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Aerofax Minigraph 8

BoeingP.26Variants

by Peter Bowers

ISBN 0·942548·13-2

©1984

Aerofax, Inc.p.o. Box 120127Arlington, Texas 76012ph. 817 261-0689

u.s. Trade Distribution by:

Motorbooks International729 Prospect Ave.Osceola, Wisconsin 54020ph. 715 294-2090

European Trade Distribution by:

Midland Counties Publ1cations24 The Hollow, Earl ShiltonLeicester, LE9 7NA, Englandph. (0455) 47256

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THE BOEING P-26 VARIANTS STORV

Three-quarter front view of the Boeing XP-936 wind tunnel model without propeller. Also missing are the flying wires for the wings and tail surfaces and othermiscellaneous details such as the radio mast and exhaust pipe complex. Model, dated February of 1932, was meticulously built of hardwood with a metal

Townend ring and engine parts.

Wood and fabric full-scale mock-up of XP-936 lacks tail surfaces and landing gear. Noteworthy are the externalwing root mounting of the camera gun, the abbreviated windscreen and headrest, and the use of a rea; engine.

Photo was taken on November 25, 1931.

CREDITS:The author and Aerofax, Inc. would like to express their

thanks to the following individuals who contributedphotographs andlor data to this Minigraph: Dana Bell,Jack Binder, Dustin Carter, Robert Cavanagh, HarryGann, Walter Jefferies, Fredrick Johnsen, John and JoeKobe, Edward LePenske, Edward Maloney, Mike McCaryand Crown Hobbies of Dallas, David Menard, AI Hansen,James Morrow, Marilyn Phipps of Boeing Historical Ser­vices, Kenn Rust, Victor Seely, Jay Spenser, GordonSwanborough of Air International, Robert Volker, GordonWilliams, and the late A.U. Schmidt, Eugene Sommerich,and Joseph Nieto.

PROGRAM HISTORY:The Boeing P-26, unofficially nicknamed Peashooter

(in the 1930's the term Peashooter was often applied tosingle-seat pursuit aircraft; in the context of present-dayhistorical references, the term is generally consideredto apply specifically to the Boeing P-26), is unique amongUS Army pursuit aircraft for at least two reasons: it wasnot developed under a standard US Army Air Corps ex­perimental contract, but rather as a private venture ofthe manufacturer with the aid and encouragement of theAir Corps Materiel Division at Wright Field, Dayton Ohio;and it broke the established Air Corps tradition of dualprocurement of equivalent models (Curtiss P-6 and Boe­ing P-12 pursuits; Curtiss 0-1 and Douglas 0-210-38observation models simultaneously, for example).

While the Curtiss XP-934 (later designated XP-31 bythe US Army Air Corps) was considered the BoeingXP-936's (P-26 family prototype) primary competition, on­ly the Boeing pursuit was to see production. This reacheda total of only 136 P-26NBIC airframes. Though appear­ing small, this order represented the largest single newpursuit design procurement since 1921. There was,however, justification for the small production run, asboth the Army and Boeing realized that the newmonoplane was strictly an interim model. In fact, an en­tirely new generation of high-performance monoplanes,with more powerful engines and structural andaerodynamic improvements, was already underconsideration.

In its transitional role, the P-26 was also notable forbeing both a last and a first. It was the last Army pursuit

to feature both an open-cockpit and fixed landing gearwith externally-braced wings; and concommiUantly, itwas also America's first production all-metal monoplanepursuit.

Production P-26's had a US Army service life of eightand one-half years and eventually became the first USservice aircraft to be passed on to other nations for con­tinued use. At the time, this was considered extremelyunusual as previous US military aircraft had been scrap­ped or relegated to training schools following their sevicecareers. It is interesting to note that the last two of thenumerous P-26's relegated to foreign service use werenot retired until 1956. Both aircraft, at the time operatedby the Guatemalan Air Force, were returned to the US.They are, today, the only known surviving P-26's.

In 1931, when Boeing's historically significant P-12 and

F4B biplane fighter series was still selling well to the USArmy and Navy, respectively, Boeing intuitively foresawthat the end of the biplane era was near. In fact, the com­pany had just introduced a revolutionary commercialmonoplane, the Model 200 Monomail, and had alreadyinterested the Army in its Model 214 and 215 twin-enginebomber derivatives which the Army bought as the Y1 B-9and YB-9, respectively. Even more significant was thefact that the company was then designing an equivalentcivil transport, the Model 247, which was soon to revolu­tionize the air transport industry.

Since the speed of the new B-9 was expected ·to begreater than that of contemporary pursuit aircraft, Boe­ing offered the War Department an opportunity todevelop a new pursuit generation that would be fasterthan the new bombers then under develqpment.

Boeing had already anticipated the advent of themonoplane pursuit with the Model 96 of 1929, a high­wing design that the Army financed as the XP-9 for a lowpriority experiment using all-metal construction. TheModel 96 number was in the sequence of Boeing designnumbers reaching back to the Boeing Model 1 of 1916.Not every Boeing design study assigned a number wasbuilt and not every assigned number was given to an air­frame; there was, in fact, a series of model numbers from104 through 199 that was reserved for Boeing-designedairfoils.

The XP-9 proved unsatisfactory aerodynamically, butBoeing tried again in 1930 with its Model 202 and 204which were nearly identical all-metal parasol monoplanestested by the Army and Navy as the XP-15 and XF5B-1 ,respectively. Both were essentially conventional biplaneswith their lower wings removed. No orders for these air­craft were placed.

Following introduction of the revolutionary Monomaifin May of 1930, Boeing initiated preliminary studies fora new pursuit, the Model 224, in February of 1931. Thiswas essentially a scaled-down Monomaif with a similarlow tapered cantilever wing housing a backward­retracting landing gear, all-metal semi-monocoque con­struction, P-12E tail surfaces, and a 550 hp Pratt &Whitney Wasp engine. Old pursuit traditions were main­tained in the form of an open cockpit.

Informal discussion of the Model 224 between Boeingand Wright Field representatives aroused little official in­terest; regardless of major advances the Army had norequirement for a new pursuit aircraft at the time. Boe­ing therefore shelved the Model 224 and went b~ck tothe drawing board to layout a more simplifiecf design,the Model 245.

The Model 224 concept was not to die out just yet,however. It was revamped two years later as the Model264, which first flew in January of 1934. The Army boughtthree examples as the YP-29 for service test, but did notorder the type into production. By that time, with a newgeneration of larger, more powerful, and more stream­lined pursuits on the drawing board, the YP-29's actual­ly offered too little, too late.

The Model 245 was a wire-braced midwingmonoplane, still with the Wasp engine and open cockpit,but. with a rigid single-leg landing gear attached to thefuselage. The basic concept of the forthcoming P-26 wasnow established. Wright Field representatives quicklysaw the design's potential and with suggestions andrecommendations, they encouraged Boeing to expandand develop the studies further. The result was the Model248, a low wing monoplane with fixed landing gear at­tached to a stub center section integral with the fuselagethat was very similar in appearance to that found on thenew record-holding Gee Bee racer. The wing was wire­braced from the landing gear and top of the fuselage.Wright Field representatives, though still hobbled byHeadquarters budgetary constraints and no specific re­quirement for a new pursuit, now saw a design that itwanted.

An ingenious solution to the Army's dilemma was soonworked out. Boeing would design and build three pro­totype pursuits and deliver them to Wright Field for Ar­my testing on a bailment contract as company-owned air­craft. To reduce initial costs, Wright Field would lend Boe­ing all the hardware that was normally supplied asgovernment furnished equipment (GFE) for contractedmilitary aircraft. This included the powerplant, the pro­peller, the armament, instrumentation, and other items,all of which nearly equalled the cost of the airframe inwhich it was installed. This proved advantageous to bothparties as it allowed the Army Air Corps to evaluate anew and advanced design at essentially no cost; andBoeing took a relatively small financial gamble on apossible substantial order in the shrunken military andcivil aircraft market of the early Depression Years.

XP-936: Design work on the Boeing Model 248 (theprototype for the P-26 family) started in September of1931, under the direction of Project Engineer RobertMinshall. The Model 248 was later assigned the WrightField XP-936 designator. This represented number 936in a series of experimental aircraft, both military and civil,tested at Wright Field and its predecessor, McCook Fieldback to 1917. Originally, the "P" stood for the word"plane", but by the time the series reached 9QO, the let­ter indicated the type of aircraft (as P for Pursuit, B forBomber, etc.). The XP-936 designation was assignedupon signing of the bailment contract for the first threeaircraft on December 5, 1931.

There was a time advantage in developing the newpursuit as a private venture instead of as Army proper­ty. As an Army-owned model it would have to incorporate

2

many of the detailed requirements of the Army's bible,the Handbook of Instructions for Airplane Designers(HIAD). Boeing was guided by the major requirementsin this publication, but was able to eliminate many of thelesser ones as being unnecessary for a "proof of con­cept" prototype.

The first metal was cut on the prototype aircraft inJanuary of 1932, and in an attempt to speed up the mainconstruction process, Boeing early-on elected to moveengineers and drafters into the construction area to bein close proximity to the actual aircraft. Many parts wereactually built from free-hand sketches and on a hand­fitted basis.

Ten weeks after the cutting of the first metal, the pro­totype XP-936, cln 1678, was completed at Boeing Field.This aircraft, with ballast in place of armament and fuelin the main tanks only, was successfully test flown forthe first time on March 10, 1932, from the company'sBoeing Field, Seattle, Washington facility. A preliminaryevaluation permitted company test pilot Les Tower toconclude that the new aircraft had excellent flightcharacteristics. Following additional test flights under theauspices of Boeing, Tower, on April 16th, ferried theXP-936 to Wright Field where it was formally turned overto the Army on April 25th.

The second XP-936, cln 1679, destined for static test,was flown away on April 22nd by Lt. L.H. Dawson, anArmy pilot, even though it was still Boeing property. Itreached Wright Field via a circuitous route; March Field,California, and the Anacostia Naval Air Station,Maryland. Upon arrival at Wright Field, it entered thestatic test laboratory and never flew again as Army pro­perty. The third XP-936, cln 1680, was flown directly toSelfridge Field on May 6th by Maj. G. E. Brower forevaluation by the three squadrons of the 1st PUrsuitGroup.

Oddly, though the XP-936's were company-owned air­craft, they did not carry civil registrations. Apparently theirmilitary markings and coloring, plus the "XP-936" let­tering on their tails, qualified them as military aircraft inthe eyes of civil officials and thus legitimized the absenceof civil registration.

XP-26: After the initial XP-936 flight test program wascompleted by Boeing and Army pilots (all three aircraftwere officially acquired from Boeing by the Army undera purchase contract signed on June 15, 1932), the Ar­my cautiously concluded that the type was indeed asignificant improvement over available pursuits andtherefore a worthy addition to the operational inventory.Though concern over high landing and takeoff speeds,overly long takeoff and landing distances, slow responseto throttle retardation, and rapid acceleration in a dive(considered a negative characteristic at the time!), re­mained, it nevertheless elected to squeeze productionfunding out of an already overburdened budget. A lastminute addition to the 1932 Fiscal Year Budget, whichended June 30,1932, included funding for an initial P-26order.

Interestingly, once they became Army property, thethree XP-936 prototypes were assigned a standard USArmy Pursuit-series designator, XP-26, to indicate thatthey were technically experimental prototypes (officialacknowledgement of the designation assignment wasconsequent to the acquisition of the aircraft on June 15,1932). Army serial numbers 32-412, 413, and 414 wereassigned at this time, identifying the 412th, 413th and414th Army aircraft procured in Fiscal Year 1932 (July1,1931 through June 30,1932).

Y1P-26: As a deviation from standard practice, thethree prototypes did not retain their X-prefixes per­manently, as was customary for new prototypes. Instead,the Army decided to change the status of the new air­craft from "Experimental" to "Service Test", thus requir­ing the replacement of the "X" prefix with the "Y" prefiX.To complicate things even further, in some cases, suchas with the three P-26 prototypes, the designationbecame Y1 P-26 to indicate that the aircraft were paid forwith the F-1 funds rather than regular Air Corps ap­propriations. Usually, service test models were procuredon separate contracts and were different aircraft than theprototypes.

XY1P-26: As a still further oddity, the X and Y1 designa­tions were combined briefly in August of 1932, as theXY1 P-26. This was apparently for administrative pur­poses only, though it must have caused some ratherserious confusion among bureaucrats requiring accuratedesignation information I

P-26: Eventually, all the prefixing designators weredropped, as was customary in the Air Corps during thistime, and the XY1, Y1, and Y prefixes were removed fromthe P, and three prototypes thus becoming simply P-26.

