Fokker XB-8

 

During assembly, the second prototype XO-27 was converted to a bomber prototype, dubbed the XB-8. While the XB-8 was much faster than existing biplane bombers, it did not have the bomb capacity to be considered for production. Two YB-8s and 4 Y1B-8s were ordered, but these were changed mid-production to Y1O-27 configuration.

The wing of the XB-8 and XO-27 was built entirely from wood, although the fuselage was constructed of steel tubes covered with fabric with the exception of the nose which had a corrugated metal.^[1] They featured the first retractable landing gear ever fitted to an Army Air Corps bomber or observation craft. The undercarriage retracted electrically. The crew was three in tandem position.^[1]

It competed against the Douglas Y1B-7/XO-36. Both promised to greatly exceed the performance of the large biplane bombers then used by the Army Air Corps. However, the Douglas XB-7 was markedly better in performance than the XB-8, and no further versions of Fokker's aircraft were built.

  United States

• United States Army Air Corps

Data from Fokker's Twilight.^[2]

General characteristics

• Crew: 4
• Length: 47 ft 4 in (14.42 m)
• Wingspan: 64 ft 4 in (19.60 m)
• Height: 11 ft 6 in (3.50 m)
• Wing area: 619 sq ft (57.5 m²)
• Empty weight: 6,861 lb (3,112 kg)
• Gross weight: 10,650 lb (4,824 kg)
• Powerplant: 2 × Curtiss V-1570-23 "Conqueror" V12 engines, 600 hp (450 kW) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 160 mph (260 km/h, 140 kn)

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• Douglas Y1B-7

Related lists

• List of bomber aircraft
• List of military aircraft of the United States

• Cellier, Alfred (23 August 1934). "American Military Monoplanes". Flight. Vol. XXVI, no. 1339. pp. 862–865. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
• Pelletier, Alain J. "Fokker Twilight". Air Enthusiast, No. 117, May/June 2005, pp. 62–66. ISSN 0143-5450.
• Wagner, Ray. American Combat Planes. New York: Doubleday, 1982. ISBN 0-930083-17-2.

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fokker XB-8.

• O-27 USAAS 1000 Aircraft Photos^{[permanent dead link‍]}
• Army's Mystery Plane Passes Speed Test – Popular Science
• Atlantic (Fokker) XB-8 – National Museum of the US Air Force