The Naval Aircraft Factory SBN was a

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

three-seat mid-wing

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

scout bomber/torpedo aircraft designed by the

Brewster Aeronautical Corporation The Brewster Aeronautical Corporation was an American defense contractor that was founded in 1932, with a focus on naval aircraft. Fraught with fraud, mismanagement and inefficient production, the United States Navy eventually stepped in to take ...

and built under license by the

Naval Aircraft Factory The Naval Aircraft Factory (NAF) was established by the United States Navy in 1918 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was created to help solve aircraft supply issues which the United States Department of the Navy, Navy Department faced upon the ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. The

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...

was similar to that on the

Brewster F2A Buffalo The Brewster F2A Buffalo is an American fighter aircraft which saw service early in World War II. Designed and built by the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation, it was one of the first U.S. monoplanes with an arrestor hook and other modificatio ...

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 ...

. The SBN had non-folding wings with perforated

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Development

The United States Navy issued specifications for a scout bomber in 1934 and Brewster won the competition. The Navy ordered one prototype, designated the XSBA-1, on 15 October 1934. It was a two-seat, single-engine

with retractable

and an internal bomb bay that could accommodate a 500-pound (227-kg) bomb. The crewman in the rear seat was armed with a flexible machine gun. The prototype XSBA-1 first flew on 15 April 1936,Swanborough and Bowers 1976, p.417. and was delivered to the Navy for testing. With a Wright R-1820-4 Cyclone 770-

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are t ...

(570-

kilowatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

) engine, it achieved a top speed of 254 mph (409 km/h), with an estimated range of 1,000 miles at cruising speed. Some minor problems were found during testing and less than a year after its first flight, the aircraft was given a revised tail and rudder and a more powerful Wright R-1820-22 Cyclone 950-

(710-

) engine, with which it reached a top speed of 263 mph (424 km/h). At the time, it was believed to be the fastest single-engine bomber in the world. Because of the pressures of developing and producing the

fighter, Brewster was unable to manufacture any production models of the XSBA-1, and the Navy acquired a license to produce the aircraft itself at the Naval Aircraft Factory. In September 1938, the Navy placed an order for 30 production aircraft. Due to pressures of work at the NAF, it did not deliver the first aircraft, now designated the SBN, until November 1940; the remaining aircraft were delivered between June 1941 and March 1942.

Operational history

Most of the SBNs were delivered to Bombing Squadron 3 (VB-3) aboard the

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 ...

. Obsolete before their delivery in 1941, some of the early production aircraft were used for carrier operations trials with Torpedo Squadron Eight (VT-8) in 1941 and then passed on for use as trainers aboard the aircraft carrier . None of the SBNs saw combat. With a lack of spare parts, the aircraft were withdrawn from service in August 1942.

Variants

;XSBA-1 :Brewster-built prototype, one built (Bu9726). ;SBN-1 :Naval Aircraft Factory license-built production aircraft, 30 built (Bu1522/1551).

Operators

* :

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 ...

Specifications (SBN-1)

References

*Swanborough, Gordon and Peter M. Bowers. ''United States Navy Aircraft since 1911''. London: Putnam, Second edition 1976. . *Andrade, John M. . ''U.S Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909''. Leicester : Midland Counties Publications, First edition 1979. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Naval Aircraft Factory Sbn SB01A SBN SBN Mid-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Single-engined piston aircraft Aircraft with retractable conventional landing gear Carrier-based aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1936

Development

Operational history

Variants

Operators

Specifications (SBN-1)

See also

References