Though the fate of the second P-26 was sealed whenit became a structural test article at Wright Field (beingremoved from the Air Corps inventory in September of1932), the first and third aircraft had relatively longlifespans. The first P-26 remained at Wright Field dur­ing most of its flight test and evaluation program, andthen was assigned to Chanute Field, Rantoul, Illinois.Eventually it was declared "Class 25" and was utilizedfor ground crew training. It had ac.cumulated a total of465 Army flight hours by this time and was eventuallyscrapped. The third P-26 prototype shuttled back andforth between Selfridge and Wright Fields on various testand evaluation programs before crashing on October 12,1934, due to the loss of a wing in flight near Baltimore,Maryland, with a total of 344 Army flight hours in its logbook.

Boeing Model 266: Flight and structural testing of thethree prototypes had led to a number of relatively minorchanges in the production airframes and other systems.Among these were the elimination of the mainwheel cowl­ing protrusions visible just behind the rear strut fairings;a change to smaller-diameter main gear and tailwheelwheels and tires, and reduced area ailerons. Lessnoticeable but of perhaps greater importance were thevarious internal changes which included redesign of thewing structure (though the physical dimensions of thewing remained essentially unchanged with the exceptionof an 11-5/8" increase in span); and provision was madepermitting the installation of Type A-4A skis or Type A-8wheel-skis as alternatives to the standard landing gear.

In addition to changes brought on by design considera­tions, there were also areas of contention expressed bythe various test pilots who had been privileged to fly thetwo available XP-936 prototypes. Among these were: nohandles or steps were provided to aid a pilot wearingbulky flying clothes during ingress and egress; the in­strument panel and engine cowling vibrated excessive­ly at low and high engine rpm; and some controls wereinaccessible from the seat when the pilot was properlystrapped in place. Additionally, it was noted that forwardvision was obscured during taxi by the Townend ring; andstability during takeoff, due to the short coupled landinggear, was marginal. Pilots also noted that normal flightattitude recovery was slow following pitch change inputs;an unassisted recovery to level flight during a bankingmaneuver at high speed was difficult to obtain and usual­ly resulted instead in an ever-increasing spiral to the left,and eventually, a spin; and landing speed (82 mph) andlanding roll-out (350 to 400 yards) were excessive.

P-26A: The initial Army order, placed on January 28,1933, was for 111 production P-26A's. This was lateramended to include an additional 25 aircraft, thus giv­ing a total of 136. Unit cost, less GFE, was $9,999, withtotal airframe production costs being $1,163,192. Aparallel Army contract with Pratt & Whitney resulted inan order for 121 R-1340-27 Wasp engines at at total costof $540,778.

On November 24, 1933, less than a year after the Ar­my ordered the production version of the XP-936, the firstP-26A was assembled on Boeing Field. Boeing test pilotLes Tower made the first flight on December 7th. Thefirst article, 33-28, was turned over to Air Corps CaptainC. H. Strohm on December 16th, and he promptly tookoff for Wright Field. The first P-26A for a squadron, 33·30,left the same day for Barksdale Field, near Shreveport,Louisiana, piloted by Lt. E. M. Robbins of the 20th Pur­suit Group. The last P-26, 33-138, would be delivered tothe 1st Pursuit Group at Selfridge Field just over sixmonths later, on June 30, 1934.

P-26B: The first batch of P-26A's was followed by acontract revision calling for an additional twenty-five air­craft, this being the result of a good P-26A service record.These were identical to the first P-26A's except for theaddition of flaps. Later, as a result of the successful ser­vice testing of seven Curtiss P-12E's with fuel-injectedR-1340 engines (leading to a temporary XP-12K designa­tion being applied), Wright Field decided to try fuel­injected engines on the P-26A. Consequently, the firsttwo P-26A's in the second production lot were orderedto be completed with the injected engines. The newengine was the R-1340-33 which, since it was ap­preciably heavier Gust over 100 pounds) than thecarburetor-equipped -27, caused ballast to be added tothe tail to maintain proper c.g. requirements. Becauseof the extensive system and weight changes involved,the Air Corps redesignated the R-1340-33-equipped air­craft P-26B and Boeing consequently assigned a revis­ed'model number, 266A.

The engine change and the addition of the flaps rais­ed the unit cost of the two P-26B's to $14,009, less GFE.The first P-26B, 33-179, was flown to Wright Field for test

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Taken in September of 1933, left side-view of P-26A fuselage is seen following application of skin and prior toattachment of wings, engine and engine mount, tail surfaces, landing gear, and headrest assembly. Large cut­

out for tail wheel is particularly distinctive.

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;;" _ l~A P-26A fuselage is seen in its construction jig immediately prior to the application of external skin. Noteworthyare the fuselage formers, bulkheads, and stringers. Also note complex jig assembly for positioning and forming

tail wheel cut-out.I

Main fuselage bulkheads of the first XP-936 are seen aligned in the primary assembly jig during the initial stagesof construction. Drafters and engineers worked side by side with the aircraft as it was built. Photo was taken on

February 2, 1932.

on June 20, 1935. The second, 33-180, was flown toSelfridge Field on June 21 st, where it became the per­sonal mount of Lt. Col. Ralph Royce, Commanding Of­ficer of the1 st Pursuit Group.

P-26C: The remaining 23 aircraft, still with the original-27 engines, were redesignated P"26C under a ChangeOrder issued in February of 1936, to indicate the fact thatthey had flaps and other minor changes as factory in­stalled items. The Boeing Model number remained 266.Later, when the Army decided to refit all the survivingP-26C's with the fuel injected -33 engines, the designa­tion changed to P-26B (a rare case of a designationreverting to an earlier designator). The last flyable P-26B,33-197, converted from a P-26C, was relegated to Class26 (non-flying) duty on October 22, 1942, with a total of1,261 airframe hours.

Since the P-26B's and P-26C's were additional articleson the original contract, the increased quantity reducedthe basic unit price by $500. The flaps and enginechanges were additional costs above the unit price.

The first delivery of a P-26C was on February 10, 1936,and the last was on March 7. All were flown to the 1stPursuit Group at Selfridge Field. All but six, 33-190, -193,-196, -198, -201, and -202 (which had been attrited bymid-1937), were converted to the P-26B configuration atthe Fairtield Air Depot later in 1937. The high-time P-26C­to-B conversion, 33-183, had 1,952 flight hours. Basedat Wheeler Field, Hawaii, it survived Pearl Harbor andcontinued to fly until it was surveyed on May 13, 1942.

RP-26: The RP-26 designation was the result of an Oc­tober 22, 1942 decision to put certain obsolescent com­bat aircraft in a new Restricted category that preventedthem from being used for their designated mission, inthis case, Pursuit. The designation applied primarily tothe few P-26A's that remained in squadron service in theCanal Zone.

ZP-26: The ZP-26 designator was the result of aDecember 11, 1942 Army declaration that survivingP-26A's were too old to qualify for the RP designation.In so doing, the aircraft were declared obsolete anddesignated ZP-26A, accordingly. This was a longestablised designation that had been applied to many ob­solete tactical types that still had useful lives as testbeds,squadron hacks and other miscellanea.

Unlike the products of most other aircraft manufac­turers, P-26's did not simply roll out the Boeing factorydoor, taxi out to a runway, and flyaway to their assign­ed post. To the contrary, the original Boeing factory (Plant1 after 1936) was a former yacht works on the west sideof the Duwamish River south of Seattle that had no ad­jacent flying field. The P-26's were built in a WW1 addi­tion to this plant, and then trucked in a disassembledstate to Boeing Field on the King County Airport locatedon the east side of the river some two miles away. There,final assembly was undertaken in a large brick hangerleased from the county. Flight testing, consisting of threehours of shakedown flying by Army service pilots, wasconducted from the airport runway facilities. Delivery totheir assigned units, the 20th, 17th, and 1st PursuitGroups (in that order), took place direct from Boeing Field(export Model 281 's were crated at the factory for sur­face shipment; from 1937 on, P-26's reassigned tooverseas bases were disassembled, crated, and shippedby the Army).

Boeing Model 281 (Export): In a further break with prece­dent, the Army allowed Boeing to sell export versions ofthe P-26A before that model had been in Army servicefor five years. Though unstated at the time, this decisionalso served to confirm that the P-26 was strictly an in­terim design. Except for minor departures from HIAD re­quirements and different equipment details, the Model281 was identical to the P-26A.

The Model 281 was the end result of an in-house deci­sion on the part of Boeing management to attempt topenetrate the small but potentially lucrative exportmarket. Sufficient interest on the part of the Chinese Cen­tral Government of Chiang Kai-shek led to a commitmentby Boeing to utilize company funds for production of ad­ditional aircraft over and above those required by the Ar­my Air Corps.

The first Model 281, painted Army olive drab andchrome yellow, but"carrying the civil registration X12271and cln 1959, flew for the firsnime on August 2, 1934.Shortly afterwards, it was modified by Boeing to test thewing trailing edge flaps that were later retrofitted to theP-26A's. B~ing also tested a set of revised, openwell wheel fairings, or "pants", on the demonstrator thatallowed the alternate installation of low-pressureGoodyear Airwhee/s. The latter were incorporated in theModel 281 in order to accommodate the rough field re-

3

Front view illustrating the first Boeing Model 248, identified as the first of three XP-936's (Boeing cln 1678) bythe US Army Air Corps. The photo was taken at roll-out on March 17, 1932, at Boeing Field. Note location of

pitot boom on left wing.

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quirements expected to emanate from export sales.Twelve Model.281's were built, with two, X12271 and

X12275, being used as demonstrators. X12271 wasdisassembled and shipped to China on September 15th,but was soon destroyed in a flight demonstration acci­dent. Fortunately, with the exception of the accident, theinitial parts of the demonstration had gone well and hadleft the Chinese with a positive impression. Accordingly,ten production Model 281's, cln's 1960, 1961, and1965/1972 were ordered by the Chinese government andpaid for mostly with funds raised by solicitation boxesin Chinese restaurants in the US. Deliveries of theChinese aircraft began on December 12, 1935, and werecompleted on January 5, 1936 Gust before P-26Cdeliveries began). As shipped to the Chinese, the Model281's were painted over-all light gray, with the blue andwhite Chinese 12-point star only on the undersurfacesof the wings. Later, they were repainted over-all olivedrab and more complete markings were applied.

The ten Model 281's saw light but significant actionagainst the Japanese in the Nanking area, where theywere based at Chuying airfield. Japanese efforts topenetrate south toward Nanking led to the city becom­ing a primary tamet for G3M2 bombers of the KanoyaKokutai which by then were operating out of Taipei,Taiwan. On August 20, 1937, six G3M2's were destroyedin the ensuing air battle, with only one Model 281 receiv-

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ing relatively minor damage.Unfortunately, spares shortages, accidents, and poor

maintenance qUickly ended the Model 281 's r61e in theevents leading to WW2. By the lime Nanking fell to theJapanese on December 13,1937, none of the ChineseModel 281's were still flyable.

The second Model 281, X12275, cln 1962, wasdelivered to Barajas airfield, near Madrid, Spain on April10, 1935, for demonstration to the Aviacio'n Militar underthe direction of Direccio'n General de Aerona'utica.There, with company test pilot Les Tower and BoeingVice President Erik Nelson overseeing reassembly, theaircraft was made ready for its flight demonstration.

Though they were impressed with the performance ofthe Model 281, the Spanish government refused to buythe type in quantity. The unit price of Pts. 500,000 wasconsidered too expensive for an already stretchedSpanish military budget. The single Model 281demonstrator was bought, however, with the idea ofstudying its design for potential application to indigenousfighter aircraft development.

The Model 281 had been delivered to Spain onlyminimally equipped. It mounted no guns and there wasno sychronizer gear on the engine. Later, the SpanishAir Force installed two British Vickers machine guns inunderwing pods outboard of the propeller arc and in­tegrated the aircraft into a mixed complement Republican

Twenty-six partially completed P-26A's are visible inthis photo taken inside Boeing's production facility

in March of 1934.

fighter unit. It was later shot down over Getafe by Rebelaircraft on October 21, 1936.

MODIFICATIONS:As with all high-performance military aircraft, P-26's

were subject to a number of post-delivery modificationsof both minor and major importance. The principal onesconsisted of the following:

Headrest: A Barksdale Field pi lot, Lt. Frederick I.Patrick, was killed during a forced landing on a routinecross-country flight on February 22, 1934. Though theplane, 33-46, flipped onto its back without major struc­tural damage, the headrest sheared off following the flip­over and Patrick's neck was broken. This accidentresulted in the February 27th grounding of the entire28-plane P-26A fleet until a fix could be developed. Sincethis was the first P-26A to crash, it was sent to WrightField for study and the fuselage was used to static-testa new headrest.

Boeing and Wright Field worked together to developa new higher (8") headrest with substantial inner struc­ture that could resist a 27,600 lb. vertical load, 13,000lb. forward load, and a 7,080 lb. side load. Boeing install­ed the first new headrest on 33-56, which had yet to bedelivered. Aircraft still at the factory were modified there.with deliveries resuming on March 27th. The others weremodified at Army bases. All work on the headrest

Roll-out day shot of first XP-936. Aircraft had olive drab fuselage with yellow wings and tail surfaces. Vertical fin stripe w~sblue, and rudder stripes were red and white.Short headrest and fairing are particularly noticeable in this view when compared to the late P-26A configuratIOn. Also dlstmctlve IS the excessive bafflmg VISible on the

nose cowling.

4

The first XP-936 is seen with uncovered P-26A landing gear, the late P-26A headrest, and the original olive drabfuselage color changed to blue. The photo was taken on August 2, 1936, at the Allegheny Country Airport.

.Ii ....

In spite of Army coloring and markings, all three XP-936's were Baing-owned when tested by the Army under abailment contract. This is the seldom-seen XP-936 No.2, photographed at Anacostia NAS on June 1, 1932.

The No. 3 XP-936 is seen during tests at Wright Field still with the early headrest and an over-all olive drabpaint scheme. The pilot is wearing a standard seat-pack type parachute and is holding the small cockpit

hatch that facilitated ingress and egress.Other accidents resulted from ordnance and equip- craft previously assigned to Barksdale Field and 12

ment. On several occasions, for instance, flares on the previously assigned to Selfridge Field. These equippedbelly bomb rack ignited and set the airplane on fire. On the 3rd Pursuit Squadron which eventually flew the P-26other occasions, pilot mismanagement of the fuel for no less than five years while successively operatingsystem, or unpredictable system failures, resulted in out of Clark, Nichols, and Iba Fields. Additional P-26'sengine stoppage and subsequent forced landings. Such were eventually assigned to the 3rd in order to make uplandings, often taking place on unsuitable surfaces, for attrited aircraft, and a surplus led to the re-equippingmade nosing-over almost inevitable. of the 17th Pursuit Squadron with some of its originalOPERATIONS: P-26's when it arrived on Nichols Field in late 1940.

With a few exceptions, all of the P-26's were delivered In the Philippines, 12 P-26A's were transferred to thefrom the factory to the operating squadrons of the three Philippine Army Air Force starting in .July of 1941. Thesestateside pursuit groups, the 1st, 17th, and 20th. As aircraft were utilized to form the 6th Pursuit Squadronthese premier .organizations acquired later equipment, at Batangas Field, and on December 10th, entered com-their P-26's were passed on to other groups as indicated bat when a number of Mitsubishi Zero-Sen fighters madein the accompanying chart. No P-26's were sent out of an initial strafing attack on Zablan Field. Further com-the country until the spring of 1937, and then only to bat ensued during the following two weeks, with at leastHawaii, the Philippines, and the Canal Zone. Some'pur- a half dozen P-26's getting involved in air combat withsuit groups activated as late as 1940 were provided with Zero-Sen fighters and G3M bombers. Though hopeless-obsolete P-26's as initial equipment. It should be noted Iy outclassed by the more modern Japanese aircraft, thethat after 1938, few squadrons having P-26's were fUlly- P-26's miraculously managed to score several victoriesequipped with that model alone. before the Japanese landed in force at Limon Bay on

The first overseas deployment of the P-26 took place December 24th. An order to burn the remaining P-26'sin the spring of 1937 with the arrival, at Clark Field, of the 6th Pursuit Squadron, though later rescinded, wasLuzon, the Philippines, of 14 P-26's that included 2 air- unfortunately carried through, and accordingly, all re-

modifications was completed by May 21st.Stabilizer Gravel Deflectors: Although they looked like

the well-known black rubber de-icer boots, the sheet rub­ber covering on the lower leading edge of the horizontalstabilzer was there to prevent gravel kicked up by thepropeller slipstream and the wheels from denting thesheet metal skin. Because of the rubber, the uniquescalloped paint scheme of the 17th Pursuit Group wasnot applied to the underside of the stabilizer.

Wing Flaps: The Army was unhappy with the high 82mph landing speed of the P-26A. Consequently, both thegovernment and Boeing developed flaps for retrofit to ex­isting P-26A's. The National Advisory Committee forAeronautics (NACA) designed four different sets and triedthem as simple plywood structures wired onto P-26A33-56 which was mounted in the full-scale wind tunnelat Langley Field, Virginia. Wright Field then built whatproved to be the least desireable of the four, a one pieceunit that crossed the fuselage from aileron to aileron andhad a deep bow in the middle to conform to the fuselageunderside when retracted. This was installed on 33-28,which soon crashed fol' the reasons the NACA had saidit would-blanking of the airflow to the tail at low (land­ing) speed. A further disadvantage of the one-piece flapwas that it precluded installation of the belly bomb rack.

The Boeing flaps, which were handcranked down toa 45-deg. deployment angle, were more complex and ex­pensive than the NACA-developed units in that they wererecessed into the underside of the wing. They were infour sections, with the ouler ones overlapping the innerends of the ailerons. Boeing tested them on the firstModel 281 (foreign sales P-26), and then sent the aircraftto Wright Field for Army trials.

The Army accepted the Boeing design, which reducedthe landing speed to 73 mph, and starting in the springof 1935, cycled the entire P-26A fleet through Boeing'sSeattle facility for the Boeing flap retrofit. The 17th Pur­suit Group from March Field, just redesignated an AttackGroup and giVing up its P-26's, was the first to send itsP·26's to Boeing, and these aircraft, when their respec­tive retrofit was completed, were then distributed to the1st and 20th Pursuit Groups. P-26's of the 20th PursuitGroup were retrofitted next, followed by the 1st. AllP·26A's were fitted with the new flaps by the fall of 1935.

Pitot Tube: The pitot tube of early production P-26A's,mounted on the right wing (the XP-936 had its pitot tubemounted on the left Wing), was found to oscillate in flight.An interim measure in which these tubes were shorten­ed produced a constantly increasing airspeed error whichread up to 13 mph low at 200 mph. The tube was even­tually replaced with a more rigid, interim length design.

Engine Change: As noted later, the 19 survivingP·26C's were refitted with R-1340-33 fuel-injectedengines in 1937 and were redesignated P-26B. An easyrecognition point was elimination of the two air intakesfor the downdraft carburetor located on the top of thefuselage, just behind the engine.

Exhaust Stacks: Pilots complained about glare from theshort upper exhaust stacks during night flying, so, star­ting in October of 1935, the exhaust from cylinders 1,2, and 9 was fed into a single collector stack thatdischarged on the right side of the nose just above thestack for cylinder 8. The other stacks remained single.

New Tail Wheel: In 1936, Boeing developed a new tailwheel assembly that featured a smaller wheel with anoleo-pneumatic shock absorber that projected well belowthe fuselage instead of being nested in it. The new stylewas adopted in May by the Army and was installed inthe P-26 fleet at Army depots.

Fuselage Reinforcement: Midway through the P-26'sservice career skin wrinkles were detected on thefuselage midway between the cockpit and tail. Startingin 1935, it became necessary to remove some skin toperform an internal reinforcement modification. Evidenceof this repair in the form of fresh paint is visible in somephotographs.

OPERATIONAL PROBLEMS:The P-26 fleet had its share of accidents. The rate was

not significantly greater than for other Air Corps models,but for some reason the airplane seemed to get morethan its fair share of publicity.

The narrow landing gear, cQl.lpled with the P-26's highcenter of gravity, troublesome mechanical brakes, and"soft" shock absorbers, was responsible for manyground accidents. If the pilot hit the brakes too hard, orif one brake locked or faded during application, the air­craft could easily flip onto its back. If one shock absorberdepressed too far on a cross-wind landing roll, the windcould get under the high wing and cause a ground loopthat could also easily lead to a nose-over.

5

Mixed w/other models

33-28,33-48,33-52.33-56,33-179; 33-179 wlo 6/20/40;33-78 trans. to Wright Field 717/40 and wlo 12113/40

(3) 1 P-26 with P-40·s.(4) 1 P-26 with P-36A's.(5) 2 P-26's with P-40's.

(1)

(2)

NOTES

Activated 10/4/41Activated 1/1141

Activated 1211140Activated 12/1/40

P-36AP-40

P-36AP-12EP-12EP-12EP-40

P-36AP-40P-40

P-36AP·36AP·36AP·36AP-39P-39P-39

P·36A

REPLACED

Activa!ed 2/1/40Activated 2/1140To Selfridge

11140Initial Equipment P-36A Activated 1/1141Initial Equipment P-36A Activated 1/1/41Initial Equipment P-40 Activated 2/1/40Initial Equipment P-40 Activated 2/1140Initial Equipment P-40 Activated 2/1140

33-56,33-57,33-77 mixed wlother models

REPLACEDBY

P·6E P-35P-16 PB-2A

PB-2A P-35P-6E P-35

P-12E P-40BMixed w/P-35A's on transfer from 1st PGMixed w/P-35A's

P-12EMixed wfP-36A's

(3)(4)

P-12EP-12EP-12EP-12E

P-12EIFP-12E

(5)new squadron

P-12EP-12EP-12EP-12E

Mix w/P-35Mix w/P-35Mix w/P-35

The following is a complete listing of all P-26A/B/C USArmy Air Corps unit assignments:

Notes:(1) fransferred as a new 17th P.S. with the same insignia to Philippines and

re-equipped with P-26's and P-35's.(2)Activated in February of 1940 in 35th P.G. at Moffett Field with P-36A's.

Transferred to the Philippines and given P-26's and P-35A's.

GROUP SQUADRON P·26 STATIONYEARS

1st Pursuit 17th '37·'38 Selfridge27th '34·'35 Selfridge

'37·'38 Selfridge94th '34·'38 Selfridge

4th Composite 3rd '38·'41 Nichols PI17th '40·'41 Nichols. PI20th '40·'41 Nichols. Clark PI

15th Pursuit 29th '38-'39 Canal Zone45th '40-'41 Wheeler TH46th '41 Wheeler TH47th '41 Wheeler TH

16th Pursuit 24th '39 Canal Zone17th Pursuit 341h '34-'35 March(to 17th Attack Group 73rd '34·'35 March3-1·35) 95th '34·'35 March18th Pursuit 61h '41 Wheeler TH

19th '38·'41 Wheeler TH44th '41 Wheeler TH73rd '41 Wheeler TH78lh '40 Wheeler TH

20th Pursuit 55th '34·'38 Barksdale77th '34·'38 Barksdale79th '35·'38 Barksdale

31st Pursuit 39th '40 Selfridge40th '40 Selfridge41st '40 Bolling

32nd Pursuit 51st '41 Canal Zone53rd '41 Canal Zone

37th Pursuit 28th '40-'41 Canal Zone30th '40·'41 Canal Zone31st '40-'42 Canal Zone

Bolling Field '34·'36 BollingAir Corps Detachment

Air Corps '34·'37 ChanuteTechnical School

MaterIel Division '33-'40 Wright

maining aircraft were destroyed.During 1938, P-26's were assigned to Wheeler Field,

Hawaii, and Albrook Field, Panama Canal Zone. No lessthan 42 P-26's were sent to Hawaii to equip the 18th Pur­suit Group (6th and 19th Pursuit Squadrons), thoughsome 20 of these were later reassigned to the Philippinesduring late 1938 and early 1939.

As the P-26's entered service in Hawaii, additional air­craft were being assigned to Aibrook Field in the PanamaCanal Zone where they equipped the 16th Pursuit Group(24th and 29th Pursuit Squadrons). These aircraft pro­vided the primary Canal air cover until supplanted by Cur­tiss P-36A's in 1940.

Eleven P-26A's remained in the Panama Canal Zonein 1940, and most of these were eventually transferredto a US Army organization known as the Panama CanalDepartment Air Force (often referred to as the PanamaAir Force) which, in turn, sold some of them to Guatemalafor use by the Cuerpo de Aeronautica Militar. These air­craft were suppiemented by an additional four P-26A'swhich were acquired directly from the Air Corps.Guatemalan P-26's were reassigned to the Escuadro'nde Caza at Camp de la Aurora, Ciudad de Guatemalaand utilized as front line fighters and advanced trainersfor most of their Guatemalan careers.

