Congratulations again. A few said I was sneaky on this one, but many were too good for me to fool. The mystery airplane for Spring ’08 is the Boeing XF6B-1, BuNo A-8975, photographed during factory testing in early 1933. It was a one-of-a-kind airplane, and while not the last Navy F4B biplane produced by Boeing, it was the company’s last biplane fighter design (Model 236). It was also the last biplane fighter design with fixed landing gear submitted to the Navy by any aircraft manufacturer. While Army fighter biplane procurement ended in May 1932 with the delivery of the Boeing P-12F, the Navy stayed with biplane fighters (equipped with retractable landing gear) until the last order of 27 Grumman F3F-3s was made on 21 June 1938.
The XF6B-1 was designed as a shipboard fighter and was built around the new 14-cylinder twin-row Pratt & Whitney R-1535 Twin Wasp Jr. 625-hp engine. The R-1535 installation had been tested on the Boeing model 100F at Pratt & Whitney in 1932. The XF6B-1’s fuselage and tail construction were the same as the Boeing P-12E/F4B-3. The wing, although fabric covered, was all-metal construction with the ribs built up of metal angle strips, and the spars with built-up dural boxes. Wing bracing that existed on the standard F4B was not changed. The design of the undercarriage was different from the F4B with a fairing built around the rigid unit. Originally the oleo strut was outside a streamlined fairing, but the fairing was modified later and expanded to cover each side of the entire landing gear.
The aircraft was first flown on 1 February 1933. Minor changes were made to the cowling including installation of a three-bladed propeller to increase performance before delivery to the Navy on 23 April 1933. The aircraft was used for tests at Anacostia and the NACA facility at Langley Field, Va. On 21 March 1934, the Navy created a new designation to cover dual-purpose aircraft and the XF6B-1 became the XBFB-1 fighter-bomber.
James Corley, Marietta, Ga., is the winner of the Spring ’08 contest and will receive a one-year subscription to The Hook magazine and a Tailhook coffee mug. Please keep your informative cards, letters and e-mails coming (the Tailhook Association, 9696 Businesspark Ave, San Diego, CA 92131-1643; thookassn@aol.com). Be sure to include the manufacturer and correct designation of the aircraft at the time of the photograph. Please, no phone calls. Deadline is September 15, 2008.
Oh, yeah. Only one entry per contestant, please.
Either e-mail your
guess to thookassn@aol.com
or send it to:
"What is it?"
The Hook Magazine
9696 Businesspark Ave.
San Diego, CA 92131-1643