User talk:Kevin Murray/fighter

Resource: USAF Museum Site

Curtis/Orenco D - 1919 - 139 mph
The Orenco D biplane, was the first US fighter type of completely indigenous design (as opposed to foreign types or American-built versions of foreign types) to enter US military service.

Orenco was an American aircraft manufacturer founded in 1916 in New York as Ordnance Engineering Corporation. The name was shortened in 1919. The company's first project was the Orenco A in 1917, but none were ordered. The Orenco B and C received small orders as trainers and racers.

The USAAS bought four Orenco D prototypes in 1918, but the order for 50 production aircraft was given to Curtiss, the lowest bidder. Orenco went out of business soon after.

Development
The D prototype was a two-bay biplane, constructed of all wood, covered with fabric, and powered by a 300hp Hispano-Suiza engine. The Curtiss production madel had a wider wingspan and redesigned ailerons. The first Curtiss Orenco D flew on 26 August 1921.

Thomas-Morse/Boeing MB-3 - 1919 - 141 mph


The MB-3 was a biplane fighter designed by Thomas-Morse company, but primarily manufactured by the Boeing Company. The MB-3A was a frontline fighter for the Air Service between 1922 and 1925.

Development
Ordered by the U.S. Army on the basis of a promised 150 mph (241 km/h) top speed and a 1,500 ft.min (7.62 m/s) initial climb, the MB-3 designed by was a single-seat unstaggered single-bay biplane of wooden construction and fabric covering.

Developed in 1919 by the Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation of Ithaca, New York, the MB-3 fighter was adapted from the French Spad-7, by B. Douglas Thomas, with rights to the design held by the Air Service.

Thomas-Morse produced fifty MB-3 planes for the Air Service and ten for the U.S. Marine Corps. The reaminder of production went to lowbidder, Boeing, for contracts to deliver 200 additional planes, designated MB-3A. . Boeing made minor structural refinements and created completely new tail surfaces for the last 50 aircraft delivered.

The MB-3A was delivered to the Air Service beginning in 1922 and was its primary pursuit aircraft. By 1925 the MB-3A was considered obsolete, and with the re-organization of the Air Service into the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1926, it was replaced by the Curtiss PW-8 and Boeing PW-9 fighters.

Curtis PW-8 - 1923 - 168 mph
The PW-8 was developed in competition with Boeing as a replacement for the MB3. Although the PW-8 was faster than the Boeing's PW-9, it was otherwise out-performed by the Boeing plane, which was also easier to maintain and considered more rugged. Only 25 PW-8 planes were bought by the Air Service.

Development
The company designation was Model 33 evolved in 1922 from a series of racing planes that Curtiss built for the Army and Navy using a Curtiss-developed 435 hp water-cooled, direct- drive, V-12 engine. Three prototypes were delivered in May 1923, under the designation PW-8, which stood for "Pursuit, Water-cooled, Model 8". This Army designation scheme, was introduced in 1920, with seven categories: PA (Pursuit, Air- cooled), PG (Pursuit, Ground Attack), PN (Pursuit, Night), PS (Pursuit, Special Alert), PW (Pursuit, Water-cooled), R (Racer), and TP (Two-seat, Pursuit).

The fuselage was welded steel tube construction with fabric covering. The undercarriage was of a divided-axle design. The wings were entirely of wood with a very thin section requiring struts for stiffening. The cooling system consisted of a set of wing-surface radiators mounted flush with the upper and lower surfaces of the top wing. While aerodynamic, the cooling system was considered problematic by the Air Service.

In June 1924, a PW-8 completed the first successful dawn-to-dusk crossing of the USA.

Boeing PW-9 - 1923 - 159 mph
The Boeing Model 15 saw service with the United States Army Air Service (as the PW-9 series) and with the United States Navy as a carrier-based fighter (as the FB series).

Development
The design of the Model 15 was based on studies of the Fokker D.VII, 142 of which were brought back to the United States. The Model 15 had a fuselage of welded steel tubing braced with piano wire, while the tapered single bay wings were fabric on a wooden frame, with spruce and mahogany wing spars and 3-ply wood ribs. Wing struts were changed from the normal wood used in Boeing designs to streamlined steel tubes. The landing gear had a straight axle.

The original engine was a 300 hp Wright-Hispano, but when the 435 hp liquid-cooled Curtiss D-12 became available the aircraft was redesigned, moving the radiator from the nose to a "tunnel" under the engine. Along with some other minor design changes to the wings, the design was finalized on 10 January 1922.

