The Boeing F3B was a

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

fighter and

fighter bomber A fighter-bomber is a fighter aircraft that has been modified, or used primarily, as a light bomber or attack aircraft. It differs from bomber and attack aircraft primarily in its origins, as a fighter that has been adapted into other roles, wh ...

that served with the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

from 1928 into the early 1930s.

Design and development

Designed by the company as its Model 74, the plane was an incremental improvement over the F2B. The Navy-designated prototype XF3B-1 still had the tapered wings of the F2B for instance, but was built as a single-float

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...

using the FB-5 undercarriage. However, the growing use of

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

s took away most of the need for floating fighters, and by the time other test results had been taken into account, the production F3B-1 (Model 77) had a larger upper wing that was slightly swept back and a redesigned tail with surfaces made from corrugated aluminum.Jones 1977, pp. 60–62. It also eliminated the spreader bar arrangement of the undercarriage and revised the vertical tail shape.Eden and Moeng 2002, p. 319.

Operational history

It first flew on 3 February 1928, turning in a respectable performance and garnering Boeing a contract for 73 more. F3Bs served as

fighter-bomber A fighter-bomber is a fighter aircraft that has been modified, or used primarily, as a light bomber or attack aircraft. It differs from bomber and attack aircraft primarily in its origins, as a fighter that has been adapted into other roles, wh ...

s for some four years with the squadrons VF-2B aboard , VB-2B aboard (later VF-6B), and VB-1B on ,Swanborough and Bowers 1976, p. 61. during which period some were fitted with

Townend ring A Townend ring is a narrow-chord (aircraft), chord cowling ring fitted around the cylinders of an aircraft radial engine to reduce drag and improve cooling. It was patented in 1929, and found use on various aircraft of the 1930s and into the 1940s ...

s and others with streamlined wheel fairings. The aircraft remained in first-line service to 1932 and were then retained as "hacks" (command and staff transports) for several more years.

Variants

;XF3B-1:(Model 74) One prototype serial number A7674 ;F3B-1:(Model 77) Single-seat fighter biplane for the US Navy, 73 aircraft serial numbers A7675-A7691; A7708-A7763

Operators

; *

Specifications (F3B-1)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Eden, Paul and Soph Moeng, eds. ''The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft''. London: Amber Books, 2002. . * Jones, Lloyd S. ''U.S. Naval Fighters.'' Fallbrook, California: Aero Publishers, 1977. . * Swanborough, Gordon and Peter M. Bowers. ''United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911.'' Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1976. .

External links

Boeing F3B-1s on carrier deck
* {{USN fighters Boeing F3B F3B Carrier-based aircraft Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1928 Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear