Northrop_A-17A.htm

Northrop A-17A

The Northrop A-17 was a two-seat USAAC attack bomber built in the mid 1930's. Per Reference [8] it was fitted with perferated flaps, an internal bomb bay, and external bomb racks. The initial base A-17 version of this plane had fixed landing gear but the A-17A was configured with retractable gear. The base A-17 was ordered in 1935 and entered service in February 1936. In addition to serving with the USAAC, variants of the A-17 also served with Argentina, Peru, Sweden, the Netherlands, Iraq, Great Britain (from an original order made by France), South Africa and Canada. In addition Norway ordered which were diverted to a Norwegian training camp in Canada due to the fall of Norway. Some of these Norwegian aircraft appear to have been requisitioned by the USAAC as trainers and others appear to have eventually been sold to Peru.

In 1939 The Northrop Corporation became a subsidiary of the Douglas Aircraft company resulting in many export variants of the A-17 being designated the Douglas Model 8. A total of 411 aircraft were built, in several different variants for both the USAAC and foreign buyers. While in service with the USAAC some appear to have been used for maritime patrols on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal during the early part of WWII, while others were used as trainers or utility aircraft. Per Reference [8] the last of these aircraft were retired from service by the USAAC in 1944.

As shown in the image below distinguishing features of this aircraft including;

radial engine
an enclosed two-person cockpit with a rear-facing gunner position
retractable landing gear
perforated dive flaps

[Original Image source is US Government - Public Domain - via the National Museum of the USAF [Ref 9], 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.

A17A Dims

Source References [2] [3] & [8]

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

		A-17A	Secondary Sources	Notes
Primary Source		2
No of Crew		2
Engine:
Qty		1
Model		R-1535-13	8
Displacement	(cu in)	1535	8
Power
Military	(HP)
War Emergency	(HP)
Normal	(HP)	750	8
Take Off	(HP)	825	8
Eng Dims
Length	(ft)	4.44	8
Width/Dia	(ft)	3.68	8
Height	(ft)
Base Engine Wt	(lb)	1130	8
Propeller
# Blades		3
Dia	(ft)	9.5
Manufacturer
Type		2-Post
Wing
Span	(ft)	47.8
Root Thickness	(%)	15.0%
	(in)	15.7
Total Area	(sq ft)	363
Wing (less Ailerons & Flaps)	(sq ft)
Ailerons	(sq ft)
Flaps	(sq ft)
Tail Area	(sq ft)	90.86	3
V Tail Area	(sq ft)	26.8	3
Fin	(sq ft)
Rudder	(sq ft)
H Tail Area	(sq ft)	64.06	3
Stabilizer	(sq ft)
Elevator	(sq ft)
Total Control Surf Area	(sq ft)
Length
Overall	(ft)	32.1
Fuselage	(ft)	28.6
Body	(ft)	30.5375
Body Depth	(ft)
Body Width	(ft)
Fuel Tank Volume	(gal)
Wing Tanks	(gal)
FuselageTanks	(gal)
Oil Tank Volume	(gal)
Water Injection Fluid Tank Volume	(gal)
Wetted Area (sqf)	(sq ft)
Pwr Ldng	(lb/HP)	9.14
Wing Ldng	(lb/sq ft)	20.78
Struct. Des. GW	(lb)
Ultimate Load Factor	(G's)
Design Speed	(mph)
Not to Exceed Speed	(mph)

Total Struct Weight		2403
Total Wing		1045
Wing
Ailerons
Flaps
Fuselage Carry-Through
Tail		150
H Tail		105
Stabilizer
Elevator
V Tail		45
Fin
Rudder
Body + Eng Section + LG
Body + LG		1208
Body		623
Fuselage
Engine Section
Landing Gear		585
Mn Landing Gr		545
Tail/Nose Aux LG		40
Tail Hook
Booms
Nacelles
Total Propulsion Weight		1730
Engine w/ Accessories		1198
Engine(s) as Installed		1090
Accessories		108
Turbocharger(s)
Controls		10
Propeller(s)		243
2-Blade
3-Blade		243
4-Blade
Starting System		43
Water Injection System
Tanks
Piping Etc
Cooling System
Lube System		32
Tanks
Piping Etc
Fuel System		204
Tanks
Piping Etc
Total Sys. & Eqpmt.		973
Instruments		46
Surface Controls		112
Hydraulics
Electrical Equip		224
Electronics (Purple means incl in Furn/Gray in Useful Ld)
Arm Prov/Equipment & Armor
Furnishings		591
Anti-Ice (If not in Furn)
Other /Misc
Hoisting Gear
Floatation Gear
Armor Plate

Empty Wt		5106
Basic Mission Useful Load		2437
Crew		400
Equipment
Oil		105
Fuel		907
Fuel & Oil Trapped in Systems
Water Solution for Engine Injection
Bombs/Torp Etc		654
Radio (if Not Included in Empty Wt)
Nav Equipment
Oxygen System
Armament		268
Guns & Ammo		268
Guns		105
Ammo		163
Pyrotechnics
Camera
Other
Other Useful Load		103
Basic Mission GW		7543

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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