At the time of the Pearl Harbor debacle, there wereonly four P-26's left in the continental US. Additionally,there were seven in Panama, eight in Hawaii, and sixstill in US service in the Philippines. Altogether, 31P-26A's and 14 converted P-26B's were sent to Hawaii,34 P-26A's to the Philippines, and 26 P-26A's to Panama.

The service career of the P-26A in Air Corps servicespanned just under a decade. The last flyable examplein US Army service, 33-89, was transferred to theGuatemalan Air Force from Albrook Field, Canal Zone,on May 4,1943, with 2,302 flying hours in its log books.The high-time US Army P-26A was 33-122. Unfortunate­ly, it was written off following an accident in Panama inJune of 1942 with some 2,550 hours logged.

P·26A/B/C OVERVIEW:

Clean P-26A warms up for mission. Aircraft has extended headrest and fairing andis apparently painted in conventional scheme of olive drab with yellow wings.

A P-26A is seen in conventional markings at an unidentified airfield in New York onMarch 15, 1934. In this view the height of the modified headrest is readily apparent.

A line-up of P-26A 's with the first aircraft providing a view of the Boeing-designedflaps in their extended position.

Gl "'~

))

, s:

i.8~

~~.

~ ~

~) . ~<: I ".- \ 2

0 ~g'

This P-26A lacks the forward cowling-mounted radio antenna mast that is so promi­nent on most "Peashooters". Vertical fin antenna mast is visible.

6

The first P-26A, 33-28, at Wright Field, displaying the Wright Field arrow insignia on the fuselage. Panchromaticfilm has caused darkening of yellow wings and red and blue tail markings.

Top view of the first production P-26A, 33-28, taken on delivery day, December 16, 1933, at Boeing Field.Revised elliptical wing shape is particularly noticeable. Panchromatic film gives light-color accent to yellow­

painted wings and tail surfaces.

Other not.able differences between the P-26A (Boeing Model 266) and the XP-936 were revised landing gear fair­ings, a pitot mast on the right wing (instead of the left), a higher headrest, and flush instead of brazier-head

rivets. Aircraft 33-28, shown, had antenna masts installed, but no radio.

INDIVIDUAL AND UNIT MARKINGS:Most P-26's in squadrons or special organizations car­

ried that organization's insigne on each side of thefuselage. Aircraft attached to group headquarters carriedgroup insigne. A notable exception, from 1934 to 1939,was the 20th Pursuit Group. All three 20th PG squadronscarried group rather than squadron insigne.

Individual aircraft were numbered separately within thegroup. The 1st Pursuit Group had a unique system; thelast two digits of t~e Air Corps serial number were paintedon the vertical fin and engine cowling of its P-26's. TheP-26's of the 17th Pursuit Group were numbered 1-18 forthe 34th Squadron, 32-60 (with gaps) for the 73rd, and61-90 for the 95th. Group headquarters aircraft were100-103 and the Wing Commander's aircraft was 00.Confusion exists from the fact that former 17th PursuitGroup P-26A's which went to the 1st and 20th Groupsretained their original 17th P.G. color schemes but gotnew identification numbers in their new groups.

The P-26A's of the 20th Pursuit Group were first iden­tified by big white block numbers 0-48 on the fuselage.These were changed to black numbers on the fin and up­per left wing in 1935. Usually, but not always, the lasttwo digits of the serial number were preceded by thenumber 1 for individual aircraft identification. Othergroups that had hand-me-down P-26's used more ar­bitrary tail numbers.

From 1938 into 1940, the system changed. Groupswere identified as to type and number by letters, as PTfor the 20th Pursuit Group, T being the 20th letter of thealphabet. The aircraft number was carried below the let­ters on the fin and following them on the upper left wing,now for all groups. In 1940, the system was revised touse the actual group number, as 18P for the 18th P.G.This time the aircraft number was above the group iden­tification on the fin. The 18th P.G. in Hawaii misappliedthe new designator as 18 PG instead of 18 P.

Application of squadron colors, leader stripes, etc., wasnot standardized for most of the P-26 era and cannot bedetailed nere. Some comments on this subject, however,appear in the photo captions.

THE SURVIVORS:Two of the Guatemalan P-26A's, 33-123 and 33-135,

were still intact in 1957. Both were eventually retrievedfor display in the US and are currently displayed in thecolorful markings of the 34th Pursuit Squadron of the17th Pursuit Group (though neither airplane is known tohave served with the 17th PG).

P-26A, 33-123 was first delivered to the 94th PursuitSquadron at Selfridge Field on June 20th, 1934, and wasmarked as Plane No. 23. It was soon transferred to GroupHeadquarters and flown with group, rathQl' than squadroninsigne. A nose-over accident occurred in September of1934, and repair was undertaken at Fairfield Air In­termediate Depot. In August of 1938, it was sent to theSan Antonio Air Depot for a major overhaul, and fromthere, it went to Rockwell Field, San Diego, fordisassembly and shipment to the Canal Zone.

It was retired from Albrook Field, CZ, in August of

BASIC MARKINGS:Four basic US Army color schemes were used during

the P-26's service career. As originally buill, they all hadchrome yellow wings and tail surfaces with olive drab(o.d.) fuselages and landing gear. In May of 1934, aTechnical Order was issued calling for the replacementof the o.d. with a shade called Light Blue. The latter wasactually a medium blue and because the change was notrequired to be immediate, manufacturers were permittedto consume existing stocks of o.d. paint before chang­ing to the new color. Although P-26C's were deliveredas late as March of 1936, no Boeing employee can recallever having seen a blue-painted aircraft in the factory.

In 1938, with many newall-metal aircraft entering ser­vice in natural metal finish, over-all silver was decreedas the standard coloring for tactical aircraft. Some olderblue and yellow models still in service were repainted atsquadron level. Again, there was no hurry, and relative­ly few P-26's found their way into silver paint.

Starting in February of 1941, tactical aircraft in thesquadrons were repainted in o.d. on their top and sidesurfaces and with light gray undersurfaces. The old Armytail stripes were deleted, as were the upper right andlower left wing stars. Additionally, a star was added toeach side of the fuselage. Very few of the P-26's still inservice at that time were given the new arrangement.Some in the Philippines were still in silver or even blueand yellow after the Japanese attack on December 8,1941 (the date in the Philippines).

7

Another view of 33-28 at Wright Field. Again, orthochromatic film has caused darkening of the yellow wings andred and blue tail markings. Note that both wings had Air Corps star.

Five P-26A's are seen lined up on Boeing Field in June of 1934. These aircraft have the new high headrest butno radio masts. All P-26A's were flown away without radios. Note the variety of flying clothes being worn by the

Air Corps ferry pilots.

The first P-26B, rolled out on June 29, 1935, was identical to the P-26A except for the addition of wing flapsand the change to a fuel-injected engine. Visible in this view are the split flap sections.

Three-quarter rear view of the first P-26B. The vertical fin, horizontal stabilizers, elevators, and wings werepainted yellow. The fuselage was olive drab and the rudder was red and white with a large vertical bar of blue.

8

1943, after logging some 2,454 flying hours. FromAlbrook Field it was transferred to Guatemala. In 1957,it was acquired by Edward T. Maloney of California, whobrought the airplane back to California for display in hisnew aviation museum which was then located nearClaremont, California (the museum has since moved toChino, California). After several years of static displayit was restored to flying condition and painted in the 34thPursuit Squadron markings (but with its correct 1st Pur­suit Group Number 23). F(}jlowing restoration, it took tothe air for the first time on September 17,1962. Flownoccasionally since, it is presently the only flyable P-26in the world. The fuselage is painted blue (which no 17thPursuit Group P-26 ever was).

The only other surviving P-26, 33-135, was deliveredto the 94th Pursuit Squadron at Selfridge Field on June27th, 1934, and was marked No. 35. After an accident­free career, it too was sent to San Antonio for overhauland to Rockwell for disassembly and shipment, inSeptember of 1938, to Panama. It was sold to Guatemalain August of 1942, having logged 2,552 flight hours, andwas acquired by the Smithsonian Institution shortly afterMaloney acquired 33-123. It was then placed' on long­term loan to the AF Museum, which restored it as NO.7of the 34th Pursuit Squadron. Accurately painted with anolive drab fuselage, 33-135 was displayed at the AFMuseum from 1959 thru 1975. It is now hanging in theNational Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

CONSTRUCTION ANDSYSTEMS:

As the Army's first all-metal pursuit aircraft, the P-26series utilized structure developed by Boeing on its earlierModel 96/XP-9, the Model 200 and 221 Monomail single­engine transports, and the Model 214 and 215 (whichbecame the Army's B-9 bomber). Design experience inthis new area remained limited and accordingly, the struc­ture was not only very conservative, but was also highlyredundant and considerably overweight.

The fuselage was a semi-monocoque structure withload carrying aluminum skins flush riveted to six mainbulkheads and 13 intermediate formers. These formersand the interconnecting longitudinal members were rolledto a hat-section from flat aluminum sheet. The fuselagecross-section was roughly tear-shaped at the front,changing to a nearly oval shape at the tail. It wasnecessary to install a small hinge-down door to simplifypilot access.

Because there were no straight lines to the P-26fuselage, the sheet aluminum skins could not be put onin large flat-wrapped sheets. Instead, the skin was puton in long narrow longitudinal strips, starting at the bot­tom with the higher skins overlapping shingle-fashion.The tighter curves of the nose ahead of the firewall wereformed on hydropress dies.

The engine mount was a separate removable steel tubeframe that was bolted to the No. 1 bulkhead. Rubberbushings in the forward mounting ring dampened enginevibration. The required design loads for the fuselage were12.0 positive and 8.5 negative, and the XP-936 passedthese with 13.39 and 9.5, respectively. The static testingwas not carried to the point of destruction because it wasdesired to save the fuselage for other tests.

The wing, which utilized a Boeing 109 airfoil, was builtin three sections consisting of two removable outerpanels and an integral stub center section to which thelanding gear was attached. The wings used two mainspar assemblies built up of flat sheet aluminum andriveted-on flanges. Ribs were built up of rolled hat sec­tions and short aluminum tubes with their ends flattenedfor riveting. The wings were covered with sheet aluminumriveted in place. Brazer-head rivets were used on theModel 248/XP-936 and flush rivets were used on all othermodels.

Wing design loads were 12.0 positive and 4.0 negative.At the high angle of attack condition, the wing passedwithout failure. In the inverted position, it was overload­ed by 25% to a factor of 5.0 without failure. The flyingwires tested from 13.0 to 14.25 before failure.

The cantilever fin and horizontal stabilizer used asemblance of the traditional spar-and-rib constructiontechnique. There was a hinge-line spar of aluminumchannel and a similar diagonal spar. These were con­nected by four traditional ribs. Other ribs ahead of thediagonal formed the leading edge. Each structure wascovered with sheet aluminum. There was no fixed leadingedge structural member; the upper and lower skins wereflanged aDd flush-riveted to each other. The ribs servedmainly as spacers for the skins rather than as traditional

compression members. Except for use of smooth insteadof corrugated skins, this detail was a direct inheritancefrom earlier Boeing pursuits and fighters dating back tothe Navy F3B-1 of 1927.

In spite of redundant structure, the horizontal stabilizerdid not test well, showing impending failure at 90% ofthe design load of 253 lbs. per sq. foot. Reinforcementwas added in order to meet the load requirement and theunit eventually passed the test. The vertical fin withstood130% of the 189.6 lbs. per sq. foot design load withoutfailure.

The elevators, rudder, and ailerons differed notablyfrom the fixed surfaces. Each had a channel spar at thehinge line but the ribs were pressed aluminum diagonalsthat again served mainly as spacers for top and bottomskins that were riveted to each other at the trailing edges,again an element inherited from earlier Boeing designs.

The elevators had a Handley Page balance area aheadof the hinge line (inherited from preceding Boeing pur­suits such as the P-12B/F4B-2 and on). The ailerons weresimilar in design, but were of the Frieze type wherein aportion of the upward moving aileron projected below thelower surface of the wing to add drag on the inside ofthe turn and reduce "adverse yaw" phenomenon.

Each elevator was fitted with a trailing edge tab thatwas controlled from the cockpit to correct the longitudinaltrim-a first for a production American aircraft. It hadbeen developed in Europe and Boeing pioneered its usein the US. The tab was irreversible under air load, beingactuated by a screw. Displacing the tab upward causedthe airstream to deflect the elevator downward, therebytrimming the aircraft nose-down. Previously, longitUdinaltrim had been obtained at the cost of mechanical com­plexity by rotating the entire horizontal stabilizer aboutthe rear spar line.

