The Consolidated P-30 (PB-2) was a 1930s

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

two-seat fighter aircraft. An attack version called the A-11 was also built, along with two Y1P-25 prototypes and YP-27, Y1P-28, and XP-33 proposals. The P-30 is significant for being the first fighter in

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 ...

service to have retractable landing gear, an enclosed and heated cockpit for the pilot, and an exhaust-driven

turbo-supercharger In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pr ...

for altitude operation.

Design and development

In 1931, the

Detroit Aircraft Corporation The Detroit Aircraft Corporation was incorporated in Detroit, Michigan on July 10, 1922, as the Aircraft Development Corporation. The name was changed in 1929. The Detroit corporation owned the entire capital stock of the Ryan Aircraft Corp., Air ...

, parent company of the

Lockheed Aircraft Company The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer. Lockheed was founded in 1926 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995. Its founder, Allan Lockheed, had earlier founded the similarly named but ...

built a two-seat single-engined fighter aircraft based on the

Lockheed Altair The Lockheed Altair was a single-engined sport aircraft produced by Lockheed Aircraft Limited in the 1930s. It was a development of the Lockheed Sirius with a retractable undercarriage, and was the first Lockheed aircraft and one of the first air ...

high-speed transport as a private venture. The prototype, the Detroit-Lockheed XP-900, flew in September 1931 and was purchased by the

as the

Lockheed YP-24 The Lockheed-Detroit YP-24 was a 1930s prototype two-seat fighter aircraft produced by Detroit Lockheed. An attack version called the A-9 was also proposed. The YP-24 is most remarkable for being the first fighter aircraft to bear the Lockheed ...

. Its performance was impressive, being faster than any fighter then in service with the Air Corps, and an order for five Y1P-24 fighters and four Y1A-9 attack aircraft was placed for the new aircraft, despite the loss of the prototype on 19 October 1931.Francillon 1982, pp. 114–115.Angelucci and Bowers 1987, p. 262. The Detroit Aircraft Corporation went into bankruptcy eight days later, however, leading to the cancellation of the contract.Wegg 1990, p. 68. When the Detroit Aircraft Corporation failed, the chief designer of the YP-24, Robert J. Woods was hired by Consolidated Aircraft. Woods continued to develop the YP-24, the design becoming the Consolidated Model 25, with all-metal wings replacing the wooden wings of the YP-24 and a larger tail. The Army Air Corps ordered two prototypes as the Y1P-25 in March 1932, to be powered by a

Curtiss V-1570 The Curtiss V-1570 Conqueror was a 12-cylinder vee liquid-cooled aircraft engine. Representing a more powerful version of the Curtiss D-12, the engine entered production in 1926 and flew in numerous aircraft.Gunston 1989, p. 46. Design and de ...

-27, fitted with a turbo-supercharger on the port side of the forward fuselage. The order for the second prototype was quickly changed to a Y1A-11 attack aircraft, omitting the supercharger.Pelletier 2000, p. 2.Angelucci and Bowers 1987, pp. 95–96. First to fly was the Y1P-25, which was delivered to the Air Corps on 9 December 1932. It demonstrated promising performance, reaching a speed of at , but was destroyed in a crash on 13 January 1933, killing its pilot, Capt. Hugh M. Elmendorf (whose name was later given to Elmendorf Air Base in Alaska).Dorr and Donald 1990, p. 51. The Y1A-11, armed with four forward-firing machine guns instead of the two of the Y1P-25 and racks for 400 lb (182 kg) of bombs was delivered to Wright Field on 5 January 1933. On 20 January 1933 the Y1A-11 disintegrated in midair, killing pilot Lt. Irvin A. Woodring.Pelletier 2002, pp. 2–3. Despite the loss of both prototypes in a week, on 1 March 1933, the Air Corps placed an order for four P-30 fighters and four A-11 attack aircraft. These production variants differed from the prototypes in having stronger fuselages, simplified undercarriages and more powerful engines.Pelletier 2002, p. 3.

Operational history

The first P-30 was delivered in January 1934. Testing showed that the gunner's cockpit was uncomfortable and cold at the high altitudes where the P-30 was intended to fight, while the rearward facing gunners were liable to black out when the aircraft was maneuvered.Dorr and Donald 1990, p. 57. Despite these concerns, on 6 December 1934, the U.S. Air Corps placed an order for a further 50 P-30As, with more powerful V-1570-61 engines driving a three-bladed variable-pitch propeller and with oxygen supplies for the crew.Wegg 1990, pp. 68–69. Three of the four P-30s were delivered to the

94th Pursuit Squadron The 94th Fighter Squadron is a unit of the United States Air Force 1st Operations Group located at Joint Base Langley–Eustis, Virginia. The 94th is equipped with the F-22 Raptor. The 94 FS is one of the oldest units in the United States Ai ...

