Lockheed YP-24

History

Lockheed's first foray into the design and development of a military fighter aircraft became the development of the "YP-24". The aircraft existed only as a prototype during its life cycle, taking on the appearance of a two-seat fighter that could be adopted by the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC).

The first flight took place in 1930, but the program was affected by a number of events beyond its control, limiting manufacturing to a complete example.

The aircraft was designed by Robert J. Woods and built primarily by the Detroit Aircraft Company as a private venture. It is based on the Lockheed Altair developed in 1930 for civilian sports.

The product itself is based on the 1929 Lockheed "Sirius" utility transport aircraft (designed by Jack Northrop and Gerard Vultee - later by Northrop and Vultee Aircraft respectively).

The YP-24 was transformed into an elegant low-wing monoplane with retractable rear towing and an enclosed cockpit. The crew sat side by side with machine guns mounted on trainable mounts in the rear cockpit. The rear wing adopts a traditional single-tail arrangement. The front engine drives a three-bladed propeller unit. The fuselage is made of metal and the wings are made of wood.

Detroit Aircraft supplied the former with Lockheed engineers supplying the latter part.

Testing of the "XP-900" prototype was conducted at the historic Wright Field in southwestern Ohio. The prototype has a top speed of 235 mph and cruises close to 215 mph. Range is 556 miles and service is capped at 25,000 feet. The climb rate is 1,820 feet per minute.

Through this work, USAAC became very interested in purchasing aircraft for their own testing company. This resulted in the XP-900 aircraft being renamed the YP-24. Five fighter jets were subsequently contracted as Y1P-24s and four attack aircraft as Y1A-9s.

The base fighter was designed to carry a 1 x .50 caliber heavy machine gun in the nose, firing through rotating propeller blades (synchronizers control speed). This weapon is paired with a 1x.30 caliber medium machine gun. The rear gunner manages a 1 x .30 caliber machine gun.

The aircraft was powered by a 600-horsepower Curtiss V-1570-23 "Conqueror" V12 liquid-cooled in-line engine.

The attack model is attacked with a set of 4 machine guns firing forward. It will also feature underwing brackets for carrying conventional throwing weapons.

Another important difference is the engine swap with the Curtiss V-1570-27 inline-piston series - this powerplant was chosen for its better low-level performance.

In October 1931, a single prototype crashed after a landing gear failure (one of the main legs got stuck in flight; test pilot ejected) and everything was derailed. This, combined with a sluggish world economy (which forced Detroit Aircraft and Lockheed into bankruptcy), led to the demise of the YP-24 program as a significant player in the future USAAC.

Despite major setbacks, Woods continued to develop aircraft under the Consolidated brand label in the ensuing period, resulting in the "P-30" monoplane in 1934. Sixty of these were built and flown by USAAC prior to World War II (1939-1945).

Specification

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