Trim for both ailerons was by means of fixed sheetaluminum tabs extending beyond the trailing edge andadjusted by hand on the ground. A similar rudder tab wasadded to the P-26A later.

The landing gear was a complex structure consistingof a rigid V-frame connected to both wing root spars andanchoring the flying wires at the iower point. Shock ab­sorption was by means of a Boeing-built oleo-pneumaticshock strut pivoted at the toplfront spar junction, and heldforward of the low point of the rigid "V" by a pivoting arm.On the XP-936, each wheel was mounted in a fork, whichrequired removal of the axle in order to remove a wheelor change a tire. This was soon replaced by a mislabelled"single leg" unit that secured only the inboard end of theaxle, allowing the wheel to be slipped off easily.

Since the wire braced system was unstable with thewing wires slacked off or removed, it was necessary toinstall a spreader bar between the two landing gear unitsand keep the inboard crossed wires tight.

Braking was mechanical land actuation was by toe ac­tion· at the top of the rudder pedals. For parking, thebrakes were locked by means of a handle on the pilot'sauxiliary instrument panel.

Streamlining involved spacers between the arms of the"V" to support aluminum skins. The upper portion of theshock strut was covered by wraparound sheet aluminumfastened to the V-leg, but the formed wheel pants wereattached to the shock strut and moved with it. Spacingfrom the fixed fairing was maintained by rub strips. Itbecame common practice in some squadron operations

to remove the outboard side paneis of the multi-sectioned"pants" for flight.

Armament was the Air Corps standard of two .30caliber Browning machine guns firing through the pro­peller, each with 500 rounds of ammunition, or one .30caliber M-2 on the left side of the cockpit floor and one.50 caliber M-2 with 200 rounds on the right. The gunswere modified so that the left-hand gun was fed from itsright side while the right-hand gun was fed from the left.Ammunition boxes were underneath the floor ahead ofthe 55-gallon fuel tank. The guns were charged by pull­cables with T-handles at each side of the pilot's seatback. The electrical firing circuit was controlled by aselector switch on the pilot's aUXiliary panel. Ammunitioncounters for each gun were on the same panel. Thesingle gun trigger was built into the forward side of thecontrol stick grip.

A type C-3 gun sight was mounted ahead of the wind­shield and a type G-4 camera gun could be installed onthe top of the right-side wing stub. Power for the cameragun was provided by two dry batteries carried in the right­side ammunition box. A standard Air Corps Type A-3bomb rack, capable of holding two 100 lb. demolitionbombs, five 3D-lb. fragmentation bombs, or two parachuteflares, was installed under the belly.

Two-way voice radio was just coming into use whenthe P-26A's entered service. The standard radio was thelow-frequency SCR-( )-183 radio. The letters SCR iden­tify Signal Corps Radio and the blank parenthesis are fill­ed by letters indicating the particular manufacturer of theset or component.

The BC-( )-180 transmitter was located on the cockpitfloor ahead of the control stick and beneath the auxiliarypanel. The control box was on the left side of the cockpitabove the throttle. The SCR-( )-192 receiver was in thebaggage compartment on the right side of the bulkhead.The tuning controls were on the right side of the cockpitopposite the transmitter control.

There were two separate antenna. A mast ahead of thewindshield supported transmitter wires running to eachwingtip. A short mast on the top of the vertical fin sup­ported the longitudinal receiver antenna wire. Only pro­vision for radio equipment was made at the factory; radiowas installed by Army personnel at squadron level.

The P-26 was a pioneer in the use of a liquid oxygensystem for high-altitude work. A Type B-11 vaporizer andstorage bottle were mounted on the backside of thecockpit rear bulkhead, to the left of the zippered canvasbaggage compartment. An access door in the side of thefuselage made it possible to service the system with thevaporizer and storage bottle in place. The pressure gaugeand adjusting needle valve were clamped to the rightedge of the pilot's instrument panel.

After P-26A deliveries began, the Army decided thatemergency flotation gear was desireable. Aircraft 33-52was then pulled from the inventory to serve as a testbedand accordingly, two bags were installed in streamlinedaluminum "slippers" attached to the upper surface ofeach wing stub. The carbon dioxide bottle was installedto the left of the pilot's seat and actuated by a cable andT-handle in the left rear corner of the cockpit. Anemergency hand pump was carried in the headrest.

It was necessary to contour the bags to fit around thelanding wires above the wing. All P-26's from 33-53 andon had provisions for flotation gear built in at the factory.

Earlier aircraft from 33-28 thru 33-51, were not retrofitted.Because of the externai "bolt-on" nature of the flotationsystem, problems of being stepped on, and interferencewith the camera and gun installation, the flotation bagswere seldom installed. At least one P-26A was lost whenone of the flotation bags came open in flight.

POWERPLANT:In choosing an engine for the P-26, Boeing selected

one that it had been using in pursuit and fighter aircraftsince 1926. The Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp had longheld a reputation for dependability and ruggedness, andthough it was not a state-of-the-art design, it \'las none­the-less determined to be suitable for Boeing's new pur­suit by the company powerplant staff.

The R-1340 (R = radial; 1340 = piston displacementto the nearest five cubic inches) was a nine-cylinder, air­cooled radial rated at 550 hp. More powerful, but alsolarger and heavier engines were available, but were notsuited to the design concept of the P-26. The competingCurtiss XP-934 Swift, for instance, started with a 700 hpWright R-1820F Cyclone air-cooled radial, but shortlyafterward, had it replaced by an older 600 hp CurtissV-1570 Conqueror liquid-cooied V-12.

The Wasp was designed by engineers who had left theold Wright Aeronautical Corporation to design a betterair-cooled radial. They received initial encouragementand orders from the US Navy, which saw and quickly ap­preciated the weight-saving and reliability advantages ofconventionai air cooling.

Throughout the 1920's and into the early 1930's, ser­vice engines were identified by the makers' designationsuch as R-1340B, 1340C, etc. The addition of a super­charger would be indicated by a prefixing S, such asSR-1340D. The XP-936 in fact used the SR-1340E, whichdelivered 522 hp at 2,200 rpm at 10,000 feet through atwo-blad·e ground-adjustable fixed-pitch propeller.

By the time the P-26A entered service in 1934, theArmy and Navy had adopted a new system separate fromthe manufacturers'. The basic type and displacementfigures were retained, but the stage of development wasidentified by sequential dash numbers with "evennumbers" being set aside for Navy engines and "oddnumbers" being set aside for Army. The P-26A's and C'sused the R-134D-27. Interestingly, though this engine wassupercharged, it did not incorporate the S-prefix in itsdesignator.

The P-26B used the R-1340-33, which had direct fuelinjection instead of carburetors and a new control leverin the cockpit that COmbined the functions of throttle andmixture control into one unit. Fore-and-aft movement con­trolled the throttle, while rotation of the knob enriched(counter-clockwise) or leaned (clockwise) the mixture.

Because of the altitUde supercharging, the engines inthe P-26's were limited to less than full power below 6,000feet by a throttle stop. Sea-level output of the R-1340-27(P&W's R-1340-S2E) was 500 hp at 2,200 rpm for takeoff, .and 570 hp at 2,200 rpm at 7,500 fee.t.

The engine was equipped with an inertia starter crank­ed by hand or with a powered flexible shaft engaging adrive on the left side of the nose. The "engage" handlewas in the cockpit to the left of the instrument panel. Inthe P-26's, the engine was enclosed in a Boeing varia-

------ -A P-26B sits on the ramp at Boeing Field. This aircraft does not have an antennamast and appears to be seen prior to delivery.

The twenty-three P-26C's were identical to the P-26A's except for minor equipmentdifferences and the fact that they were built with flaps. This one is seen outside the

Boeing factory in early 1936.

9

tion of a Townend "anti-drag" ring and the forwardcrankcase was covered by a unique Boeing oil-cooler­shutter assembly that Boeing called a nose cowling.

Fuel was carried in three tanks: a 55-gallon main tankin the belly and one removable 26-gallon auxiliary tankin the root of each outer wing panel. The last 20 gallonsin the main tank were considered the reserve supply. Asingle fuel tank selector (there were two on the XP-936and the early P-26A's) was mounted on the auxiliarypanel. The handle for the manual fuel pump used in star­ting was mou nted on the left side of the cockpit on thesame mount as the elevator trim control.

An eight-galion oil tank was installed ahead of the no.1 bulkhead. The oil circulated from the engine back tothe tank through a core-type cooler installed below theengine accessory section.

SERIAL NUMBERS:The three XP-26's were given Army Air Corps serial

numbers A.C. 32-412 through 32-414. Air Corps serialnumbers for the 111 P-26A's were 33-28 through 33-138,paralleled by Boeing c/n's 1804 through 1914. The 25follow-on aircraft were 33-179 through 33-203, though theBoeing c/n's were not in parallel. The two P-26B's were33-179 and 33-180, but their Boeing c/n's were 1919 and1916, respectively. Aircraft 33-181 through 33-183 wereP-26C's with Boeing c/n's 1915, 1928 and 1917, respec­tively. P-26C's 33-184 through 33-191 were matched byBoeing c/n's 1920 through 1927, but aircraft 33-192 hadc/n 1918. The remaining P-26C's, 33-193 through 33-203,had matching Boeing c/n's 1929 through 1939.

SPECIFICATIONS ANDPERFORMANCE:

XP-936 P-26A P·268 P·26CFuselage length 23'5.13" 23"7.25" 23'9" 23'9"Wingspan 27'0" 27'11.6" 27'11.6" 27'11.6"Wing area (gross) 150.0 sq.' 149.5 sq.' 149.5 sq.' 149.5 sq.'Wing aspect ratio 4.86 5.21 5.21 5.21Wing loading(Ibs.lsq.·) 18.26 19.76 20.45 20.56Height (tail up) 9'4.5" 9'4.5" 9'4.5" 9'4.5"Height (tail down) 10'5" 10'5" 10'5" 10'5"Wheel track 5'1,5" 5".5" 5".5" 5".5"Wheel base 15.0' 15.0' 15.0' 15.0'Empty weight 2,070.5 2,196 2,301 2,332

Ibs. Ibs. Ibs. Ibs.Gross weight 2,740 2,955 3,060 3,074

Ibs, Ibs. Ibs, lbs.

Max. speed @

optimum alt.· 222 234.0 235 235mph mph mph mph

Max. speed @ 5.1 .• 211 211 215 215mph mph mph mph

Service ceiling" 30.700' 27,400' 27,000' 27.000'Absolute ceiling" 31,600' 28.300' ? ?Rate of climb(per min.)· 2.260' 2,360' 2,300' 2,360'Range· 358 mi. 635 mi. 635 mi. 635 mi.

• Please nole that because of differenl methods of testing and calculation, per­formance figures obtained by Boeing and Wright Field for the same aircraftare not always identical. The figures presented here are from Boeing.

AVAILABLE SCALE MODELSAND DECALS:

The following is a complete listing of all known P-26plastic kits and decals:

Kits1I100th: AHM1I72nd: Advent, Revell1/48th: Aurora, K&B

DecalsMicroscale: 1J32nd-32-31

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHS:The photographs used In Minigraph 13 reflect the state­

of-the-art In photography at the time the P-26 was in ser­vice. Of course there was no significant colorphotography in the 1930's when the P-26 was in its hey­day, so all P-26 photos, with few exceptions, were takenin black and white. The color photos used in Minigraph13 depict the two surviving P-26A's, both of which arewearing notably inaccurate markings and color schemes.

Aircraft were not photographed extensively by thegovernment in the 1930's. The manufacturer took"around-the-clock" and detail views for his own records,in support of required customer documentation andlimited pUblic relations work. The customer-in this casethe US Army Air Corps-also took its own identificationviews at Wright Field when prototypes and early produc­tion models were ·sent there for testing.

The user organizations, most notably the squadrons,were also short on conventional aircraft photos. Mostsquadron-related imagery tended to subordinate the air­craft to the people who might be involved. In-flight viewswere usually reserved for the more spectacular images,most notabiy long shots of the aircraft in formation.

It therefore remained for the amateur enthusiasts andphoto collectors, who had easy access to Air Corps basesin those relaxed days, to photographically document pro­duction aircraft in operational settings. Concern aboutmarkings, multiple views of the same aircraft without

. background distraction, closed doors, and centered con­trols, helped push the quality of amateur aircraftphotography to a level on par with whatever could be ob­tained from more professional sources. Any markingschange was a valid reason for enthusiasts to shoot thesame aircraft more than once; companies and govern­ment agencies rarely bothered.

