Fokker XB-8

XB-8

Atlantic XB-8 prototype
Role	Bomber
Manufacturer	General Aviation Corporation.^[1]
Designer	Fokker
Primary user	United States Army Air Corps
Number built	7 (1 XB-8 + 2 YB-8 + 4 Y1B-8), all as Y1O-27
Developed from	Fokker O-27

The Fokker XB-8 was a bomber built for the United States Army Air Corps in the 1920s, derived from the high-speed Fokker O-27 observation aircraft.

Design and development

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. Crew was three in tandem position.^[1]

Operational history

It competed against a design submitted by Douglas Aircraft Company, the 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.

Operators

United States

United States Army Air Corps

Specifications (XB-8)

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 ft² (57.5 m²)
Empty weight: 6,861 lb (3,112 kg)
Loaded 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 (140 kn, 260 km/h)

References

Notes

1 2 3 Cellier, Alfred (23 August 1934), "American Military Monoplanes", Flight, p. 864
↑ Pelletier 2005, p. 64.

Bibliography

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.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fokker military aircraft.

Aircraft produced by Fokker

Company designations
pre-1918

M.1 M.2 M.3 M.4 M.5 M.6 M.7 M.8 M.9 M.10 M.14 M.15 M.16 M.17 M.18 M.19 M.21 M.22

V.1 V.2 V.3 V.4 V.5 V.6 V.7 V.8 V.9 V.10 V.11 V.12 V.13 V.14 V.16 V.17 V.18 V.20 V.21 V.22 V.23 V.24 V.25 V.26 V.27 V.28 V.29 V.30 V.31 V.33 V.34 V.35 V.36 V.37 V.38 V.39 V.40 V.41 V.43 V.45

Austro-Hungarian
military designations

German military
designations

A.I A.II A.III

C.I

D.I D.II D.III D.IV D.V D.VI D.VII D.VIII

Dr.I

E.I E.II E.III E.IV E.V

F.I

K.I

Company designations
post-1918

continuing
German military
designations:

B.I B.II B.IIII B.IV B.V

C.II C.III C.IV C.V C.VI C.VII C.VIII C.IX C.X C.XI C.XIV C.XV

D.IX D.X D.XI D.XII D.XIII D.XIV D.XVI D.XVII D.XXI D.XXIII

DC.I

F.II F.III F.IV F.V F.VI F.VII F.VIII F.IX F.X F.XI F.XII F.XIV F.XVIII F.XX F.XXII F.XXIV F.25 F26 F27 F28 F.29

FG.I FG.II FG.III FG.IV

G.I

S.I S.II S.III S.IV S.IX S-11 S-12 S-13 S-14

T.II T.III T.IV T.V T.VIII T.IX

based on
seating:

Fokker America

United States
military designations

Observation:	AO-1 CO-4 XO-27

Transports:	T-2 C-2 C-5 C-7 C-14 C-15 C-16 C-20 C-31 RA

Bombers:	XLB-2 XB-8 FT-1 FT-2

Attack:	XA-7

Fighters:	PW-5 PW-6 PW-7

Ambulance:	A-2

Trainer:	TW-4

USAAS/USAAC/USAAF/USAF bomber designations, Army/Air Force and Tri-Service systems

Original sequences
(1924-1930)

Light Bomber	LB-1 LB-2 LB-3 LB-4 LB-5 LB-6 LB-7 LB-8 LB-9 LB-10 LB-11 LB-12 LB-13 LB-14

Medium Bomber	B-1 B-2

Heavy Bomber	HB-1 HB-2 HB-3

Main sequence
(1930-1962)

B-1
B-2
B-3
B-4
B-5
B-6
B-7
B-8
B-9
B-10
B-11
B-12
B-13
B-14
B-15
B-16
B-17
B-18
B-19
B-20
B-21
B-22
B-23
B-24
B-25
B-26
B-27
B-28
B-29
B-30
B-31
B-32
B-33
B-34
B-35
B-36
B-37
B-38
B-39
B-40
B-41
B-42
B-43
B-44
B-45
B-46
B-47
B-48
B-49
B-50
B-51
B-52
B-53
B-54
B-55
B-56
B-57
B-58
B-59
B-60
B-61
B-62
B-63
B-64
B-65
B-66
B-67
B-68
RB-69
B-70
FB-111

Long-range Bomber
(1935-1936)

Non-sequential

Redesignated A-series	B-20 B-26

Tri-Service sequence
(1962-current)

See also: SR-71 (designation in bomber sequence)
2037 Bomber

USAAC/USAAF observation aircraft

Observation	O-1 O-2 O-3 O-4 O-5 O-6 O-7 O-8 O-9 O-10 O-11 O-12 O-13 O-14 O-15 O-16 O-17 O-18 O-19 O-20 O-21 O-22 O-23 O-24 O-25 O-26 O-27 O-28 O-29 O-30 O-31 O-32 O-33 O-34 O-35 O-36 O-37 O-38 O-39 O-40 O-41 O-42 O-43 O-44 O-45 O-46 O-47 O-48 O-49 O-50 YO-51 O-52 O-53 O-54 O-55 O-56 O-57 O-58 O-59 O-60 O-61 O-62 O-63

Observation Amphibian	OA-1 OA-2 OA-3 OA-4 OA-5 OA-6 OA-7 OA-8 OA-9 OA-10 OA-11 OA-12 OA-13 OA-14 OA-15 SA-16

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