Boeing P-26A Peashooter

The Boeing P-26 Peashooter was the USAAC's first operational all metal fighter/pursuit aircraft.  Per Reference [8] its first flight was on 20 March 1932. The P-26A was the first production varian of this type aircraft, with a totalof 111 P-26As being built.  The later P-26B variant had a fuelinjected engine.   Ultimately 151 of all variants of this type aircraft were built.  They served operationally with the USAAC, the Republic of China, the Phillipines, and Guatemala, with one additional demonstrator aircraft serving briefly with the Republican Spanish Forces.  The sole Spanish example served breifly during the Spanish Civil War, and the Chinese aircraft acively served during the Sino-Japanese War leading into WWII.  Other of these aircraft were operational at the beginning of WWII in the Phillipines and the Panama Canal Zone with the Phillipine Airforce and US Army Air Corp.

As shown in the image below, in addition to its all metal construction other distinguishing features of this aircraft included;

• an open cockpit with raised headrest (to protect the pilot in the event of a roll over)
• an externally braced cantilever wing
• fixed landing gear with heavy spats/trouser covers
• a radial engine in a ring cowl

[Original Image source is US Government - Public Domain - via Wikipedia [Ref 8], as annotated by this site]

In order to try and better develop weight estimating relationships an effort has been made to estimate the length of the fuselage aft of the firewall, and the length of the engine section forward of the firewall based off scaled drawings.  Together these two distances add to a term called the "structural length" and do not consider any portion of the engine or propeller shaft the extend foward of the fuselage/cowling, or any empennage that extends aft of the fuselage structure.  The drawing below shows the current best estimate of these dimensions obtained from available drawings of the airplane and will be updated with any real world data that becomes available.  For any aircraft with an inclined firewall, an attempt has been made to locate an approximate center of this location.


                                                                    Source References [1] [3] [8] & [16]

In the above images, dimensions in Black come from the source material while dimesions in Red have been approximated from the data available.

The table below summarizes the current data collected on this type aircraft, identifying sources for the data

		Boeing	Reference Source	Notes
		P-26A
No of Crew		1	8
Engine:
Qty		1	2
Model		R-1340-27	2
Displacement	(cu in)	1340	8
Power
Military	(HP)
War Emergency	(HP)
Normal	(HP)	570	8	From a link in Ref [8] summarizing all Curtiss Wright engines
Take Off	(HP)	500	8	Ref [2] suggested 570, but a file on a link from Ref [8] summarizing all Curtiss Wright engines indicates 500 HP for this model
Eng Dims
Length	(ft)	3.60	8	From a link in Ref [8] summarizing all Curtiss Wright engines
Width/Dia	(ft)	4.29	8	From a link in Ref [8] summarizing all Curtiss Wright engines
Height	(ft)
Base Engine Wt	(lb)	715	8	From a link in Ref [8] summarizing all Curtiss Wright engines
Propeller
# Blades		2	8
Dia	(ft)
Manufacturer		Hamilton Std
Type		Fixed Pitch
Wing
Span	(ft)	27.96	2
Root Thickness	(%)	10.0%	2
	(in)	7.2	2
Total Area	(sq ft)	149.5	2
Wing (less Ailerons & Flaps)	(sq ft)
Ailerons	(sq ft)
Flaps	(sq ft)
Tail Area	(sq ft)	37.2	3	NACA Research Memorandom L7E15
V Tail Area	(sq ft)	12.5	3	NACA Research Memorandom L7E15
Fin	(sq ft)
Rudder	(sq ft)
H Tail Area	(sq ft)	24.7	3	NACA Research Memorandom L7E15
Stabilizer	(sq ft)
Elevator	(sq ft)
Total Control Surf Area	(sq ft)
Length
Overall	(ft)	23.83	8
Fuselage	(ft)	20.9	2
Body	(ft)	22.81
Body Depth	(ft)
Body Width	(ft)
Fuel Tank Volume	(gal)
Wing Tanks	(gal)
FuselageTanks	(gal)	50/106
Oil Tank Volume	(gal)
Water Injection Tank Volume	(gal)
Wetted Area (sqf)	(sq ft)
Pwr Ldng	(lb/HP)	4.89	2
Wing Ldng	(lb/sq ft)	19.63	2
Struct. Des. GW	(lb)
Ultimate Load Factor	(G's)
Design Speed	(mph)
Not to Exceed Speed	(mph)
Total Struct Weight		998	2
Total Wing		411	2
Wing (less Ailerons & Flaps)
Ailerons
Flaps
Fuselage Carry-Through
Tail		67	2
H Tail		46	2
Stabilizer
Elevator
V Tail		21	2
Fin
Rudder
Body + Eng Section + LG
Body + LG		520
Body		261	2
Fuselage
Engine Section
Landing Gear		259	2
Mn Landing Gr		237	2
Tail/Nose Aux LG		22	2
Tail Hook
Booms
Nacelles
Total Propulsion Weight		1012	2
Engine w/ Accessories		770	2
Engine(s) as Installed		732	2
Accessories		38	2
Turbocharger(s)
Controls		6	2
Propeller(s)		109	2
2-Blade		109	2
3-Blade
4-Blade
Starting System		27	2
Water Injection System
Tanks
Piping Etc
Cooling System
Lube System		20	2
Tanks
Piping Etc
Fuel System		80	2
Tanks
Piping Etc
Total Sys. & Eqpmt.		184	2
Instruments		21	2
Surface Controls		37	2
Hydraulics
Electrical Equip		58	2
Electronics
Arm Prov/Equipment & Armor
Furnishings		68	2
Anti-Ice (If not in Furn)
Other /Misc
Hoisting Gear
Floatation Gear
Empty Wt		2194	2
Basic Mission Useful Load		741	2
Crew		200	2
Equipment
Oil		30	2
Fuel		330	2
Fuel & Oil Trapped in Systems
Water for Engine Injection
Bombs/Torp Etc
Radio (if Not  in Empty Wt)
Nav Equipment
Oxygen System
Armament		107	2
Guns & Ammo		107	2
Guns		42	2
Ammo		65	2
Pyrotechnics
Camera
Other
Other Useful Load		74	2
Basic Mission GW		2935	2
Additional Loads
Fuel		+312	2
Bombs Etc		+244	2
Guns
HVA Rockets
Max Useful Load		1482		Calculated from data in Ref [2]
Max GW		3012		Calculated from data in Ref [2]
Additional Load Notes		52 gal in Wing Tanks	2
		2 x 122lb Bomb	2

Notes: This website has been developed with a number of low cost or free programs including Hot Metal Pro, KompoZer, MicroSoft Designer and Da Button Factory.com

Rev 4-12-26

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