Douglas XFD
XFD | |
---|---|
Role | Fighter |
National origin | United States |
Manufacturer | Douglas Aircraft Company |
First flight | January 1933 |
Primary user | United States Navy |
Number built | 1 |
The Douglas XFD was a carrier-based biplane fighter aircraft designed for the United States Navy, and the first fighter to be built by the Douglas Aircraft Company. A victim of changing requirements, no production was undertaken.
Design and development
The XFD was designed to the U.S. Navy's
The first naval fighter designed by Douglas Aircraft,[3] the XFD was constructed of metal, with a fabric outer covering. The crew sat in tandem in a single bay, enclosed by a long canopy. The aircraft had fixed conventional landing gear, and was designed to be armed with two .30 in (7.6 mm) machine guns, one fixed in the cowling and the other on a flexible mount for the observer. A 500-pound (230 kg) bomb load could be carried.[4] Powered was supplied by a Pratt & Whitney R-1535 Twin Wasp Junior radial engine.[4]
Operational history
The XFD-1
Specifications
Data from Angelucci 1987,[2] Johnson 2011[4]
General characteristics
- Crew: Two (pilot and observer)
- Length: 25 ft 4 in (7.72 m)
- Wingspan: 31 ft 6 in (9.60 m)
- Height: 25 ft 4 in (7.72 m)
- Wing area: 295 sq ft (27.4 m2)
- Empty weight: 3,227 lb (1,464 kg)
- Gross weight: 5,000 lb (2,268 kg)
- Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney R-1535-64 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engine, 700 hp (520 kW)
- Propellers: 2-bladed Hamilton Standard
Performance
- Maximum speed: 204 mph (328 km/h, 177 kn)
- Cruise speed: 170 mph (270 km/h, 150 kn)
- Combat range: 576 mi (927 km, 501 nmi)
- Service ceiling: 23,700 ft (7,200 m)
- Rate of climb: 1,670 ft/min (8.5 m/s)
Armament
- Guns: 1 x .30-caliber machine gun, fixed forwards-firing cowl mounting
1 x .30-caliber machine gun, flexible mounting in rear cockpit - Bombs: 500 pounds (230 kg) external
See also
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
- Curtiss XF12C
- Vought XF3U
Related lists
References
Notes
- jet fighter.
Citations
Bibliography
- Angelucci, Enzo (1987). The American Fighter from 1917 to the present. New York: Orion Books.
- Johnson, E.R. (2011). United States Naval Aviation, 1919-1941. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-4550-9.
- Pattillo, Donald (2001). Pushing the Envelope: The American Aircraft Industry. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-10869-7.
- Yenne, Bill (1985). McDonnell Douglas: Tale of Two Giants. New York: Crescent Books. ISBN 978-0-5174-4287-6.