Warplanes of the USA: Boeing XB-15 (XC-105)

Boeing XB-15

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing XB-15 (Serial No. 35-277).

The Boeing XB-15 (Boeing 294) was a United States bomber aircraft designed in 1934 as a test for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) to see if it would be possible to build a heavy bomber with a 5,000 mi (8,000 km) range. For a year beginning in mid-1935 it was designated the XBLR-1. When it first flew in 1937, it was the most massive and voluminous airplane ever built in the US. It set a number of load-to-altitude records for land-based aircraft, including carrying a 31,205 lb (14,154 kg) payload to 8,200 ft (2,500 m) on 30 July 1939.

The aircraft's immense size allowed flight engineers to enter the wing through a crawlway and make minor repairs in flight. A 5,000 mi (8,000 km) flight took 33 hours at its 152 mph (245 km/h) cruising speed; the crew was made up of several shifts, and bunks allowed them to sleep when off duty. (Wikipedia)

(NMUSAF Photo)

Boeing XB-15 (Serial No. 35-277).

(Rudy Arnold Collection, National Air and Space Museum Photo)

Boeing XB-15 in flight near Floyd Bennett Field, Long Island, New York, c1941.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing XB-15 (Serial No. 35-277).

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing XB-15 (Serial No. 35-277).

(SDASM Archives Photo)

Boeing XB-15 with a Boeing P-26 "Peashooter" fighter.

(USAAC Photo)

Boeing XB-15 with a Boeing P-26 "Peashooter" fighter.

(NASA)

Boeing XB-15 (Serial No. 35-277) at NACA Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, 13 September 1938.

(SDASM Archives Photo)

Boeing XB-15

(USGOV-PD

Boeing XB-15 front turret .50-cal. gun installation, 1935.

Boeing XC-105

(USAAF Photo)

Boeing XC-105

Original caption: World's second largest land-plane goes to Caribbean. The B-15, huge experimental bomber built several years before the B-19, arrives in Panama for uses not disclosed by Air Force Headquarters. This plane is exceeded in size among American Aircraft only by the B-19 and the "Mars", the latter being the giant flying boat designed by Glenn Martin Company. A six-man crew flew the big ship from a base in the States to her new home in the tropics, where her arrival was the occasion of much public speculation, with most people believing her to be the more famous B-19. (49509 A.C.)

On 6 May 1943, the Army Air Forces converted the only prototype into a transport, the aircraft being redesignated XC-105. A cargo hoist was mounted, and cargo doors fitted. Its maximum gross weight was increased to 92,000 lb (42,000 kg). By this time, the aircraft was nicknamed "Grandpappy" by 20th Troop Carrier Squadron airmen. It displayed nose art depicting an elephant carrying a large crate on its back labeled "supplies". During the Second World War, the XC-105 carried freight and personnel to and from Florida, and throughout the Caribbean, based out of Albrook Field beginning in June 1943. Hundreds of young women were flown in "Grandpappy" from Miami to the Canal Zone to engage in US government work; these trips were dubbed the "Georgia Peach Run".[13] "Grandpappy" traveled to the Galapagos, landing on Baltra Island at the same airfield built following the XB-15 aerial survey of May 1940.

"Grandpappy′s" flight crew, reduced to six men, described the aircraft as difficult to fly and service. Two fires and a complete failure of the electrical system occurred in the air. The aircraft was retired on 18 December 1944, assigned to Panama Air Depot. In June 1945, it was ordered to be scrapped at Albrook Field in Panama, its engines and internal parts removed along with its vertical stabilizer and rudder. The remaining airframe was deposited at Diablo dump, a swampy landfill southwest of the runway, where it slowly sank from sight. Squatters built shacks on stilts in the swamp, covering the remains. The former dump is now an industrial area, with "Grandpappy" underneath. During its 18 months of transport service, the XC-105 carried more than 5,200 passengers, 440,000 lb (200,000 kg) of cargo and 94,000 lb (43,000 kg) of mail. It flew 70 cargo trips and 60 missions including anti-submarine patrol. Unusually, the aircraft was consistently referred to as "he" by its crew. (Wikipedia)

(Master Sgt. Laird N. Rosborough, USAAF Photo)

Monochrome photograph of the XC-105 in 1943, shown in Panama at Albrook Field with the airplane's flight crew posed in front of the nose which is painted with an elephant carrying supplies and the name "Grandpappy". One of the crewmen is Master Sgt. Laird N. Rosborough, the radio operator. The one-of-a-kind aircraft was previously designated the Boeing XB-15. It was scrapped in 1945 at Allbrook Field.

(USAAF Photo)

Boeing XC-105.

(World War Photos)

Boeing XC-105.