A8V1 / AT-12 | |
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A8V1 "Shiokaze-go" used by The Asahi Shimbun Newspaper company | |
Role | FighterType of aircraft |
National origin | United States |
Manufacturer | Seversky |
First flight | 15 August 1935 |
Introduction | 1937 |
Retired | September 1952 (Sweden) |
Primary users | Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service United States Army Air Corps Swedish Air Force |
Number built | 70 |
Developed from | Seversky P-35 |
The A8V1 Type S Two Seat Fighter was an aircraft operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service.
Design and development
The origins of the Seversky P-35 single-seat fighter trace back to the Seversky SEV-3 amphibian, which was developed into the Seversky BT-8 basic trainer. Seversky's chief designer, Alexander Kartveli, also proposed a two-seat fighter derivative, the SEV-2XP. This was powered by a 735 hp (548 kW) Wright R-1670 radial engine. It had fixed landing gear in aerodynamic spats and was armed with one 0.50 in (12.70 mm) and one 0.30 in (7.62 mm) forward-firing machine guns plus an additional 0.30 in (7.62 mm) machine gun for rear defence.
When the USAAC announced a competition for a new single-seat fighter in 1935, Seversky sent the SEV-2XP, confident it would win despite being a two-seater. However, the aircraft was damaged on 18 June 1935 during its transit to the fly-offs at Wright Field. The Air Corps delayed the fly-off until March 1936, which allowed Seversky time to rework the fighter into the single-seat SEV-1XP with retractable landing gear and re-engined with the Wright R-1820 radial.
In what proved to be an unpopular move for Seversky, twenty 2PA-B3s were sold to the Japanese Navy, which briefly employed them in the Second Sino-Japanese War as Navy Type S Two-Seat Fighter or A8V1 (Allied codename "Dick").
Two demonstrators ended up in the USSR; although a manufacturing licence was also bought, the Soviets undertook no production.
Sweden ordered 52 2PAs (known as the B 6), but only two were delivered before the remaining 50 were impounded in 1940 and put into service with the USAAC as the AT-12 Guardsman advanced trainer. On 18 June 1940, United States declared an embargo against exporting weapons to any nation other than the United Kingdom.
Variants
- 2PA
- Two-seat version of Seversky P-35 with rear gunner.
- 2PA-202 - European demonstrator (1)
- 2PA-A - for USSR (1)
- 2PA-B - European demonstrator (1)
- 2PA-BX - European demonstrator (1)
- 2PA-B3 - 20 production aircraft for Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service as Seversky A8V1.
- 2PA-L - for USSR (1)
- A8V1 "Dick"
- Japanese designation for 2PA-B3 (and U.S. codename).
- B 6
- Swedish designation of the 2PA (only 2 delivered, see below).
- AT-12 Guardsman
- Two-seat advanced trainer for the USAAF (50 2PA ordered by Sweden, but impounded).
Operators
Specifications (A8V1)
Data from
General characteristics
- Crew: two
- Length: 26 ft 11 in (8.2 m)
- Wingspan: 36 ft 0 in (10.97 m)
- Height: 9 ft 10 in (2.99 m)
- Wing area: 220.0 sq ft (20.44 m)
- Empty weight: 4,581 lb (2,078 kg)
- Gross weight: 7,659 lb (3,474 kg)
- Powerplant: 1 × Wright R-1820 Cyclone radial piston engine, 1,000 hp (750 kW)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 316 mph (508 km/h, 274 kn)
- Range: 1,950 mi (3,138 km, 1,694 nmi)
- Service ceiling: 30,000 ft (9,100 m)
See also
Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
References
- Notes
- Green 1961
- Jane's All the World's Aircraft, 1938 edition
- Bibliography
- Davis Larry. P-35: Mini in Action (Mini Number 1). Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1994. ISBN 0-89747-321-3.
- Fitzsimmons, Bernard. The Illustrated International Aircraft Guide Fighters of WWII, Part IX. London: MacDonald Phoebus Ltd., 1981.
- Green, William. War Planes of the Second World War, Volume Four: Fighters. London: Macdonald & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., 1961 (Sixth impression 1969). ISBN 0-356-01448-7.
- Hucker, Robert. "Seversky: Innovator and Prophet." Air Classics, 20th Anniversary Special Edition 1964–1984, 1984.
- United States Air Force Museum Guidebook. Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio: Air Force Museum Foundation, 1975.
External links
- Seversky P-35 – National Museum of the United States Air Force
- Information about all models and survivors of this series. Also information about new replicas to be built by VCS.
Republic and Seversky aircraft | |||||||||
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Seversky aircraft | |||||||||
Republic aircraft |
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Names | |||||||||
Project numbers |
United States trainer aircraft designations, Army/Air Force and Tri-Service systems | |||||
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Advanced trainer (1925–1948) | |||||
Basic combat (1936–1940) | |||||
Basic trainer (1930–1948) | |||||
Primary trainer (1924–1948) | |||||
Main sequence (1948–present) |
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Alternate sequences |
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Not assigned • Assigned to multiple types |
Swedish military aircraft designations 1926–current | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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By role |
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Post–1940 unified sequence | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italics Pre-unification designations • Assigned to multiple types • Not unified with main sequence |
Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft designations (short system) | |
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Fighters (A) | |
Torpedo bombers (B) | |
Shipboard reconnaissance (C) | |
Dive bombers (D) | |
Reconnaissance seaplanes (E) | |
Observation seaplanes (F) | |
Land-based bombers (G) | |
Flying Boats (H) | |
Land-based Fighters (J) | |
Trainers (K) | |
Transports (L) | |
Special-purpose (M) | |
Floatplane fighters (N) | |
Land-based bombers (P) | |
Patrol (Q) | |
Land-based reconnaissance (R) | |
Night fighters (S) | |
X as second letter is for experimental aircraft or imported technology demonstrators not intended for service, Hyphenated trailing letter (-J, -K, -L, -N or -S) denotes design modified for secondary role, Possibly incorrect designation, but used in many sources |
World War II Allied reporting names for Japanese aircraft | |
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Aircraft in Japanese service |
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Foreign aircraft thought to be in Japanese service |