Boeing YB-9 (Death Angel)

History

Long before Boeing became a household name with its World War II B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, the company developed the first all-metal monoplane for the U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC), the "B-9" ". Based on Boeing's 1930's single-engine "Monomail" Model 200, it was designed to function as both a mail plane and an airliner. Its wings are set low under the fuselage and forward of the center of the boat, and it has an all-metal construction with no supporting struts. The fuselage is beautifully contoured and streamlined, with a specially designed fairing located in front of the engine.

The cockpit position (seat) is amidships, and there is a conventional empennage aft of the fuselage. The landing gear was retractable with a stern tow design, resulting in a very aerodynamically efficient tug that helped usher in the era of the monoplane for the U.S. military.

By 1931, Boeing engineers, as a private company, had developed larger airframes powered by twin radial engines. It features a pencil-like streamlined fuselage that draws lessons from the Monomail project, including its low-mounted all-metal monoplane wing attachment. The stern features a high-reach vertical stabilizer and a low-set stabilizer.

The landing gear is only partially retracted under the wing via the main legs, while the tail wheel is stationary. The first flight of the YB-9 prototype took place on April 13, 1931, and the aircraft was dubbed the "Type 214" by Boeing. The second prototype that followed was the "Type 215", the main difference between the two being that the Type 214 used a Curtiss V1570-29 600 hp "Conqueror" engine, while the Type 215 575 used a Pratt & Whitney R1860 "Large" engine.

Wasp" radial engine health. The Model 215 became USAAC's "Y1B-9A".

The key to the YB-9 was its performance, with a top speed of 186 mph that rivaled, and in some cases surpassed, the fastest fighter jets of its time. Unsurprisingly, it cruises at a much lower 158 mph and boasts a whopping 1,150 miles of range and a working ceiling of 20,150 feet.

These qualities were enough to interest USAAC as a modern all-metal monoplane bomber, which was officially designated the "XB-901".

The aircraft had a crew of 5, the military version was armed with 2 x .30 caliber machine guns for local defense, and its bomb load was 2,400 lbs (external). The crew consisted of two pilots, both sitting in the open-air cockpit, with the co-pilot sitting in front, who also acted as air bombers.

A radio operator remained in position with the fuselage, and the remaining two crew members were dedicated machine gunners, sitting in open-air cockpits fore and aft of the fuselage spine.

The Y1B-9A became USAAC's five evaluation aircraft, adopted in September 1932, joining two completed prototypes. Collectively, these seven aircraft are no longer being added from series production. The Y1B-9A quickly proved their speed in testing, rendering the existing USAAC chase aircraft almost obsolete - no one could capture the streamlined beast in a mock interceptor. Still, the Y1B-9A had a short service life with USAAC, and their attention quickly turned to the 1934 Martin B-10 bomber that took over the competition. The Y1B-9 entered combat in April 1935, with the one and two leaving and eventually lost in the collapse.

The Martin B-10 became USAAC's first all-metal monoplane to enter mass service.

However, the revolutionary features and performance qualities of the YB-9 family forced competitors to revise their approach to bomber design, forcing fighter designers to re-evaluate their pursuit types, with a powerful effect on WWII air combat over the next decade . Boeing will finally unveil a mockup of its B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, leading to the yet-to-be-shown nuclear-tipped, high-tech B-29 Superfortress. The line culminated with Boeing's last large bomber in the Vietnam War B-52 Stratofortress.

The Boeing YB-9 is informally known as the "Angel of Death" and has been dubbed "...the world's fastest bomber" by Modern Mechanics.

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