The majority of the collectors and enthusiasts in the1930's used a standard folding camera that required size616 film. This produced negatives that were approximate­ly 2-3/4" x 4-112 "-ideal for the oblong proportionspresented by aircraft sitting static on the ground. Before616 roll film was discontinued in 1975, most collectorshad already switched to the more convenient 35mmformat.

There were basically two types of black and white filmavailable in the 1930's. Verichrome, the cheapest, wasan orthochromatic film that made red appear to be almostblack, yellow to appear very dark, and blue to appearsignificantly lighter in the positive print. A faster and moreexpensive film was Super-X, which was a panchromaticfilm that rendered red as a light shade of grey, blue asa darker shade, and yellow as almost white. Thesecharacteristics were particularly noticeable when Super-Xwas used with an amber filter..

Collectors, as Is often the case today, shot negativesnot only for their own files, but also for others with whomthey traded. This trading, which in the case of manyphotos in this book took place nearly a half-century ago,today causes problems in determining accurate creditlines. A print supplied by one collector could easily havebeen made from a negative taken by another. This pro­blem is made significantly more complicated by the factthat some negatives, during the half-century that haspassed since they were taken, have passed throughmany hands, with the name of the original photographerhaving long ago been lost in the trading process. Accor·d ingly, the majority of the photos in this book are a mixof Boeing, Army, and Individual collector's photos, pro­perly credited wherever possible. The structural anddetail photos, unless otherwise noted, are from the filesof the Boeing Company.

The Boeing Model 281 was the export version of the P-26A and differed from it only in minor details. This aircraft is the first demonstrator (X-12771) at roll-out at BoeingField on August 2, 1934. Coloring was the same olive drab and yellow seen on most production P-26A's. Note total absence of antenna masts on both the forward

cowling and the vertical fin.

10

Three-quarter rear view of the first Model 281 demonstrator providing detail markings reference. Boeing logo on vertical fin is noteworthy, as is X-12771 registration onrudder. Note that the horizontal stabilizer root fairing is painted yellow and that the leading edge is black. Also visible on the wingtips are the fairings for the

navigation lights.

A P-26A of the 94th Pursuit Squadron also photographed on orthochromatic film.Note how light the later blue fuselage appears compared to the yellow tail. The

• fuselage band is red.

iiiI~::::;;:;;::;;:::::;~~=::::1

P-26B of the 17th Pursuit Squadron photographed on orthochromatic film. Yellowwing appears as dark as the olive drab fuselage.

The crude figure 8 in washable paint identifies a 94th Pursuit Squadron P-26Aentered in the 1935 Mitchell Trophy Race at Selfridge Field.

A lineup of P-26A's of the 94th Pursuit Squadron at Selfridge Field. Tail numbers arelast two digits of aircraft Army serial number.

P-26B. 33-194, of the 17th Pursuit Squadron, converted from a P-26C. Aftermid-1937, a diagonal stripe identified the leader of "B" Flight in a squadron.

P-26A, 33-124, of the 94th Pursuit Squadron with wide red, white, and blue stripeson the wing in addition to the squadron's red fuselage stripe.

11

The 27th Pursuit Squadron also had P-26A's, but they were not photographed asextensively as those of the 17th and 94th Squadrons.

P-26A, 33-123, was originally assigned to the 94th Pursuit Squadron but wastransferred to the Headquarters Squadron of the 1st Pursuit Group and carried the

group insignia on its fuselage.

JP-26A, 33-122, of the 17th Pursuit Squadron with the new tail designator adopted in

mid-1937. PA 22 translates as 20th Pursuit Group, Airplane No. 22.

::;; "~ ~3

iiR<0~

P-26A, 33-133, with open-sided wheel pants, 1st Pursuit Group insignia on theengine cowling, and the group commander's name, "Pilot - Col. Royce", painted on

the engine cowling as well.

'" ~i ~

~ ~

~

P-26A, 33,195, formerly qf the 95th Pursuit Squadron, as flown by the 1st P.G. in itsoriginal markings with the 95th Squadron insignia removed and the last two digits of

the Army serial number added to the cowling/fin.

P-26A, 33-64, in the black-and-white markings of the 34th Pursuit Squadron.Absence of forward antenna mast indicates no radio.

_._--~

P-26A's of the 34th Pursuit Squadron (foreground) and 73rd Pursuit Squadron(background) at March Field, California, in 1934.

12

P-26A of the 73rd Pursuit Squadron. "Bear" insignia and red and yellow trim (wingsand vertical fin) are notable.

Water-paint camouflage is seen as applied to a 34th Pursuit Squadron P-26A for the1934 West Coast War Games. Note squadron patch on ground crew member's

jacket.

All P-26A's of the 17th Pursuit Group are seen lined up for inspection at MarchField. Aircraft 102 and 100 were assigned to Group Headquarters; 00 was assigned

to Wing Headquarters.

Initial markings for the 20th Pursuit Group's P-26A's were large white block figureson the fuselage, 0 thru 48.

Interim markings are seen on a 20th Pursuit Group's P-26A. Markings consisted ofscalloping in the squadron colors applied with an appropriate outline to the engine

cowling.

An oddity of the 20th Pursuit Group was that the group insignia, rather than thesquadron insignia, was applied to all aircraft. Note how light the blue fuselage of

this P-26A appears when photographed on orthochromatic film.

P-26A, 33-102, transferred from the 17th Pursuit Group to the 20th. Note grouprather than squadron insignia on fuselage and three-color cowling of a headquarters

and headquarters squadron aircraft.

Nine P-26A's of the 20th Pursuit Group headquarters and headquarters squadronwith three equal color areas on the cowlings and the new tail designators of the

mid-193711940 period. PT translates to 20th P.G.

Eighteen P-26A's of the 20th Pursuit Group, all with group insignia on the fuselageand a mix of cowlings in solid squadron colors and three-color group headquarters

coloring.

13

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P-26A's of the 20th Pursuit Group's 77th Pursuit Squadron with 193711940 taildesignators and new standardized command stripes in the squadron color (white).

P-26A, 33-77, was defivered to Bolling Field on April 24, 19:1'4. Note Bolling Field in­signia and blue and yellow striped cowling.

The first P-26A, 33-28, after crashing at March Field on October 23, 1934, whiletesting experimental wing flaps. Note how the modified headrest protected the

cockpit area after the aircraft flipped over.

The first Model 281 demonstrator is seen on September 13, 1934, crated for ship­ment to China. Note the extra set of low-pressure Goodyear "Airwhee/s".

All ten of the Boeing Model 281 's ordered are seen shortly after their arrival at Nanking, China, in 1936. Each aircraft was assigned a large fuselage number from 1 thru10. Note lack of radio antenna masts on the fuselage and vertical fin. Also note that some aircraft have tail wheel fairings and some do not.

..--::;:.-c ..- ~

-"W"lf8

I

A P-26A of the 19th Pursuit Squadron, 18th Pursuit Group, over Oahu, Hawaii, onMarch 6, 1939. The fuselage command stripes and engine cowling are painted gold.

The base fuselage color is blue.

14

Starting in 1940, formerly blue-and-yellow P-26A's were repainted over-all silver. Theaircraft shown are in the 19th Pursuit Squadron, 18th Pursuit Group, Wheeler Field,

Hawaii.

The last P-26B in the continental US, 33-197, shown in olive drab and graycamouflage when it was the only P-26 in the 40th Pursuit Squadron, 31st Pursuit

Group at Selfridge Field, in early 1941.

P-26B, 33-197, at its last flying station-the 10th Air Base Group at Chanute Field,Rantoul, Illinois. It was based there from June of 1941 thru October of 1942.

P-26A, 33-92, of the 94th Pursuit Squadron is seen on skis. Note the cutout on theinner side of the wheel pants to accommodate the hydraulic snubber.

The last P-26A to be photographed in US Army markings. P-26A, 33-49, is seen atGuatemala City, Guatemala, on May 11, 1943. The tail serial number, adopted in

January of 1942, translates to 33-49.r--------

The P-26A's transferred to the Philippines Army Air Force from July to November of1941, retained their US Army colors and markings.

Guatemalan Air Force P-26A in flight after WWII. The fuselage has been stripped ofpaint and shows original anodized metal.

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P-26A, 33-56, with Bolling Field markings, is seen mounted in the NACA full-scalewind tunnel at Langley AFB, Virginia, in order to test experimental flap installations.

Decoration of the second Model 281 demonstrator was inspired by the P-26A's ofthe 34th Pursuit Squadron. The fuselage and landing gear were gloss black and the

wings and tail were yellow.

15

Fresh paint on the fuselages of these 94th Pursuit Squadron P-26A's is evidence ofthe recent reinforcement of the upper aft fuselage structure. Aircraft No. 23 is

33-123, now owned by the Planes of Fame Museum.

~ ."'ollowing an accident which resulted in serious damage to the airframe: P-26A,33-103, is loaded on a truck at snow-covered Selfridge Field for a trip to the

repair depot.

Two Chinese Model 281 's are seen undergoing maintenance in a Nanking hangar.The aircraft on the left has the original over-all gray scheme while the aircraft on the

right is in the la ter over-all olive drab scheme

On most P-26A's, the open cockpit door covered the aircraft serial number whichwas stenciled in black or white on the left fuselage side along with crew weight

information.

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Wright Field technicians mounted this P-26A on a decorated truck as part of theField's participation in a Dayton parade.

P-26A of the 6ih Pursuit Squadron, 18th Pursuit Group, in Hawaii in 1939. The cowland forward fuselage are trimmed in red with a white outline.

P-26A, 33-135, as presently displayed in the National Air & Space Museum inWashington, D.C. This aircraft was displayed in the AF Museum for many years.

16

Edward Maloney's (Planes of Fame Museum) restored P-26A, 33-123, on September24, 1962. Its appearance at that time was spoiled by the prevailing FAA require­

ment calling for foot-high registration numbers on all civil aircraft.

Seen in July of 1969, during an Ontario, California airshow, Ed Maloney's P-26A was still wearing the large civil registration (N-3378G) required at the time'by theFederal Aviation Administration. This rule has now been rescinded and the large N-number has been removed.

Seen in August of 1978, during a Chino, California airshow, Ed Maloney's P-26A no longer had large civil registration on fuselage side. Vertical fin color also hadchanged from yellow to white, and the black tail number, 23 had been revised in shape and location. Additionally, the vertical fin and horizontal stabilizer leading edge

scallops had been changed in color from blue to red.

17

r-----------------_------------------------------------~~-"1~

~~

Ed Maloney's P-26A, one of two complete P-26's extant in the world, is the only one that remains flyable. Demonstrations of this ability are sporadic-and almostalways well-attended by buffs and enthusiasts. This 1978 photo was taken as the aircraft taxied out for take-off from its home field in Chino, California.

,.--------------------------------------_._------------- -----.~~~

Recent photo of Ed Maloney's P-26A, taken in May of 1983, during a display at the Chino, California airport. Red, white, and blue color scheme of the 17th PursuitGroup, 34th Pursuit Squadron is not accurate for this particular unit. Maloney acquired 33-123 in 1957.

18

II)c:JZ-~a:c:15~U1&1...1&1II)

19

The P-26's Df the 1st Pursuit GrDup at Selfridge Field had the squadrDn insignia backed with a diagDnal band inA the squadron cDIDr until mid-1937. The 17th squadron used white with a black bDrder; the 27th, dark yellDw with

a black bDrder; and the 94th (shown), a red stripe with a yellDw bDrder. The fin number (which represented thelast twD digits of the Army serial number) and the cDwling number were in the squadron cDIDr. The fuselage,

cDwling, and landing gear cDfDr changed from Dlive drab tD medium blue during 1936 and early 1937.

The 17th Pursuit Group had unique markings fDr its P-26A's during the year that it had them. The squadrDnnumber was carried in large white Dr yellDw blDck figures IDngitudinally under the belly, and the individualairplane number was carried similarly Dn the tDR Df the fuselage and Dn each side Df the fin. P-26A, 33-51,ND.2 Df the 34th Pursuit SquadrDn, is illustrated with a white fin and headrest, and the tDp Df the stabilizer

scallDped in black. The fuselage striping was black and white.

