The Keystone B-6 was a

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...

developed by the

Keystone Aircraft Keystone Aircraft Corporation was an early American airplane manufacturer. History Headquartered in Bristol, Pennsylvania, the company was formed as "Ogdensburg Aeroway Corp" in 1920 by Thomas Huff and Elliot Daland, but its name was quickly ...

company for the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...

Design and development

In 1931, the

received five working models (Y1B-6s) of the B-6

. The ''Y1B-'' designation, as opposed to a ''YB-'' designation, indicates funding outside normal fiscal year procurement. Two of these were redesignations of LB-13s; three were re-engined B-3As. The Air Corps placed an order for 39 production models on 28 April 1931, with deliveries between August 1931 and January 1932.Baugher, Joe
"Keystone B-6."
''American Military Aircraft,'' 11 July 1999. Retrieved: 29 July 2011. At the same time, an order was placed for 25 B-4As, the same aircraft but mounting Pratt & Whitney engines instead of Wright Cyclones. Despite their lower sequence number, the B-4As would be delivered last. These were the last canvas-and-wood biplane bombers ordered by the Air Corps. The performance of the B-6A varied little from the

Martin NBS-1 The Martin NBS-1 was a military aircraft of the United States Army Air Service and its successor, the Army Air Corps. An improved version of the Martin MB-1, a scout-bomber built during the final months of World War I, the NBS-1 was ordered ...

ordered in 1921. Its successor, the monoplane bomber, had a hard time getting accepted. The

Douglas Y1B-7 The Douglas Y1B-7 was a 1930s American bomber aircraft. It was the first US monoplane given the ''B-'' 'bomber' designation. The monoplane was more practical and less expensive than the biplane, and the United States Army Air Corps chose to expe ...

and

Fokker XB-8 The Fokker XB-8 was a bomber built for the United States Army Air Corps in the 1930s, derived from the high-speed Fokker O-27 observation aircraft. Design and development During assembly, the second prototype XO-27 was converted to a bomber pro ...

were originally designed as high-speed reconnaissance aircraft.

Operational history

Keystone B-6 twin-engine airmail plane in snow storm, 1920

The B-6A together with B-5A were front line bombers of the United States for the period between 1930 and 1934. Afterwards, they remained in service primarily as observation aircraft until the early 1940s. B-6 aircraft were used, along with many other Army Air Corps planes, as

mail plane A mail plane is an aircraft used for carrying mail. Aircraft that were purely mail planes existed almost exclusively prior to World War II. Because early aircraft were too underpowered to carry cargoes, and too costly to run any "economy class" ...

s in what became the

Air Mail scandal The Air Mail scandal, also known as the Air Mail fiasco, is the name that the American press gave to the political scandal resulting from a 1934 congressional investigation of the awarding of contracts to certain airlines to carry airmail and t ...

of 1934. On December 27, 1935, six B-6 bombers of the 23rd Bomb Squadron based in Hawaii dropped bombs to divert lava flow from the volcano

Mauna Loa Mauna Loa ( or ; Hawaiian: ; en, Long Mountain) is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The largest subaerial volcano (as opposed to subaqueous volcanoes) in both mass and ...

away from the port of

Hilo Hilo () is a census-designated place (CDP) and the largest settlement in Hawaii County, Hawaii, Hawaii County, Hawaii, United States, which encompasses the Hawaii (island), Island of Hawaii. The population was 44,186 according to the 2020 United ...

. With the residents of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

′s

Tangier Island Tangier is a town in Accomack County, Virginia, United States, on Tangier Island in Chesapeake Bay. The population was 727 at the 2010 census. Since 1850, the island's landmass has been reduced by 67%. Under the mid-range sea level rise scena ...

and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

′s Smith Island facing starvation after a severe winter storm and with ships unable to reach the islands due to heavy ice in the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...

, an Army Air Corps

49th Bomb Squadron The 49th Test and Evaluation Squadron is an active United States Air Force unit. Its current assignment is with the 53d Wing, based at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The 49th Test and Evaluation Squadron is an Air Combat Command (ACC) ...

B-6A made a one-hour, 54-mile (87-km) flight from

Langley Field Langley may refer to: People * Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name * Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer * Elizabeth Langley (born 1933), Canadian perform ...

, to Tangier Island on 9 February 1936 to drop 1,000 pounds (454 kg) of supplies in 50-pound (22.7-kg) parcels to the islanders, flying at an altitude of not more than 10 feet (3 meters). On 10 February, the squadron's B-6As made four similar fights to Tangier Island and one to Smith Island. The flights followed a supply flight to Tangier Island by the Goodyear Blimp ''Enterprise'' on 2 February 1936. After the success of the B-6A flights, the 49th Bomb Squadron flew additional flights to drop supplies to the islands using 13 Martin B-10B bombers.Anonymous, "Bombing Planes to Bring Food to Ice Victims," ''Chicago Tribune'', February 2, 1936.

Variants

;LB-13 :Seven aircraft ordered but delivered as the Y1B-4 and Y1B-6 with different engine installations. ;Y1B-6 :Two pre-production aircraft and three converted B-3As, as the LB-10 but with two 575 hp (429 kW) Wright R-1820-1 engines. ;B-6A :Production version of the Y1B-6, 39 built.

Operators

; *

Specifications (B-6A)

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Wagner, Ray. ''American Combat Planes''. New York: Doubleday, 1982. .

External links

USAF Museum article on B-6
{{USAF bomber aircraft Keystone B-06 B-6 Biplanes Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft