Boeing F3B
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The Boeing F3B was a biplane fighter that served with the United States Navy in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
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. 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, the production F3B-1 had a larger upper wing that was slightly swept back and a redesigned tail with surfaces made from corrugated aluminum.
It first flew on February 3, 1928, turning in a respectable performance and garnering Boeing a contract for 73 more. F3Bs served as fighter bombers for some five years, during which period some were fitted with Townsend rings and others with streamlined wheel fairings.
[edit] References
- Lloyd S. Jones, U.S. Naval Fighters (Fallbrook CA: Aero Publishers, 1977, ISBN 0-8168-9254-7), pp. 60-62
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