BILL PIPPIN COLLECTION
No. 6758. Brewster XA-32A (42-13569) US Army Air Forces
Photographed August 15, 1944
Aeroplane Photo Supply (APS) Photo No. 3852

Brewster XA-32A

07/31/2019. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "The Brewster XA-32 was developed in response to an Air Corps requirement for a large single-engine dive-bomber/ground attack aircraft carrying just the pilot. The success of German dive-bombers during the early Blitzkrieg campaigns in 1939 and 1940 convinced the United States of the need to develop and test dive-bombers of its own. The development of the XA-32 was relatively slow and took more than a year to progress from mockup (spring/summer 1942) to first flight (spring 1943).

The single-seat aircraft featured eight forward firing .50-cal. machine guns (four in each wing) and a 3,000-pound maximum bomb load. Each wing had a hardpoint capable of supporting one 1,000-pound bomb, and an internal bomb bay could handle up to 1,000 pounds of bombs. The aircraft was powered by a 2,100-hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800-37 Double Wasp radial engine, turning a large four blade propeller with a large spinner. The wing was mounted at mid-fuselage to allow room for the internal bomb bay. A wide stance inward retracting landing gear was also necessary because of the bomb bay, but resulted in good ground handling characteristics. The vertical stabilizer was relatively small and the horizontal stabilizer was mounted at the midpoint of the vertical stabilizer. The mockup had a more conventional tail assembly, but this was changed before the prototype was built.

The XA-32 performed poorly in its flight evaluation. The aircraft was heavy and underpowered. The XA-32 had a cruising speed of less than 200 miles per hour and a small combat range of 500 miles. The North American A-36A Mustang was selected by the Air Corps to fill the ground attack/dive-bomber role and served adequately from mid-1943 into 1944, primarily in North Africa, the Mediterranean and India. The XA-32 never progressed past the prototype development phase; however, the second aircraft was used to test the suitability of replacing the wing mounted machine guns with cannons. The eight .50-cal. machine guns originally installed were removed and replaced with four 20mm cannons.

Tested as the XA-32A, the cannon armed aircraft had a greater single shot impact due to the larger diameter bullets (0.79 inches versus 0.5 inches); however, the Army Air Force favored the higher rate of fire combined with an increased number of machine guns (i.e. eight .50-cal. machine guns were better than four 20mm cannons). The use of large numbers of machine guns for ground attack aircraft was used very effectively in aircraft like the B-25H, B-26G and A-26B."

Created August 31, 2007