__NOTOC__ The Engineering Division TP-1 was a two-seat biplane fighter designed by Alfred V. Verville and Virginius E. Clark at the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

Engineering Division The Engineering Division was a division of the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps in the United States Department of War. It was formed on 31 August 1918, under the direction of Lt Col Jesse G. Vincent, to study and design American versions of f ...

. A second aircraft was completed as an observation biplane and designated the Engineering Division XCO-5.

Development

The prototype TP-1 was built as the XTP-1 and tested at McCook Field in 1923. A biplane, the upper wing had a smaller span and narrower chord than the lower wing. The XTP-1 was armed with five

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifl ...

s and fitted with a

Liberty 12 The Liberty L-12 is an American water-cooled 45° V-12 aircraft engine displacing and making designed for a high power-to-weight ratio and ease of mass production. It saw wide use in aero applications, and, once marinized, in marine use both ...

engine. A second prototype was completed as an observation/reconnaissance aircraft with the designation XCO-5. The XCO5 needed a high-lift wing suitable for high-altitude work. New wings were prepared. The aerofoil was Joukowsky StAe-27A, a heavily cambered wingshape with a thick leading edge. The upper and lower wings had a pronounced stagger, with a total wing area of 600 ft². As well as lining and insulating the cockpit, heat was taken from the engine exhaust. A cover over the top of the cockpit kept the heat in; a clear panel in the cover allowed the pilot to see his instruments.''Flight'' p68

Operational history

On October 10, 1928, Bill Streett and

Albert William Stevens Albert William Stevens (March 13, 1886 – March 26, 1949) was an officer of the United States Army Air Corps, balloonist, and aerial photographer. Biography He was born on March 13, 1886 in Belfast, Maine. He graduated from the Un ...

achieved an unofficial altitude record in the XCO-5 for aircraft carrying more than one person: ; less than short of the official single-person altitude record. At that height they measured a temperature of , cold enough to freeze the aircraft controls. With frozen controls, Streett was unable to reduce altitude or to turn off the engine until some 20 minutes later when it ran out of fuel, after which he piloted the fragile experimental biplane down in a gentle glide and made a

deadstick landing A deadstick landing, also called a dead-stick landing, is a type of forced landing when an aircraft loses all of its propulsive power and is forced to land. The "stick" does not refer to the flight controls, which in most aircraft are either ful ...

Variants

;TP-1 :Two-seat pursuit fighter prototype, one built. ;XCO-5 :Observation variant of the TP-1, one built.

Operators

; *

Specifications

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Engineering Division TP-1 1920s United States fighter aircraft TP-1 Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes