DAVID J. GAUTHIER MEMORIAL COLLECTION
No. 7996. Boeing 63 XTB-1 (A-7024 c/n 834) US Navy
Photograph from Boeing

Boeing 63 XTB-1

09/30/2014. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "The three TB-1s were designed by the Navy and were the last non-Boeing designs built in Seattle until WW II. The TB-1s were improved versions of an earlier Navy design that had been built by Martin as the T3M.

Structure was all dural with fabric covering in place of the wood wings and steel tube fuselage of the Martin. The pilot and bombardier/navigator occupied a side-by-side cockpit just aft of the engine, the bombing station was on the floor just ahead of the lower wing, and a rear gunner's station was located on the top of the fuselage between the wing and the tail. The wings folded aft at the rear spar-center section strut junction, reducing the overall span to 21 ft 8 in (6.60 m) for shipboard storage. The four-wheel landing gear was divided to permit torpedoes to be carried under the fuselage and twin floats could be substituted for the wheels. Power plant was a 730 hp Packard 3A-2500 engine, while armament consisted of two 0.30 in (7.62 mm) machine guns and a 1,740 lb ( kg) torpedo.

The first TB-1, retroactively identified as XTB-1 after Navy adopted the experimental prefix in 1927, flew on May 4, 1927, and all three were delivered in June (BuNos. A-7024 to A-7026, c/n 834 to 836). Before the TB-1s were completed the Navy had decided against dependence on a single power plant for such a heavy aeroplane and developed the basic design into a twin-engine model with only a 2 ft (61 cm) increase in wing span. This model, powered with two 525 hp Wright Cyclone radial engines, was built by Douglas as the T2D-1."

Created June 30, 2008