Boeing P-26 Peashooter

P-26 "Peashooter"
Role	Fighter Type of aircraft
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Boeing
First flight	20 March 1932
Retired	1956[1]
Primary users	United States Army Air Corps Republic of China Air Force Philippine Army Air Corps Guatemalan Air Force
Number built	151[2]
Variants	Boeing P-29/XF7B-1

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

Design and development

The project, funded by Boeing, to produce the Boeing Model 248 began in September 1931, with the US Army Air Corps supplying the engines and the instruments. The open cockpit, fixed landing gear, externally braced wing design was the last such design procured by the USAAC as a fighter. The Model 248 had a high landing speed, which caused a number of accidents. To remedy this,

The Boeing XP-936's headrest offered little protection should it overturn on landing, risking injury to the pilot. As a result, production Model 266s (P-26As) had a taller headrest installed to provide protection.

Two

Deliveries to USAAC pursuit squadrons began in December 1933 with the last production P-26C aircraft coming off the assembly line in 1936. Ultimately, 22 squadrons flew the Peashooter, with peak service being six squadrons, in 1936. P-26s were the frontline fighters of the USAAC until 1938, when Seversky P-35s and Curtiss P-36s began to replace them. A total of twenty P-26s were lost in accidents between 1934 and America's entry into World War II on 7 December 1941, but only five of them were before 1940.

Air Corps units using the P-26^[4] were the:

• Selfridge Field
  , Michigan;
• Clark fields, Philippine Department
  .
• Langley Field
  , Virginia;
• Albrook Field
  , Panama Canal Zone;
• March Field
  , California
• Wheeler Field
  , Hawaii; and
• Barksdale Field
  , Louisiana.

• 18th Pursuit Group (6th, 19th, 73d, and 78th PS)
• 15th Pursuit Group (45th and 47th PS
  ).

P-26As were also flown by the 3d PS of the 4th Composite Group, based in the Philippines. Between 1937 and 1941, 31 were sold to the fledgling Philippine Army Air Corps.

Combat service

The first example to see combat was a Model 281 sent to Spain before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. It was operated by the Spanish Republican Air Force, but no kills were made with it before it was shot down on October 21, 1936.^[6][7]

On 15 August 1937, eight 281s from the

By December 1941, U.S. fighter strength in the Philippines included 28 P-26s, 12 of which were operational with the 6th Pursuit Squadron of the Philippine Army Air Corps.

During 1942–1943, the Fuerza Aérea Guatemalteca (Guatemalan Air Force) acquired seven P-26s, which the United States government delivered to Guatemala as "Boeing PT-26A" trainers to circumvent restrictions on sales of fighters to Latin American countries.^[19] The P-26's last combat operation was with the Guatemalan Air Force during a 1954 coup d'état.^[20] The final pair of P-26s still flying in military service in the world would be replaced with North American P-51 Mustangs two years later in 1956.

Although Boeing produced the prototype

Variants

XP-936

Model 248, prototypes powered by a 522 hp (389 kW) Pratt & Whitney SR-1340E Wasp radial engine, three built.^[3]

XP-26

Designation assigned to the three XP-936 aircraft after acquisition by the USAAC on June 15, 1932. Other designations assigned to the aircraft included Y1P-26, XY1P-26, and eventually P-26.^[3]

P-26A

Model 266, first production variant, powered by a 600 hp (450 kW) R-1340-27. Multiple modifications were made during the production run and afterward. 111 built. Surviving aircraft were redesignated RP-26A in October 1942 and then ZP-26A in December.^[3]

P-26B

Model 266A, improved variant powered by a fuel-injected 600 hp (450 kW) R-1340-33. Two built, with 17 more being converted from P-26Cs.^[3]

P-26C

Interim variant with a carbureted R-1340-27 and a modified fuel system. Flaps were factory installed. 23 built. All surviving P-26Cs were modified into P-26B standard in 1936.^[3]

Model 281

Export version of the P-26C; 11 built for China and one for Spain.^[3]

Operators

 United States

• United States Army Air Corps

 Republic of China

• Republic of China Air Force – (11 aircraft in the 1930s)

 Guatemala

• Fuerza Aérea Guatemalteca – (7 aircraft operated 1942 to 1956)

 Philippines

• Philippine Army Air Corps – (12 operated in late 1941)

Spain

• Fuerzas Aéreas de la República Española – (1 demonstrator used briefly)

Surviving aircraft

• P-26A c/n 1899
  Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, California, and is the only remaining flying P-26.^[21] This aircraft was flown by the 27th Pursuit Squadron at Selfridge Field, Michigan and the 20th Pursuit Group at Barksdale Field, Louisiana before being deployed to the Panama Canal Zone. It was later sold to the Guatemalan Air Force on 11 May 1943, and it flew as FAG 0672 until it was retired in 1957. Flown regularly with the registration N3378G, the museum placed it on static display in the mid-1980s to protect it. In 2004, the decision was made to again fly the P-26, and it made its first public flight during the museum's air show in May 2006.^[22] The aircraft was shipped across the Atlantic and flown and displayed at Duxford Aerodrome in England in July 2014 during the type's first post-World War II visit to Europe
  .
• P-26A c/n 1911 serial number 33-135 is with the
  Selfridge Field, Michigan, until being sent to the Panama Canal Zone. It was sold to the Guatemalan Air Force on 11 May 1943, and it was flown as FAG 0816 until retired in 1957 when it was donated to the Smithsonian. This aircraft was restored by the USAF, and was displayed at the National Museum of the United States Air Force
  in 34th Attack Squadron markings until 1975, when it was returned to the National Air and Space Museum in 1976.

• A P-26A reproduction is on display at the
  Wheeler Field, Oahu
  , Territory of Hawaii, in 1938.
• The
  San Diego Air and Space Museum has made a reproduction of an early model to Boeing's plans with the original design's "streamlined tailwheel" and without flaps and the crossover exhaust that were later additions.^[25]
• P-26D: A flying replica completed in 2006 is in the collection of the Military Aviation Museum, Virginia Beach, Virginia. Mayocraft Inc., completed the final assembly in September 2006, and it went on display in June, 2011 after nearly 12 years of construction.^[26] Retrieved: 17 March 2007.^[27]
• P-26A: Two flyable reproduction aircraft using original blueprints are currently being^[when?] constructed by Golden Age Aeroplane Works in Brownstown, Indiana.^[28]
• A P-26A replica in Philippine Army Air Corps colors is on display at the Bunker Building in Bataan, Philippines.^[29]

Specifications (P-26A)

Data from Aviation-history.com^[30]

General characteristics

• Crew: One
• Length: 23 ft 7 in (7.19 m)
• Wingspan: 28 ft (8.5 m)
• Height: 10 ft (3.0 m)
• Wing area: 250 sq ft (23 m²)
• Airfoil: Boeing 109^[31]
• Empty weight: 2,196 lb (996 kg)
• Gross weight: 3,360 lb (1,524 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 ×
  Pratt & Whitney R-1340-27 Wasp 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine
  , 600 hp (450 kW)
• Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch propeller

• Guns: 2 × .30 in (7.62 mm) M1919 Browning machine guns or 1 x .30 in (7.62 mm) and 1 x .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns
• Bombs: 2 × 100 lb (45 kg) GP bombs or 5 x 31 lb (14 kg) anti-personnel bombs^[32]

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• Breda Ba.27
• Dewoitine D.500
• Grigorovich I-Z
• Mitsubishi A5M
• PZL P.11
• Vickers Vireo
• Vickers Jockey

Related lists

• List of fighter aircraft
• List of military aircraft of the United States

Notes