Each squadrDn Df the 17th Pursuit GrDup carried squadrDn insignia in the standard pDsitiDn shDwn. P-26A,33-60, nD. 30 Df the 73rd Pursuit Squadron, had a red fin, stabilizers, and headrest with yellDw scallDpingand red and yellDw fuselage striping. AlsD, each pilDt's name in the grDup was carried in a shield in thesquadron cDIDr just ahead of the left side Df the cDckpit. RibbDns above and belDw the shield Dn nD. 2

Df the 34th SquadrDn read "CDmmunicatiDns Officer".

P-26A, 33-84, Df the 95th Pursuit SquadrDn. The tail and headrest cDIDrs were blue with yellDw scallDps; thefuselage striping was blue and yellDw. After the 17th Pursuit GrDup became the 17th Attack Group Dn March 1,1935, it gave up its P-26A's between April 2nd and August 25th. Those that went tD the 1st Pursuit Group re­

tained their unique 17th Group markings, deleting Dnly the Driginal squadrDn insignia and airplane numbers andadding the 1st Pursuit GrDup fin and cDwling numbers that matched the last twD digits Df the aircraft's Army

serial number.

--

20

In mid-1937, the leader's stripes were standardized at two 4" vertical bands in the squadron color for squadronleaders, a single 4" vertical band for A-Flight leaders, a forward-sloping band (like the old 1st Pursuit Group) for

B-Flight leaders, and an aft sloping band for C-Flight leaders. Cowlings were in the squadron color except forthe group headquarters and headquarters squadron; in a three-squadron group the cowling was trisected in the

three squadron colors. At the same time, the group designators were added to each side of the fin andsometimes the upper left wing. PT here identified the 20th Pursuit Group. This leader's P-26 of the 79th Pursuit

Squadron (color white) of the 20th Pursuit Group uses the number 100.

In 1941, some of the P-26's still in US Army service were repainted in the new olive drab and gray camouflage.National insignia application was modified to one star on the upper left wingtip, one on the lower right, and one

on each side of the rear fuselage. The colorful Army rudder stripes were deleted. In January of 1942, the air­craft's Army serial number was added to the rudder and fin in a minimum of four 8-inch block figures in eitherblack or yellow. The first digit of the fiscal year was deleted; 33-183 appeared on this P-26C/B conversion as3183. The red center in the American star marking was deleted on May 15, 1942, because of its similarity to

the Japanese "meatball".

The ten Boeing Model 281 's delivered to China were originally painted over-all light gray with national insignia.only on the wingtips and large black identification numbers 1 thru lOon the fuselage. Later, the aircraft were re­

painted over-all olive drab with 12 alternating white (from the top) and blue horizontal rudder stripes and theChinese 12-pointed star on the fuselage. The Model 281 demonstrator that crashed in China was painted US

Army olive drab and yellow and carried the US civil registration XI2271.

When Guatemala established an Air Force in the 1920's it used a star-in-circle marking on the wings andfuselage, similar to that used by the US but in Guatemala's national colors of blue-white-blue. The rudder stripes

were vertical blue-white-blue; the markings are still in use today. The P-26A's acquired from the US Army in1942143 merely had Guatemalan markings applied over the US markings. Later, the Guatemalan P-26A's were

camouflaged in green. After the war, some had their fuselage paint stripped and were seen flying in the irregUlargray of the anodized aluminum skin. The fuselage star of the P-26A's was replaced by large training numbers

after the war.

BOEING MODEL 281, X12771--Boeing's first Model 281 demonstrator was painted olive drab and yellow, like its US Army counterparts. There

were no trim markings, however, except for the gloss black horizontal stabilizer leading edge. Note that thehorizontal stabilizer and vertical fin fairings were painted yellow. The X12271 registration, visible on the rudder,the top of the right wing, and the bottom of the left, was painted in black. The Boeing logo on the vertical fin

also was biack, as was the wing walkway at the wing root.

21

Scale: 1/32nd

Drawn by Jay Miller

21 22

The only other known intact P-26A is 33-135, now owned by the National Air & Space Mus,eum. Like Maloney's aircraft, the NASM's P-26A is painted in the markings ofthe 17th Pursuit Group, 34th Pursuit Squadron-though the base color is olive drab, rather than blue.

The standard yellow wings and olive drab fuselage markings seen on most P-26A's offered a pleasing contrast in colors. The NASM's P-26A, seen during its tenure atthe AF Museum near Dayton, Ohio, and prior to being placed on display, had previously worn the markings of the Guatemalan Air Force.

23

The AF Museum had P-26A, 33-135, on loan for some seven years prior to returning it to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air & Space Museum. Today it hangs inthe latter and is visually accessible from both ground and second and third floor levels of the main NASM building. The revised pitot boom, visible in this view, is

noteworthy.

The cockpit of Ed Maloney's P-26A has been significantly changed from the original. The instrument panel has been substantially revised, the guns have been removed(the mounts are visible, however), and the canvas covering is missing from the map and manual rack. Visible in this photo is the crank handle for flap actuation.

24

The standard P-26A cockpit was relatively spartan by contemporary standards. The fuselage walls remained uninsulated, the guns, mounted on either side of the floor­ing protruded into the cockpit, and instrumentation was minimal, to say the least. The throttle quadrant is visible on the left, the control stick is seen in the center, and

the auxiliary instrument panel is directly in front of it.

The XP-936 had the same instruments as the laterP-26A, though both differed in detail and layout.

Main fuel tank is visible under flooring.

The P-26A main instrument board contained primary flight instrumentation, the pull handle for the starter(extreme left), fuel and oil pressure gauges, a standard 8-day clock, the supercharger pressure gauge,

and an engine tachometer.

25

The P-268 cockpit was almost identical to the arrangement found in late P-26A's except for the modified throttle/mixture control lever and the relocation of the right-sidecockpit light. The latter was due to the addition of the wing flap control handle. Note primitive radio equipment ahead of control stick.

The early model P-26A auxiliary instrument boardpermitted control of the fuel management system,

lighting, and weapons.

26

Some 20th P.G. P-26A's, such as 33-59, had the US Army serial number stenciled on the inside of the door topermit ready identification when the door was folded down. Door was hinged at its base and facilitated pilot

ingress and egress. The door was on the left side of the fuselage, only.

· .The P-26C cockpit was identical to that of the P-26A except for the revised auxiliary instrument panel and the addition of the wing flap control handle. On all P-26's, in­

strument panel glare was controlled by giving the panel surfaces a black crackle finish. The instruments were individually lighted for night ,'lying. Descriptive panelreproduced on the back cover of this Minigraph is visible to the left of the throttle quadrant.

P-26A INSTRUMENT PANa DETAILS

STARTER-~

PULL

.. __ AMMUNITIONCOUNTERS

BOEING NAME. PLATE

The microphone for radio-equipped P-26A 's (33-65of the 94th P.S., shown) was hung on an elastic

cord stretched across the cockpit.

27

·&~ '~\

Left side view of a P-26A cockpit illustrates the hinged door, the throttle quadrant,the trim handles, the portable starter crank, the left gun, and the carburetor heat

control.

~, ~Right side view of a P-26A cockpit illustrates the rack for maps, reports, ang the

flight handbook, the right gun, and miscellaneous electrical accessories.

The view looking forward in a P-26A, showing the permanent locatifms of the radioon the right and the liquid oxygen system on the left.

"" "~~>J ',J ..

All P-26's and the Model 281 used standard Air Corps bucket seats designed for aseat-tYPe parachute. The seat back cushion could be used as a life preserver in

water emergencies.

28

Equipment in the Model 281 for export was identical to the standard P-26A exceptfor a different radio (not installed in photo). Note flap handle and indicator.

Canvas baggage compartment, with zippered back for access to rear fuselage, islaced into grommets in the side of bulkhead no. 2. The Boeing nameplate is visible

on the right and the Air Corps nameplate on the left.

RECEIVER ANTENNA

RECEIVERMAST

JUNCTION BOXTAANSMITTER,

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RECEIVER CONTROL

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P-26A RADIO EQUIPMENT

ll-'_Original P-26A headrest was shorter and on its front end, significantly more rounded than its replacement. BlaCkleather cushion prGvided minimal comfort for pilot. Note handle below headrest fOr removing panel for bag"gage

compartment· access.

The XP-936 fuselage as se~n from the cockpit. Theinterior was painted with red oxide primer and then

with silver lacquer.

g>~lrT-~••~"lIlf~~rrT.i....;i~~.<Xl

Forward structure of the improved, strengthened,and lengthened P-26A Headrest.

The first XP-936 had an undesireable airflow problem around the cockpit and headrest, so Wright Field developed some changes. Note the riveted-in patch changing thefuselage contour, the enlarged headrest, and the added slot structure to smooth the airflow around the interim headrest.

29

The original XP-936 landing gear had a full fork on the shock strut and it wasnecessary to remove the axle in order to replace the wheel. Tires shown are

General "Streamlines" and not Goodyear "Airwheels".

The landing gear structure was not stable until both the inside cross-wires, shown,and the flying wires were installed. When the wings were off, a spreader bar,

shown, was installed to maintain tension.

4. fRON. r .It \\0 Li\NOINu I.; U\t\", , Ll -l.A .

,!j,____.....'"'-_..:z':2lit~~~_~ "The XP-936 wheel fairing, shown, was attached to the wheel pivot arm and movedwith it in an arc. On the P-26A/Model 281, the fairing was attached to the shock

strut to permit vertical movement._:::;;;0..........--.----- l'

P-26A landing gear are shown attached to a jig that was designed to assist in at­tachment of fairings. Wheel pant construction details are readily apparent in this

view....... ;

Front view of complete P-26A landing gear. Note rub strips for moveable wheelpants and the reversion by the flying wires to a round section where they cross.

Three-quarter front view of complete P-26A landing gear. Fairings for flying wires arenotable. Rub strips are particularly visible from this angle.

30

MAIN LANDING GEAR

I..£F"T SIDE VIEWLANDING GEAR IN

"TAll" POSITION

PARKING BRAKE LEVCR

SET SCREW l='ORMOF"." POSITION STOP

PEDAL. ADJUSTINGLEVER

BRAKE ARM

~123?

A detailed view of one of the several ski-wheel landing gear systems available for the P-26A. Note how thewheel fairings have been cut to accomodate the ski snubbers. Skis fit either wheel.

The P-26A tail wheel installation is seen without fairing in place. The tail wheel wassteerable via cables attached to the rudder pedals. Proximity of tail wheel to

fuselage was somewhat unusual.

TNI. WHC£L.IN:.T Wlnt"'OD~'- .... u.A, ..

The P-26A tail wheel installation is seen with fairing in place. The fairing hadrelatively close tolerances and could be troublesome if) muddy or highly

vegetated environments.

External view of the new P-26 tail wheel assembly. This was retrofitted to allP-26A's, B's, and C's in service, starting in late 1936. Note sheet metal

covering over old cutout.

In 1936, Boeing developed a new P-26 tail wheel assembly. It pivoted about theapex to the left and was attached to an oleo-pneumatic shock absorber.

31

....ILEROI't &. ELEVATOR CONTROLS

CONTROL SYSTEM

RUOOe:B &. ,AIL WHEEL COI'l"'TROL&

A top side view of the wing framework in its jig. Wing construction was relatively uncomplicated yet sufficientlyrugged. Forward and aft spars were braced by external flying wires.

......a=::.,..;.,; =-- _The nearly completed outer wing panefs of the first XP-936 are seen in their assembly jig. Notice the nearly symmetrical rounding of the wingtips-which differed can·

siderably from the later semi·tapered P-26 wing. Visible in this view are the ailerons, some ribbing, and most of the wing skin.

Bottom (left) and top (right) views of the finished P-26A wing providing details of flying wire attachment points, flying light positions, location of wing markings, and aux·iliary fuel door location. Wings were painted yellow and provided with markings prior to installation. Compare wingtips of P-26A wing to those of XP-936, above.

32

Wing root stub mounts wing hinge points for both spars. Brazier-type rivets were ob­viously not in short supply at Boeing at the time the P-26 was being built!

The spars for the center section extended across the fuselage at main bulkheadsnos. 1 and 3. Note the recessed structure and hinge points in the trailing edge for

wing flaps.

The trailing edge cove for the wing flaps. This Model 281 wing was built initially to use flaps.modified to accommodate them; the P-26B's and C's were built with flaps.

for access to the auxiliary fuel tanks.

The Model 281/P-26A wing flap had a recessedtrailing edge so that it could extend past the

aileron. The single spar is a torque tube.

1~f'"L"f> --jMODE.L aSI

'1'TS7 0 7-14~3+

A P-26A aileron is seen half-covered in its assembly jig. Note six hinge points. Notvisible is ground-adjustable trim tab.

Built-up tail assembly hinges for the P-26A. Hinges were relatively simple ball bear­ing types that required periodic hand-lubrication.

33

Tail assembly was conventional with normal vertical and horizontal tail surfaces, asingle rudder, and elevators. A small trim tab was mounted on the inboard trailing

edge of each elevator.

The horizontal stabilizer was a non-adjustable cantilever unit of conventionaL con­struction. The hinge mounts for the elevator can be seen protruding from the trailing

edge.

•The vertical fin was a fixed cantilever unit of conventional construction. It was offset

to the left side of the aircraft some 3 deg. to compensate for engine torque.

~- r.<0

~.

g-~<;

ig"

The single-piece P-26A rudder is seen in its jig during construction. The ribbing and external skin were all-metal. There were three hinge points and a single leadingedge spar. There was no trim tab.

34

RIGHT E:LEVAT0!3.

The elevator was divided into two sections, one of which is shown in its jig. The ribbing and external skin were all-metal. Each elevator section had three hinge pointsand a single leading edge spar. The cutout for the trim tab is visible on the upper right corner.

f<ll

FUEL SYSTEM

55 GAL.. TOTAL. MAIN TANt<.

r

i -.042 ACU.... 4S0 VENT j ,--- GRAV"Y 'LAPPER VALVE

~...;,=,-"""", __(-J~==~j _

_ . __._- 1<:.-2 COCK

- 0-2 PUMP

STRAINER

NOTE:ALL F'UEL L.INES ~ •.042ALU ..... ALec 460, UNL.ESSOTHERWISE NOTED,

The 55-gallon main gas tank was installed under the cockpit flooring throughremoveable panels. The supporting metal tray and cables are noteworthy.

Upside-down view of the fuselage illustrates the gas tank door installation thatcovers the gas tank in the wing center section.

35

'"J~. ~.

~. ~

~ ~1l. i~g' §"

"Q'" VltW c.on'U~G

"(o»~~ClI:LY·~_es_3;1f

Top view of the cowling covering the engine mountand engine accessories behind the engine. Note

sight mount and offset antenna mast.

Installation of Pratt & Whitney SR-1340E "Wasp"engine in the Boeing XP-936.

Overhead view of Pratt & Whitney R-1340-27 enginein a P-26A. Airspeed venturi is visible between left

and center cylinders.

RIGHT 510E view COWLING­MODtL p- 2faA

Right side view 0Ip-26A cowling and Townend ring. Second exhaust stack from topis routed so that the heat it generates Can be used for Carburetor heating,

Left side view of P-26A cowling and Townend ring. As with right side, second ex­haust stack from top is routed so that the heat it generates can be used for car­

bUretor heating.

Right side view of P-26A powerplant installation gives good detail of exhaust pipeconfiguration, engine mounts, carburetor heating system, oil tank, and other

miscellaneous accessories.

.:1111:1

i!Left side view of P-26A powerplant inStallation gives good detaif of exhaust pipe

configuration, engine mounts, carburetor heating and oil cooling systems, oil tank,and gun barrel extension tube.

36

Close-up detail of powerplant accessory area pro­vides good view of 2-wire electrical system and gun

barrel extension tube.

The fower end of the steel-tube engine mount bolted directly to the front spar. The box-like structure projectingforward from the No. 1 bulkhead accommodated the pilot's feet and rudder pedals. Silver paint is typical of

interior coloring.

Overhead view of engine accessory area details down-draft carburetion, enginemount, and other miscellaneous engine accessories.

Rear view of R-1340-27 prior to installation in Ed Maloney's P-26A. Note dualmagnetos, intake manifold configuration, and oil sump.

{<xl

Front view of freshly overhauled Pratt & Whitney R-1340-27 "Wasp" engine readyfor installation in Ed Maloney's refurbished P-26A, 33-123, in September of 1962.

Pratt & Whitney R-1340-27 engine with ring cowling and engine cowling as installedin a Boeing P-26A. Ring cowling improved airflow through and around cylinders.

37

For routine operations, the Army used an electrically-driven energizer with a geareddrive to wind up the inertia starts on P-26's. This is P-26A, 33-51, of the 34th

Pursuit Group.

...-­Though taken in 1962, this photo of Ed Maloney's P-26A gives a good visual im­pression of the 1930's vintage hand-cranked starting method using the aircraft's

inertia starter.

c:~."

0 0~.

~i.~

Another view of the Type A-3 bomb rack with two 116-pound demolition bombs.Bomb release was strictly mechanical and actuated by a handle inside the cockpit.

~-<-~~.,~......~~ ~~. ~~

Two 116-pound demolition bombs are seen mounted on a US Army Type A-3 bombrack beneath the first XP-936 on March 14, 1932. Drag was obviously not a major

consideration in the design of the rack!,..------~-_.

Five 25-pound fragmentation bombs are seen mounted on a A-3 bomb rack onP-26A, 33-62. The bombs could be dropped individually or all at once.

Front view of five 25-pound fragmentation bombs mounted under P-26A, 33-62. Thefragmentation bomb was primarily an anti-personnel weapon. Bomb release

mechanism is visible on right end of rack.

38

A parachute flare is seen being carried qn an A-3 bomb rack under a P-26A. Thenormal load in this configuration was two flares. This flare is marked "inert".

The ammunition box was installed just ahead of the 55-gallon belly fuel tank, permit­ting the ammunition to feed vertically the two guns installed above it.

-_.-~ ~ ~

The camera gun was mounted on the P-26's right wing root and the operating batteries were carried in the right-hand ammunition box. The gun "barrel" was actually along lens.

Another view of the camera gun installation. The area of coverage was not asrestricted as it appears as the target being filmed was usually several hundred feet

in front of the aircraft.

A ground crewman is seen loading the left-hand .30-calibre machine gun of a 20thPursuit Group P-26A, on November 3, 1937. Ammunition was pulled up from the

ammo box through doors on each side of the fuselage.

39

ARMAMENT SYSTEMGUN CONTR,OL. SWITCH

,r-AMM. COUNTER.Sr.30 CAL. ~EEO CHUTE

,--.30 CAL. EJECT. CHUTE:

R.!-l.F'EED

RE:F"ER TO E:LECTR.ICAL

DIAGRAM FOR GUNCONTROLS.

BOMB RACK SYSTEM

AAMING HANDLETVPE 8-3

Bo....e RELEASEHANOL..£.

TYPE A-3

801018 AACKTVPE ....-3 R.H.

The removable /lotation bags are seen inflated on P-26A, 33-52, during functional tests at Wright Field. The bags were made of rubberized canvas and formed to fitunder the wing /lying wires. The bags proved troublesome in service and were easily punctured and periodically accidentally in/lated. Accidental inflight inflations

could prove ·fatal.

Front and side· views of the Goodyear-manufactured /lotation bags in their inflated condition. The entire system, mounted in a wing upper surface fairing, wasmechanically attached to the wing root section with a mechanical actuator connected to a handle in the cockpit. A pressurized carbon dioxide system inflated the bags

when the handle was pulled.

40

AEROFAX INC. is pleased to announce its new MINIGRAPH aircraft monograph series. These high-quality,authoritative booklets have been created for the serious enthusiast and modeler and are desiilned to pro­vide textual and pictorial detail not usually found in other readily available books of this type. EachMINIGRAPH contains over 100 photos, fOld-out-type multi-view drawings, color scheme information, systemsdrawings, and high detailed and accurate text.

An extensive title listing is currently in preparation. MINIGRAPHS presently available (marked withan *) or due for delivery during 1985 include the following:

. MINIGRAPH 1: LOCKHEED SR·71 (A.12fYF·12/D·21)"MINIGRAPH 2: MCDONNELL DOUGLAS F·15A/B"MINIGRAPH 3: GRUMMAN F·14A/B"MINIGRAPH 4: MCDONNELL F·4DMINIGRAPH 5: MCDONNELL F·101B/F"MINIGRAPH 6: BOEING B·52G/HMINIGRAPH 7: GRUMMAN EA·6A/BMINIGRAPH 8: BOEING P-26 VARIANTS"MINIGRAPH 9: NORTH AMERICAN A3../A·5 VARIANTSMINIGRAPH 10: ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL SPACE SHUTTLEMINIGRAPH 11: LOCKHEED P·3 VARIANTSMINIGRAPH 12: SAAB ..·35 VARIANTSMINIGRAPH 13: MCDONNELL RF·4 VARIANTS"MINIGRAPH 14: LOCKHEED F·94 VARIANTS

If you find the new MINIGRAPH series to you liking and would like to have your name added to our mailinglist, please drop us a line at P. O. Box 120127, Arlington, Texas 76012. We would like to hear from you andwould particularly appreciate comments, criticisms, and suggestions for future titles.

AEROFAX is also in need of interesting, previously unpublished photos of aircraft for use in forthcomingMINICRAPH titles and other AEROFAX publications. If you have such items in your files, please considerloaning them to AEROFAX so that others may have a chance to see them, too. You will, of course, be creditedif your photo is used, and a free copy of the publication in which it is used will be sent.

AEROFAX is planning to publish a new aviation magazine and 1985 will likely see the appearance of thefirst issue. If you would like to have your name added to the mailing list of those who will be receiving in­troductory copies and introductory subscription rates, please write.

And don't forget the other fine AEROFAX publications, including the definitive AEROGRAPH series describ­ing the General Dynamics F-16, the Air National Guard, and the Lockheed U-2. Forthcoming AEROGRAPHtitles due for release in 1985 include the Convair B-58 and the Douglas A-3.

AEROFAX looks forward to hearing from you ....

Thanks for your interest,Jay Miller andthe AEROFAX, INC.Editorial Staff

WEIGHT DATA RIGGING DIAGRAM FUEL SYSTEM

K-2 COCK~--D-2 PUMP

B-2 REL. VALVEC-2 STRAINERF-4 PUMPCARBURETOR

RIGHT ANGLE DRIVE

LEFT AUX. TANK RIGHT AUX. TANK26 GALS. 26 GALS.

MAIN TANK 55 GALS.(INCL. 20 GAL. RESERVE)

PRIMER

VENT

FUEL SYSTEM INST. SEE DWG.15-2707.ELECTRICAL WIRING DIAGRAM SEE:DWG. 6-3008. ONE WIRE SYSTEMF"OR: A.C. 33-28 TO A.C.33-51 INCL.

A.C. 33-53 TO A.C.33-IOS INCL.DWG. S-3463, TWO WIRE SYSTEMF"OR: AC. 33 -52

A.C. 33-107 TO A.C.33-138 INCL.

VENTS ! ..042ALU •Pl=tIMER LINE A-.026COPPER.GAGE L.INE *"-.032 COPPERPUMP DRAIN *-.042 AL.UM.AL.L. OTHER WNEe ~·.042.ALUM.

AL.L. ALUM. ALeo 4 S.O.

WING BRACE WIRESWIRE PART SIZE LGTH !!!!!- LGTH OFTHD.NAME~. am'Q !lli. LH

INNER .LYING 3-4512 *-20 69* 4 2 i 21.RQNT RYING AN678AC7850 1-20 78 ~ 4 2i 2REAR .LYING AN676AC80 -24 eo 4 2 IffiONT LAND'G AN676AC8875 -24 6B i 4 2 IREAR LANDG AN676AC1065O _24 IOGlE 2 2 I

LANDING WIRES MUST BE RIGGED TO APPROX.2200"rENSIONWING INCIDENCE ANGLE 1° DIHEDRAL 4°LEVELING LUGS ARE lOCATED ON FLOOR NEAR PIL.OT~SEAT.

MOVEMENT OF CONTROL SURFACESSURFACE ABOVE NEUTRAL BELOW NEUTRALAILERON 24° ISOELEVATOR 30· 26°ELEVATOR F"LAP 30· 30°RUDDER 30° LEFT 30° RIGHT

t-- 40'·-~13" "!;:! -'0r-:- ~ t ~~---'----'--, I

<t INCIDENCE BOARD <tREARSPA.R

INCLUDES 20 GAL. RESERVE(ACTUALTANK CAP'Y 55 GALS.)

POUNDSEMPTY 2213

CREW 200

ARMAMENT 125

EQUIPMENT 73

F'UEL

MAIN 52.3 GALS.SPEC. 314

AUXILIARY 52 GALS._312

AUXILIARY TANK INST. (2) 77

OIL

MAIN 4 GALS. 30

AUXILIARY 3.95 GALS._30

NORMAL LOAD 742

GROSS WEIGHT__2S55