Selfridge Field Selfridge Air National Guard Base or Selfridge ANGB is an Air National Guard installation located in Harrison Township, Michigan, near Mount Clemens. Selfridge Field was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the Unit ...

in 1934. The first P-30A, by this time redesignated PB-2A (Pursuit, Biplace), made its maiden flight on 17 December 1935, with deliveries to service units starting on 28 April 1936. The last of the 50 PB-2As were completed by August that year. While intended as a high altitude fighter, the PB-2 flew relatively few high altitude flights, partly because of the discomfort for the crew. One exception took place in March 1937, when a PB-2A was flown to before being forced to return to lower altitudes when the aircraft's controls froze.Pelletier 2002, p. 10. On 17 October 1936, a PB-2A flown by Lt. John M. Sterling won the Mitchell Trophy

air race Air racing is a type of motorsport that involves airplanes or other types of aircraft that compete over a fixed course, with the winner either returning the shortest time, the one to complete it with the most points, or to come closest to a prev ...

with a speed of .Wegg 1990, p. 69. Since the PB-2A was one of the few aircraft at the time to have retractable landing gear, they were frequently damaged in "wheels-up" landings when the pilots forgot to extend the landing gear.Pelletier 2002, p. 9. One PB-2A was modified to a single-seat configuration as the PB-2A Special, to compete in a 1936 Air Corps competition for a new fighter to replace the

Boeing P-26 Peashooter 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 ...

. It was larger and heavier than the other competitors and was much more expensive. It crashed during testing, with the

Seversky P-35 The Seversky P-35 is an American fighter aircraft built by the Seversky Aircraft Company in the late 1930s. A contemporary of the Hawker Hurricane and Messerschmitt Bf 109, the P-35 was the first single-seat fighter in United States Army Air Co ...

being ordered into production.Green and Swanborough 1979, p. 11. One A-11 was converted to the XA-11A testbed with the new 1,000 hp (746 kW) Allison XV-1710-7 engine. While the PB-2 was sturdy, the two-seat fighter concept was obsolete by the time the aircraft entered service, and by 1939, all had been replaced in front-line service by

and Curtiss P-36 Hawk aircraft. The survivors remained in use as training aircraft until after the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, with the last being withdrawn from use on 2 June 1942.Pelletier 2002, p. 11.

Variants

;Y1P-25 :Further development of

with all-metal wing, Curtiss V-1570-27 Conqueror turbo-supercharged engine. Two fixed forward firing .30 in machine guns and one flexibly mounted gun in rear cockpit. One built. ;Y1A-11 :Ground-attack version of Y1P-25. Powered by unsupercharged engine and armament of 4x forward firing .30 in guns in nose, one in rear cockpit and up to 400 lb (182 kg) of bombs. One built. ;YP-27 :Proposed variant of Y1P-25 with

Pratt & Whitney R-1340 The Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp is an aircraft engine of the reciprocating type that was widely used in American aircraft from the 1920s onward. It was the Pratt & Whitney aircraft company's first engine, and the first of the famed Wasp series ...

-21G Wasp

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ...

. Unbuilt.Angelucci and Bowers 1987, p. 96. ;Y1P-28 :Proposed variant of Y1P-25 with 600 hp R-1340-19 Wasp; unbuilt. ;P-30 :Initial production batch for Army Air Corps. Curtiss V-1570-57 turbo-supercharged engine. Four built, later redesignated PB-2. Consolidated A-11 (SN 33-211)

;A-11 :Initial production ground-attack aircraft, with unsupercharged V-1570-59 engine. Four built. ;P-30A :Main production fighter powered by turbo-supercharged Curtiss V-1570-61 engine; 50 built, redesignated PB-2A. Consolidated PB-2A Special on ground rear view

Consolidated PB-2A Special on ground rear view

;PB-2A Special :Seventh PB-2A modified to single-seat configuration. Crashed during flight testing. ;XP-33 : Proposed version with Pratt & Whitney R-1830-1 Twin Wasp engine; unbuilt. ;XA-11A :Conversion of A-11 as testbed for Allison XV-1710-7. One converted.

Specifications (PB-2A)

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Angelucci, Enzo. and Peter M. Bowers. ''The American Fighter''. New York: Orion Books, 1987. . * Dorr, Robert F. and David Donald. ''Fighters of the United States Air Force''. London: Temple Press/Aerospace, 1990. * Francillon, René J. ''Lockheed Aircraft since 1913''. London: Putnam, 1982. . * Green, William and Gordon Swanborough. "The end of the beginning ... The Seversky P-35". ''Air Enthusiast Ten'', July–September 1979, pp. 8–21. * Pelletier, Alain J. "Singular Two-Seater: Consolidated's PB-2A – The USAAC's Only Two-Seat Fighter". ''

Air Enthusiast ''Air Enthusiast'' was a British, bi-monthly, aviation magazine, published by the Key Publishing group. Initially begun in 1974 as ''Air Enthusiast Quarterly'', the magazine was conceived as a historical adjunct to ''Air International'' maga ...

No. 85'', January/February 2000, pp. 2–11. ISSN 0143-5450. * Swanborough, Gordon and Peter M. Bowers. ''United States Military Aircraft Since 1909''. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian, 1989. . * Wegg, John. ''General Dynamics Aircraft and their Predecessors''. London: Putnam, 1990. .

External links