Boeing P-26C

Last revised June 12, 1999



It had been originally planned for all 25 planes of the add-on order for P-26s to be completed as P-26Bs. Unfortunately, there were delays in the production of the Pratt and Whitney fuel-injected Wasp engines. Consequently, twenty-three of the 25 aircraft added to the original order for 111 P-26As were built as P-26Cs with the carbureted R-1340-27 engine. These engines differed from those in the P-26A only in slight differences in the fuel and carburetion systems. The differences from the P-26A were so slight that the factory model number (Model 266) was not changed. Serials were 33-181, 33-183/203. The first P-26C was delivered on February 10, 1936, and the last on March 7, 1937.

After about a year in service, all but six of the 23 P-26Cs were converted to P26B standards (Boeing 266A) by the installation of fuel injection engines and revision of the fuel system and its controls. These planes were then redesignated P-26B, a rare occasion of an aircraft reverting to an earlier designation.

Serials of P-26C: 33-181, 33-183/203

Specification of Boeing P-26C:

One Pratt and Whitney SR-1340-33 Wasp nine-cylinder supercharged air-cooled radial engine with fuel injection rated at 600 hp at 7500 feet. Performance: Maximum speed 235 mph. Range 635 miles. initial climb rate 2360 ft/min. Service ceiling 27,000 feet, absolute ceiling 28,300 feet. Weights: 2332 lbs empty, 3075 lb gross. Dimensions: Wingspan 27 feet 11.6 inches, length 23 feet 9 inches, height 10 feet 0.38 inches, wing area 149.5 square feet. Armament: One 0.50-in, one 0.30-in machine guns, or two 0.30-in machine guns mounted in the fuselage sides firing through the engine cylinder banks. Racks were provided under the fuselage for five 30-lb bombs or two 100-lb bombs.

Sources:

  1. Boeing Aircraft since 1916, Peter M. Bowers, Naval Institute Press, 1989.

  2. "The Boeing P-26A", Peter M. Bowers, in "Aircraft in Profile", Doubleday, 1969.

  3. United States Military Aircraft Since 1909, Gordon Swanborough and Peter Bowers, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989.

  4. The American Fighter, Enzo Angellucci and Peter Bowers, Orion Books, 1987.

  5. Boeing P-26 Peashooter, Robert F. Dorr, Air International, Vol 48 No 4, p 239 (1995).