Subject: Number Thirty-Four in the Series--the Wedell-Williams XP-34

From: [email-masked] (Joseph F Baugher)
Date: 5 Nov 92 17:35:22 GMT

>From Joseph F Baugher <[email-masked]>

The Curtiss company had demonstrated that it was possible to evolve a 
successful pursuit design from a racing aircraft.  It comes as no 
surprise, therefore, that the Wedell-Williams Company, one of the 
best-known manufacturers of racing planes during the 1920s and 1930s, 
would attempt to adapt its racing designs to a fighter proposal.  

The Wedell-Williams company submitted a cantilever, low-wing monoplane 
powered by a 700 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1535 Twin Wasp radial housed in 
a tightly-fitting cowling that looked too big for the rest of the 
airframe.  The landing gear retracted inward to be stowed under the 
fuselage, and the cockpit was fully enclosed by a rearward-sliding 
canopy.  The cockpit was situated well-aft, reminiscent of the 
manufacturer's racing planes from which the design was evolved.  A 
maximum speed of 286 mph was anticipated.  

The proposal was sufficiently appealing to the USAAC that on October 
1, 1935 they ordered that a set of construction drawings be prepared 
under the designation XP-34.  However, by 1936, fighters were already 
flying with performances exceeding that of the proposed XP-34.  When 
confronted with this reality, the Wedell-Williams company proposed 
that the engine be switched to the 900hp Pratt & Whitney XR-1830-C 
radial in the pursuit of better performance.  However, this revision
failed to interest the USAAC, and the whole program was cancelled 
before anything could leave the drawing board.  

Source: 

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

Joe Baugher       AT&T Bell Laboratories    2000 North Naperville Road 
		  Naperville, Illinois 60566-7033.   (708) 713-4548