North American A-27

A-27
Two A-27s of the 17th Pursuit Squadron at Nichols Field, Philippines, in 1941.
Role	Ground attack
Manufacturer	North American Aviation
Primary user	United States Army Air Corps
Number built	10
Developed from	North American BC-1

The North American Aviation A-27 is an attack version of the North American BC-1. Ten aircraft were ordered by Thailand as NA-69 light attack aircraft.^[1]

Instead of being delivered to Thailand, the aircraft were taken over on October 1940 by the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) to keep them out of Japanese hands and redesignated A-27 under the USAAC's aircraft designation system. Assigned to Nichols Field in the Philippines, all A-27s were destroyed within days of Japan's invasion of that country during World War II. Aircraft s/n: 41-18890 / 41-18899 (c/n: 69-3064 / 69-3073).^[2]

Operators

 United States

• United States Army Air Corps
  • 4th Composite Group, Nichols Field, Luzon, Philippines
    • 3rd Pursuit Squadron - 1941
    • 17th Pursuit Squadron - 1941
    • 20th Pursuit Squadron - 1941

Specifications (A-27)

General characteristics

• Crew: 2
• Capacity: 2
• Length: 29 ft 0 in (8.84 m)
• Wingspan: 42 ft 0 in (12.8 m)
• Height: 12 ft 2 in (3.71 m)
• Max. takeoff weight: 6,730 lb (3053 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Wright R-1820 Radial, 785 hp (585 Kw)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 250 mph (402 km/h)
• Range: 800 miles (1287.5 km)
• Service ceiling: 28,000 ft (8534.4 m)

Armament

• • 2 x nose-mounted 7.62 mm machine guns
    
  • 1 x rear-mounted 7.62 machine gun
  • 4 x 100lb bombs on underwing racks

See also

Related development

• North American NA-16
• North American BC-1
• North American P-64
• North American T-6 Texan

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• CAC Wirraway

Related lists

• List of military aircraft of the United States

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to North American T-6 Texan.