The Boeing F3B was a biplane fighter and fighter bomber that served with the United States Navy from 1928 into the early 1930s.
8-521: Designed by the company as its Model 74 , the plane was an incremental improvement over the F2B . The Navy-designated prototype XF3B-1 still had the tapered wings of the F2B for instance, but was built as a single-float seaplane using the FB-5 undercarriage. However, the growing use of aircraft carriers took away most of the need for floating fighters, and by the time other test results had been taken into account,
16-567: A fifth could be hung from the fuselage. First flight of the F2B prototype was November 3, 1926. The Navy acquired the prototype as XF2B-1, which was capable of reaching speeds of 154 mph (248 km/h), and was sufficiently impressed to order 32 F2B-1s. In addition to omission of the large streamlined spinner cap, the production versions also had a balanced rudder . Delivery began on January 20, 1928, with some assigned to fighter squadron VF-1B and others to bomber squadron VF-2B , both operating from
24-489: A fighter designed specifically for carrier operations, using the same welded-tubing fuselage and wooden-frame wings as for the Model 15, and adding a large spinner to reduce air drag around the engine (this was dropped in production). Armament was either two .30 in (7.62 mm) machine guns , or one .30 in and one .50 in (12.7 mm); the lower wing had attachments for up to four 25 lb (11 kg) bombs, plus
32-492: A popular nickname: "Suicide Trio" although officially the team was called "Three Sea Hawks". The first public performance as an official team representing the Navy was between September 8 and 16, during National Air Races week at Mines Field (now Los Angeles International Airport). The Boeing F2B-1 was unable to fly inverted without the engine quitting; consequently, Lt. Tomlinson modified the carburetors to permit brief inverted flight. At
40-508: The carrier Saratoga . Although the Navy did not order any more F2Bs, Boeing built two more, as Model 69Bs, exporting one to Brazil and the other to Japan . In 1927, Lt. D. W. "Tommy" Tomlinson CO of VF-2B, created the first U.S. Naval aerobatic team. Drawing from VB-2B squadron at Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, the team used three Boeing F2B-1 fighters. Its first unofficial demonstration in January 1928 at San Francisco gave rise to
48-435: The production F3B-1 ( Model 77 ) had a larger upper wing that was slightly swept back and a redesigned tail with surfaces made from corrugated aluminum. It also eliminated the spreader bar arrangement of the undercarriage and revised the vertical tail shape. It first flew on 3 February 1928, turning in a respectable performance and garnering Boeing a contract for 73 more. F3Bs served as fighter-bombers for some four years with
56-596: The squadrons VF-2B aboard USS Langley , VB-2B aboard USS Saratoga (later VF-6B ), and VB-1B on USS Lexington , during which period some were fitted with Townend rings and others with streamlined wheel fairings. The aircraft remained in first-line service to 1932 and were then retained as "hacks" (command and staff transports) for several more years. Data from The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft General characteristics Performance Armament Related development Related lists Boeing F2B The Boeing F2B
64-646: Was a biplane fighter aircraft of the United States Navy in the 1920s, familiar to aviation enthusiasts of the era as the craft of the Three Sea Hawks aerobatic flying team, famous for its tied-together formation flying. Initially the Boeing Model 69 , it was inspired by the results of tests on the FB-6 , which was powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-1340 B Wasp radial engine. Boeing set out to use this engine in
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