, pp. 1–12, 73–75. Maloney, Edward T. Boeing P-26 "Peashooter" (Aero Series 22). Fallbrook, California: Aero Publishers Inc., 1973. ISBN 0-8168-0584-9.

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Maloney, Edward T. and Frank Ryan. P-26: History of the Famous Boeing P-26 "Peashooter" (Air Museum Historical Series). Hollywood, California: Challenge Publications, Inc., 1965. Pedigree of Champions: Boeing Since 1916, Third Edition. Seattle, Washington: The Boeing Company, 1969. Shores, Christopher, Brian Cull and Yasuho Izawa. Bloody Shambles: Volume one: The Drift to War to the Fall of Singapore. London: Grub Street, 1992. ISBN 0-948817-50-X. Wagner, Ray. American Combat Planes – Second Edition. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1968. ISBN 0-370-00094-3.

External links P-26 entry on historynet (http://www.historynet.com/boeing-p-26-peashooter.htm) The Peashooter’s legacy, by Michael Lombardi (http://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers/archive/2007/april/i_history. pdf) Project for two Peashooter reproduction aircraft (http://peashooter.net/?content=article) P-26 Peashooter at the (http://www.fighterfactory.com/p26-peashooter.htm) Military Aviation Museum, Virginia Beach, Virginia "High Speed Changes in Flying," Popular Mechanics, May 1935, pp. 706–708 (https://books.google.com/books?id =wd8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA706&dq=Popular+Science+1935+plane+%22Popular+Mechanics%22&hl=en&ei=keos Tr74FKLDsQLpvbGKCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&sqi=2&ved=0CDkQ6AEwBA#v=onepage& q&f=true) Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Boeing_P-26_Peashooter&oldid=806486813" This page was last edited on 22 October 2017, at 10:03. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

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