Subject: Bomber Series--Huff-Daland XHB-1

From: [email-masked]
Date: 14 Jun 94 16:21:27 GMT

>From [email-masked]

The Huff-Daland XHB-1 (serial number 26-201) was an enlarged and 
heavier version of the LB-1 single-engined light bomber.  It appeared 
in October of 1926.  It carried a crew of four, with two in an open 
cockpit ahead of the wing, one near the tail with twin Lewis guns, and 
the other using a retractable gun platform that could be lowered below 
the fuselage.  Two Browning machine guns were mounted in the wings and 
over 4000 bombs could be carried.  

The XHB-1 was to have been powered by a single 1200 hp engine.  Since 
this engine failed to materialize, a single Packard 2A-2540 engine, 
rated at 787 hp, was substituted.  This was the same engine which 
powered the LB-1.  The XHB-1 was known unofficially as the "Cyclops" 
by the Huff-Daland company.  

In March 1927, Huff-Daland and Co. was reorganized as the Keystone 
Aircraft Corporation and its headquarters were set up in Bristol, 
Pennsylvania.  

However, as early as April of 1926, the Army had decided that 
single-engined bombers were unsatisfactory, concluding that the more 
conventional twin-engined configuration was safer and had the 
additional advantage of allowing for a gunner and/or bomb-aiming 
position to be mounted in the nose.  Consequently, the XHB-1 was not 
ordered into production and only one example was built.  

Specification of the Keystone XHB-1: 

One 787 hp Packard 2A-2540 twelve-cylinder Vee liquid-cooled engine.  
Maximum speed 109 mph at sea level, service ceiling 15,000 feet, range 
700 miles with 2508 pound bombload.  Weights: 8070 pounds empty, 
16,838 pounds gross.  Wingspan 84 feet 7 inches, length 59 feet 7 
inches, height 17 feet 2 inches, wing area 1648.5 square feet.  Armed 
with two Lewis machine guns in a flexible mount in an open dorsal 
position.  A retractable gun platform could be lowered from the rear 
fuselage.  Two Browning machine guns were mounted in the wings.  A 
bombload of over 4000 pounds could be carried.  

Sources:

  United States Military Aircraft Since 1909, Gordon Swanborough and
  Peter M. Bowers, Smithsonian, 1989.

  American Combat Planes, Ray Wagner, Third Edition, Doubleday, 1982.

  American Warplanes, Bill Gunston

  Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation

  U.S. Army Aircraft, 1908-1946, James C. Fahey

Joe Baugher		AT&T Bell Laboratories   	
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