The Hall XFH was an American

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

built by the

Hall Aluminum Company In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gre ...

. It was the first fighter with a

semi-monocoque The term semi-monocoque or semimonocoque refers to a stressed shell structure that is similar to a true monocoque, but which derives at least some of its strength from conventional reinforcement. Semi-monocoque construction is used for, among ot ...

metal fuselage.

Development

The XFH was designed in 1927 by Charles Hall. It was a single-bay biplane with N-struts for the fabric-covered wings. Its fuselage was made of steel tubing covered with a watertight aluminum skin, enabling it to float if ditched in the ocean. Also for ditching on water or on land, the landing gear could be jettisoned. Power was provided by a

Pratt & Whitney Wasp The Pratt & Whitney Wasp was the civilian name of a family of air-cooled radial piston engines developed in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.Gunston 1989, p.114. The Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company (P&W) was founded in 1925 by Frederick B. Rentsc ...

radial engine. Testing in June 1929 showed poor handling characteristics and performance. During one test flight, the upper wing separated from the aircraft. After repairs, the XFH made test flights from an

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

. Designated XFH by the

Bureau of Aeronautics The Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) was the U.S. Navy's material-support organization for naval aviation from 1921 to 1959. The bureau had "cognizance" (''i.e.'', responsibility) for the design, procurement, and support of naval aircraft and relate ...

, it was purchased not for active service, but to study new metal construction techniques.

Specifications

References

Citations

Bibliography

* {{USN fighters F01H 1920s United States fighter aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes