The Lockheed-Detroit YP-24 was a 1930s prototype two-seat

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft (early on also ''pursuit aircraft'') are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air supremacy, air superiority of the battlespace. Domina ...

produced by Detroit Lockheed. An attack version called the A-9 was also proposed. The YP-24 is most notable for being the first fighter aircraft to bear the Lockheed name.

Design and development

In 1930,

Detroit Aircraft Corporation The Detroit Aircraft Corporation was incorporated in Detroit, Michigan on July 10, 1922, as the Aircraft Development Corporation. The name was changed in 1929. The Detroit corporation owned the entire capital stock of the Ryan Aircraft Corp., Air ...

undertook a private venture to develop a new fighter ("pursuit aircraft" in contemporary terminology) for

US 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 ...

based on the successful

Lockheed Altair The Lockheed Altair was a single-engined sport aircraft produced by Lockheed Aircraft Limited in the 1930s. It was a development of the Lockheed Sirius with a retractable undercarriage, and was the first Lockheed aircraft and one of the first a ...

transport plane. Designed by Robert J. Woods, the aircraft was completed in 1931 with Detroit Aircraft fabricating the metal fuselage and Lockheed providing the wooden wings, essentially identical to the Altair.

Wright Field Wilbur Wright Field was a military installation and an airfield used as a World War I pilot, mechanic, and armorer training facility and, under different designations, conducted United States Army Air Corps and Air Forces flight testing. Loc ...

assigned the prototype the designation XP-900.

Vance Breese Vance Breese (1904–1973) was an American aviation engineer and test pilot. Early years Vance Breese was born in Keystone, Washington, on April 20, 1904. His education, in his own words was: "various engineering extension courses." More than a ...

was hired to be the chief test pilot for the project. The aircraft was purchased by USAAC in September 1931 and redesignated YP-24, serial number ''32-320''. Early testing was sufficiently impressive to generate an order for five Y1P-24 fighters and four Y1A-9 attack aircraft intended to replace the Berliner-Joyce P-16. The A-9 differed in having four forward-firing machine guns, underwing racks for bombs, and a V-1570-27 engine better low-altitude performance.

Operational history

On 19 October 1931, the sole aircraft crashed. The aircraft had a partially stuck landing gear, and Wright Field pilots painted messages on the side of their P-12D and O-25C aircraft, indicating to test pilot Lt. Harrison Crocker to bail out. Shortly after, in October 1931, events in the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

forced Detroit Aircraft into

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

with Lockheed following suit in June 1932. Although Lockheed was resuscitated by a group of investors only five days after it closed doors, the financial hardships had taken their toll and the P-24/A-9 project was cancelled with no aircraft built beyond the original prototype. Four pre-production Y1P-24s, ''32-321/324'', were cancelled.Andrade 1979, p. 144. However, after Robert Woods left Detroit Aircraft for

Consolidated Aircraft The Consolidated Aircraft Corporation was founded in 1923 in aviation, 1923 by Reuben H. Fleet in Buffalo, New York, the result of the Gallaudet Aircraft Company's liquidation and Fleet's purchase of designs from the Dayton-Wright Company as the ...

, he continued to develop the YP-24/A-9 concept into the Consolidated Y1P-25/Y1A-11 which eventually entered service as the

Consolidated P-30 The Consolidated P-30 (PB-2) was a 1930s United States two-seat fighter aircraft. An attack version called the A-11 was also built, along with 2 Y1P-25 prototypes and YP-27, Y1P-28, and XP-33 proposals. The P-30 is significant for being the firs ...

Specifications (YP-24)

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Andrade, John M. ''U.S. Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909''. Earl Shilton, Leicester, UK: Midland Counties Publications, 1979. . * Bowers, Peter M. and Enzo Angellucci. ''The American Fighter''. New York: Orion Books, 1987. . * Francillon, René J. ''Lockheed Aircraft Since 1913''. London: Putnam, 1982. . * Francillon, René J. ''Lockheed Aircraft Since 1913''. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987. . * Swanborough, Gordon and Peter M. Bowers. ''United States Military Aircraft Since 1909''. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Publications, 1989. .

External links

USAF Museum page on P-24/A-9
{{Wright Field project numbers Detroit Aircraft Corporation aircraft Lockheed P-24 Lockheed P-24 Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1931 Aircraft with retractable conventional landing gear Single-engined piston aircraft