The Air Service ordered prototypes for testing in 1923. The XPW-9 flew on 2 June 1923. and successfully competed with the Curtiss XPW-8 Ultimately both models were accepted, with 113 PW-9  aircraft ordered. A naval version was also developed, designated FB, and 42 aircraft produced.

Curtis P-1 - P3 & P5 - 1925 - 163 mph
During the early 1920s Curtis continued to refine the PW-8 design until in March 1925 they received a contract for a production series based on this design. In 1924 the Army had combined its seven pursuit categories designations into one, P for pursuit; therfore the refined Curtis Model 34A became the P-1.

Development
The first P-1s were delivered in August 1925. These airframes were fitted with the 435 hp Curtiss V-1150-1 (D-12C) engine used in the PW-8, but were to accept the larger 500 hp Curtiss V-1400 engine. Wings remained of wooden construction, but were tapered. The Fuselage was metal tube construction with fabric covering. A 55 gallon auxiliary fuel tank could be fitted underneath the belly.

Maximum speed was 163 mph at sea level. Cruising speed was 136 mph. The P-1 was armed with one 0.50-cal and one 0.30-cal machine gun mounted in the upper fuselage deck and firing through the propeller arc.

The design evolved through several variants including larger inline engines and a radial engine installation, some received separate designations of P2, P3 and P5, but none were sucessful and in most cases the planes were converted to P1 configurations. With each successive variant of the P-1, the weight of the fighter increased, leading to a gradual falloff in the top speed and in the climbing performance.

Curtis P-6 - 1929 - 204 mph
The Curtiss P-6 Hawk was used by the United States Army Air Corps as a pursuit fighter from 1932 until 1937

Development
The U.S. Army Air Corps placed an order for 18 P-6s in 1929. This aircraft was a further modification of the P-1 airframe; in this case a P-1B successfully adapted to the 600 horsepower Curtiss V-1570 Conqueror engine. The P-6 series of aircraft had 13 distinct sub-types of eight different models

The most famous of the series was the E model, which represented 46 of the total of 92 P-6 planes produced. This featured the V-1570c producing 700 horsepower, pushing the plane to a top speed over 200 mph.

Boeing P-12 - 1929 - 189 mph
Boeing developed the aircraft as a private venture to replace the Boeing F3B and Boeing F2B with the United States Navy. As result of Navy evaluation 27 were ordered, later evaluation by the Army Air Corps resulted in orders with the designation P-12. Boeing supplied the USAAC with 366 P-12's between 1929 and 1932.

Development
Early in 1928, designed this biplane using bolted aluminum tubing for the fuselage's inside structure, rather than welded steel tubing, typical of earlier models. Later versions had aluminum covering the fuselage rather than fabric or wood. The design was smaller, lighter and more agile than the Navy F3B it replaced but still used the Wasp engine of the F3B. This resulted in a higher top speed and overall better performance.

Berliner-Joyce P-16 - 1929 - 172 mph
The Berliner-Joyce Aircraft Corporation was established in February 1929 when it acquired the assets of the Berliner Aircraft Company. The new company had intended to develop the Berliner Monoplane but became involved in designing a two-seat fighter for the United States Army Air Corps. The prototype first flew in October 1929.

Development
The P-16 had a metal structure with a fabric covering. It was a single-bay biplane of unequal span, with the an upper gull wing forward-staggered, and a smaller lower wing mounted at the base of the fuselage. An observer/gunner sat behind the pilot.

The aircraft was powered by a supercharged 600 hp Curtiss V-1570 Conqueror engine. After evaluation by the USAAC two contracts were awarded for a total of 25 aircraft, with the last 10 not being supercharged, but with a 3-blade propeller..

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk
The P-40 began as an improvement to the P-36, where the radial engine was replaced with an inline Allison V-12 engine. Though the horsepower remained similar, the aerodynaics were improved by removing the drag presented by the radial engine.

Due to budgetary concerns the production P-40 did not include a turbo charger, which would have made it more competitive with early WWII front-line European fighter by enhancing its jigh altitude performance. However, the P-40 met ASAAF specification and was ordered in large quantities. Later British experiments with the turbo charged Rolls Royce Merlin engine used in the Spitfire and Hurricane fighters dramatically improved the performance of the P-40. Regardless, non-turbocharged P-40 replaced the Hurricane in many operational uses when it became available to the British forces.