Warplanes of the USA: Boeing P-26 Peashooter

Boeing P-26 Peashooter

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26A Peashooter, 17th Pursuit Squadron, 1st Pursuit Group flying from Selfridge Field, Michigan, 1939.

The Boeing P-26 "Peashooter" is 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 1932, and the type was still in use with the U.S. Army Air Corps as late as 1941 in the Philippines. There are two surviving Peashooters and three reproductions on display, with two more under construction. (Wikipedia)

The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) became the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) on 20 June 1941. The USAAF became the United States Air Force (USAF) on 18 September 1947.

Deliveries to USAAC pursuit squadrons began in December 1933 with the last production P-26C aircraft coming off the assembly line in 1936. Ultimately, 22 squadrons flew the Peashooter, with peak service being six squadrons, in 1936. P-26s were the frontline fighters of the USAAC until 1938, when Seversky P-35s and Curtiss P-36s began to replace them. A total of twenty P-26s were lost in accidents between 1934 and America’s entry into the Second World War on 7 December 1941, but only five of them were before 1940.

Air Corps units using the P-26 were the:

• 1st Pursuit Group (17th, 27th, and 94th PS), Selfridge Field, Michigan;
• 4th Composite Group (3d, 17th, and 20th PS), Nichols and Clark fields, Philippine Department.
• 8th Pursuit Group (33rd, 35th, and 36th PS), Langley Field, Virginia;
• 16th Pursuit Group (24th and 78th PS), Albrook Field, Panama Canal Zone;
• 17th Pursuit Group (34th, 73d, and 95th PS), March Field, California
• 18th Pursuit Group (6th and 19th PS), Wheeler Field, Hawaii; and
• 20th Pursuit Group (55th, 77th, and 79th PS), Barksdale Field, Louisiana.

The 17th PG became the 17th Attack Group in 1935, and its P-26s were transferred in 1938 to the 16th Pursuit Group (24th, 29th, and 78th PS) at Albrook Field in the Panama Canal Zone. These P-26s were transferred in 1940 to the 37th Pursuit Group (28th, 30th, and 31st PS) which flew them until they were replaced by P-40s in May 1941. Some continued service with the 32d Pursuit Group (51st and 53rd PS), but only nine P-26s remained operational in Central America at the start of the Second World War, although seven P-26As remained on strength with the Sixth Air Force as late as May 1943.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26A Peashooter 17th Pursuit Group prepared for inspection, March Field, California.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26A (Serial No. 101) of the 17th Pursuit Group

(U.S. National Archives Photo)

Boeing P-26 Peashooters of the 17th Pursuit Group at March Field, California in 1932.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26A (Serial No. 33-130) of the 1st Pursuit Group.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26A #43 of the 73rd Pursuit Squadron, 1st Pursuit Group, 1937.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26A formation.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26A, 17th Pursuit Group in flight over California, 1934.

(Boeing Photo)

Boeing XP-936 No. 3 in flight.

(Boeing Photo)

Boeing XP-936.

(SDASM Archives Photo)

Boeing XP-936 prototype No. 2, with shorter headrest.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing XP-936 prototype, Bolling Field February 1932.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing XP-936 prototype.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26 (Serial No. 32-414) at Barksdale Field, 23 January 1934.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26A.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26A.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26B.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26A.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26A (Serial No. 130).

(USAAC Photo)

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26 fleet.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26A.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26A.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26C.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26A of the 19th Pursuit Squadron, 18th PG, Hawaii, 6 March 1939.

Boeing P-26 Peashooters were introduced into the Army Air Corps in 1933. Ungainly and quaint to modern eyes, the P-26 actually represented very advanced technology for its day. It was the Army's first all-metal monoplane fighter, and its 600 hp engine gave it a top speed of 234 mph. The very high headrest concealed a strong arch which protected pilots in the case the airplane should flip over upon landing. Pilots still preferred open cockpits, and the streamlined, fixed wheels were lighter than the mechanism necessary for retracting landing gear with rubber wheels.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26A.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26A.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing P-26.

(USAAC Photo)

P-26B Peashooter (Serial No. 33-191), 17th Pursuit Squadron, 1st Pursuit Group

Surviving P-26 aircraft

(RuthAS Photo)

P-26A 33-135 in 34th Pursuit Squadron markings, at the National Air and Space Museum′s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. P-26A c/n 1899 serial number 33-123 is on display at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, California, and is the only remaining flying P-26. This aircraft was flown by the 27th Pursuit Squadron at Selfridge Field, Michigan and the 20th Pursuit Group at Barksdale Field, Louisiana before being deployed to the Panama Canal Zone. It was later sold to the Guatemalan Air Force on 11 May 1943, and it flew as FAG 0672 until it was retired in 1957. Flown regularly with the registration N3378G, the museum placed it on static display in the mid-1980s to protect it. In 2004, the decision was made to again fly the P-26, and it made its first public flight during the museum's air show in May 2006. The aircraft was shipped across the Atlantic and flown and displayed at Duxford Aerodrome in England in July 2014 during the type's first post-Second World War visit to Europe.

(Aaron Headly Photo)

P-26A c/n 1911 (Serial No. 33-135) is with the Smithsonian Institution′s National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. This aircraft was assigned to the 94th Pursuit Squadron at Selfridge Field, Michigan, until being sent to the Panama Canal Zone. It was sold to the Guatemalan Air Force on 11 May 1943, and it was flown as FAG 0816 until retired in 1957 when it was donated to the Smithsonian. This aircraft was restored by the USAF, and was displayed at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in 34th Attack Squadron markings until 1975, when it was returned to the National Air and Space Museum in 1976.

Replicas

A P-26A reproduction is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. It is painted as the commander's aircraft of the 19th PS / 18th PG, stationed at Wheeler Field, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, in 1938.

The San Diego Air and Space Museum has made a reproduction of an early model to Boeing's plans with the original design's "streamlined tailwheel" and without flaps and the crossover exhaust that were later additions.

P-26D: A flying replica completed in 2006 is in the collection of the Military Aviation Museum, Virginia Beach, Virginia. Mayocraft Inc., completed the final assembly in September 2006, and it went on display in June, 2011 after nearly 12 years of construction.

P-26A: Two flyable reproduction aircraft using original blueprints are currently being constructed by Golden Age Aeroplane Works in Brownstown, Indiana.

A P-26A replica in Philippine Army Air Corps colours is on display at the Bunker Building in Bataan, Philippines.