johnbr
2nd Lieutenant
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Boeing 273 XF7B-1-1
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davparlr
Senior Master Sergeant
Didn't know the Navy hired Ninjas for test pilots!
Interesting. If they'd kept an enclosed cockpit (fixing the visibility issues rather than going backwards) and put retractable landing gear on it, they might have had something.
A Wright R-1820 Cyclone would have been a ginormous help too over the P&W R-1340-30 Wasp too.
A Wright R-1820 Cyclone would have been a ginormous help too over the P&W R-1340-30 Wasp too.
at6
1st Sergeant
From the looks of things, it was obsolete before it left the drawing board.
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johnbr
2nd Lieutenant
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johnbr
2nd Lieutenant
The Boeing XF7B was the first low-wing monoplane with a retractable undercarriage to be tested by the US Navy. The aircraft was developed in response to a US Navy specification of 6 December 1932 for a single-seat fighter. Boeing designed the Model 273, a low-wing monoplane with cantilevered wings, a retractable undercarriage and an enclosed cockpit. It was powered by a 550hp Pratt & Whitney engine. It was similar to the Model 264/ YP-29, and thus shared many features with the earlier P-26 fighter. The XF7B was the first Boeing aircraft to be built with a controllable pitch propeller, the first to get flaps and the first low-wing cantilever monoplane to be submitted to the Navy for use from aircraft carriers.
The aircraft made its maiden flight on 14 September 1933 and was delivered to the Navy test centre at Anacostia on 11 November 1933. After the first set of Navy tests it was returned to Boeing to have split flaps and a longer engine cowling installed. The cockpit canopy was also later removed. Despite the changes the US Navy wasn't interested in the design, considering it to have too high a landing speed for carrier operations as well as suffering from a poor view from the cockpit. The sole prototype was over-stressed in a dive in March 1935 after the windscreen of the open cockpit collapsed. After this incident it was no longer seen as safe to fly, and was scrapped.
Engine: Pratt & Whitney SR-1340-30
Power: 550hp
Crew: 1
Span: 31ft 11in
Length: 27ft 7in
Height: 7ft 5in
Empty Weight: 2,782lb
Loaded Weight: 3,651lb
Maximum Speed: 233mph at 10,000ft
Cruising Speed: 200mph
Climb rate: 3.4min to 5,000ft
Ceiling: 29,200ft
Range: 750 miles
Guns: Two 0.3in machine guns
Boeing XF7B
The aircraft made its maiden flight on 14 September 1933 and was delivered to the Navy test centre at Anacostia on 11 November 1933. After the first set of Navy tests it was returned to Boeing to have split flaps and a longer engine cowling installed. The cockpit canopy was also later removed. Despite the changes the US Navy wasn't interested in the design, considering it to have too high a landing speed for carrier operations as well as suffering from a poor view from the cockpit. The sole prototype was over-stressed in a dive in March 1935 after the windscreen of the open cockpit collapsed. After this incident it was no longer seen as safe to fly, and was scrapped.
Engine: Pratt & Whitney SR-1340-30
Power: 550hp
Crew: 1
Span: 31ft 11in
Length: 27ft 7in
Height: 7ft 5in
Empty Weight: 2,782lb
Loaded Weight: 3,651lb
Maximum Speed: 233mph at 10,000ft
Cruising Speed: 200mph
Climb rate: 3.4min to 5,000ft
Ceiling: 29,200ft
Range: 750 miles
Guns: Two 0.3in machine guns
Boeing XF7B
