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American Combat Planes of the 20th Century is an incredible reference for anyone who is interested in any American Combat Plane History. There are 758 pages and 1700 b/w photos in this substantial labor of love by Ray Wagner, who has been passionately researching and writing about aircraft for over 50 years. Whether you are already familiar with his past works, or just discovering this accomplished author for the first time... This is the book that you've been waiting for!

If you'd like to see the book's Table of Contents ... Click here. You can also browse the entire Index Section to get an idea of the extensive amount of information that is covered within this book.

Search our site for other combat planes. A- 1 Eaton A- 4 Skyhawk A- 6 & A- 7 Air Weapons AV- 8 to A- 10 A- 20 Havoc A- 22 Martin Maryland A- 23 Martin Baltimore A- 24 Douglas A- 26 Douglas Invader Attack Planes B- 2A, F-111, F-117 Stealth B- 17 Flying Fortress B- 24 Liberator B- 25 North American B- 26 Marauder B- 29 Superfortress B- 32 Dominator B- 35 Flying Wing B- 36 B- 47 Stratojet B- 50 Boeing B- 52 Stratofortress B- 57 Canberra B- 58 Hustler Biplanes Biplanes, Army Pursuits Bombers, B- 70 to Stealth Bombers, First Big Curtiss Falcon CO- 1 DH- 4 De Havilland F3D- Douglas Skyknight F3H- McDonnell Demon F4D- 1 Skyray F4F Grumman Wildcats F- 4U Corsair F6F Grumman F7F Grumman F7U Vought F9F G. Cougar F9F G. Panther F- 16 Fighting Falcon F- 84 F- 86 Sabre F- 89 to F-94 F- 100 to F-108 First Fighters Flying Boats GAX Iraq to Afghanistan Martin Bombers Missile Era Fighters Navy Fighers Navy Flying Boats O- 2 Douglas P- 35 Seversky P- 36 to 42 Curtiss P- 38 Lightning P- 39 Airacobra P- 40 Line P- 47 Thunderbolt P- 51 Mustang Fighter P- 61 Black Widow P- 63 Kingcobra P- 79 to P-81 P- 82 Twin Mustang SB2C Helldiver TBF-TBM Avenger Thomas-Morse Torpedo Planes V- 11 Vultee XB -28 XP -48 / 77

Navy Patrol Flying Boats, 1920-1932

PN-7, NAF TF, PN-8, PN-9, PB-1

Page 1

NAF TF NAF PN-7

When the Navy entered World War I it had only six flying boats; by Armistice Day 1,172 were on hand, most of them single-engine HS types. After the German U-boats were gone, so was the reason, it seemed, to build any more patrol planes, although millions were invested in new battleships, with their tall basket masts and armored turrets. It was a decade before new flying boats were built in quantity.

The twin-engine biplane pattern of the H-12, H-16 and F-5 established a tradition for Navy flying boats. There were 347 HS, 106 H-16 and 172 F-5L boats on hand July 1, 1921, and by June 30, 1925, the Navy’s aging patrol force consisted of 44 F-5L and 33 H-16 twin-engine boats, 40 single-engine HS-2s, and 80 assorted unserviceable airframes of these types. Fortunately, the Naval Aircraft Factory was developing a new series of flying boats to relieve the spruce framework of these antiques. The first improvement needed was metal hulls instead of the wooden surfaces so threatened by salt water and waves.

Since private industry was not expected to risk the capital investment required to develop advanced patrol planes, the Naval Aircraft Factory built 13 trial flying boats. The first two were authorized in January 1923 and designated PN-7, for Patrol, Navy, the 7 following redesignation of the wartime F-5 and F-6 as PN-5/6.

Traditional wood and fabric biplanes, the PN-7s had a modified F-5 hull and new 72-foot 10-inch span wings with the USA-27 airfoil and only one pair of interplane struts on each side. Two 525-hp Wright T-2 Tornado inline engines and two-bladed propellers were mounted in streamlined nacelles, with the water radiators hanging from the upper wing. A crew of five, four 230-pound bombs, and four Lewis guns were carried.

NAF PN-9 BOEING PB-1

The first PN-7 was tested at Philadelphia in November 1923, and delivered in January 1924, but the second was not accepted until August. The next pair of Navy boats were built with lighter metal hulls and a new tail. The first, A-6799, flew on March 19, 1925, as the PN-8 with Wright T-3 engines, while the second, A-6878, was tested in April as the PN-9 with 525-hp Packard lA-1500 engines behind large water radiators and increased fuel capacity for a proposed flight to Hawaii.

The PN-8 was soon converted to PN-9 configuration, and on August 31, 1925, both PN-9s took off for the first attempt to fly from San Francisco to Hawaii. While A-6799 was soon forced down, the A-6878’s fuel lasted over 25 hours; long enough to cover 1,841 miles against head winds and set a world’s distance record, but after it ran out of fuel, the PN-9 came down at sea some 360 miles short of Pearl Harbor. Then the metal hull demonstrated good flotation qualities, keeping the five-man crew safe for ten days, until they reached the islands using sails improvised from the wing’s fabric covering.

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