Boeing’s P-26 Was the First Production Monoplane Fighter in US Service
On 20 March 1932, the first Boeing P-26 Peashooter took to the skies for the first time. A rare sight nowadays, the P-26 was a significant step forward from biplane pursuit ships toward the future of fighter aircraft designs. The stubby little fighter was significant in many ways, but none more so than being the first production monoplane in squadron service with the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC).
Obsolete Too Soon
The USAAC ordered 111 P-26As from Boeing on 11 January 1933. The order was later increased to 136 aircraft. During the 1930s, aircraft development progressed rapidly, and the P-26 was soon overtaken by more advanced, closed-cockpit, retractable landing gear, cantilever-winged fighters, such as the British Hawker Hurricane and the German Messerschmitt Bf-109. When introduced, the P-26 was capable of impressive 234 miles per hour speeds, which would be far too slow to be effective in aerial combat…and way too soon.
Unique Antiques in Color
In actuality, the P-26 was practically an antique by the time it had been in service for only a couple of years. It was indeed the fastest pursuit ship in use by the USAAC when it was introduced. Another fact of life during the 1930s was lean times. The USAAC directed P-26 outfits to paint their aircraft in colorful schemes that would promote goodwill with the public. As a result, many P-26s were painted in outlandishly bright colors and Art Deco-inspired schemes.
Powered by a Famous Mill
Powered by the Wright R-1340 single-row radial engine, the same engine that powered aircraft like the North American T-6 / SNJ Texan trainers and later the Kaman HH-43 Husky helicopter, pilots reported that the P-26 was easy to fly but tricky in the pattern. A rash of landing accidents, caused by the high approach speeds required to land the P-26, resulted in another first for the stubby little Boeing fighter- landing flaps.
First Fights Between Modern Fighters
22 USAAC Pursuit Squadrons flew the P-26 at one time or another, but when the new Seversky P-35s and Curtiss P-36 Hawks came into service, the Peashooter was replaced by these newer fighters featuring all-metal construction, enclosed cockpits, and retractable landing gear. P-36s first saw combat when used by the Chinese Nationalist Air Force against the invading Japanese beginning in 1937. In fact, the first dogfights between all-metal monoplane fighters occurred when the Chinese P-26s took on the Japanese A5M Claude fighters.
Fierce Fighters in the Hands of Filipino Pilots
A few P-26s were being operated by the Philippine Army Air Corps when the Japanese turned their attention in that direction. Filipino-American Captain Jesus A. Villamor shot down a Japanese Mitsubishi G3M2 Nell bomber, and one of his wingmen shot down one of the vaunted Mitsubishi A6M2 Zeros. Courage was a common virtue among the outgunned P-26 pilots, but in the end, the last surviving Filipino Peashooters were burned to prevent their falling into Japanese hands on Christmas Eve 1941. Villamor was awarded not one, but two, Distinguished Service Crosses for his actions in defense of the Philippines during mid-December 1941.
Service into the 1950s?
Long since retired by the USAAC, Guatemala actually used P-26s until 1956, when P-51D Mustangs replaced them. Another P-26 distinction is that the Peashooter was the last Boeing-built production fighter aircraft until the company merged with McDonnell Douglas and adopted the F/A-18 Hornet as its own in 1997.
In addition to the USAAC, P-26s were operated by Nationalist China, Guatemala, the Philippine Army Air Corps, and the Spanish Republican Air Force (for demonstration purposes only). Seeing a flying example of a Peashooter in this day and age is a rare treat. The video was uploaded to YouTube by Donald Von Raesfeld. Enjoy!
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