The Boeing Company, whose B-9 all-metal, low-wing, two-engined bomber had proved sensational in 1932, produced the answer to the Army’s problem of 1935. The answer was the giant four-engined model 299, America’s first four-engined bomber. It was a mid-wing, all-metal monoplane with a wingspan of 104 feet. With a top speed of over 250 miles per hour its performance was more than sensational.
The pioneering of unusual airplanes like the Monomail, the B-9, and the 247 transport were steps toward the Boeing 299. It was a courageous step from two-engined to four-engined bombers, but the Boeing Company made it so successfully that almost instantly the United States Army Air Corps won world leadership in long-range, heavy bombardment aviation.
The exceptional speed, range, armament, and bomb capacity of the 299 quickly resulted in the dramatic name Flying Fortress. As the B-17 it flew across the country at 232 miles per hour. In 1938, six B-17 Flying Fortresses set unofficial world records for speed and range in a mass flight from Langley Field, Virginia, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and return.
NAVAL AVIATION
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From 1930 to 1940 the small but efficient air arm of the United States Navy continued to make progress. Since the introduction of the radial engine, the Navy had worked closely with manufacturers of this type of power plant. All types of Navy airplanes were powered with either Wright or Pratt & Whitney air-cooled, radial engines. Many problems peculiar to naval aircraft were worked out through the close co-operation of Navy technicians and manufacturers. Corrosion-resistant metals were developed for cylinders. Stronger engine parts were introduced to withstand the stress of dive-bombing. Continual progress was made in increasing the power of the engine without increasing its weight per horsepower. Thus engine power increased from 200 horsepower in 1925 to 1,000 horsepower in 1940.
Naval aviators, encouraged by pioneer flying officers such as Jack Towers, Marc Mitscher, Reeves, Bellinger, Read, and others, flew continually to improve their flying and tactical techniques. They flight-tested experimental planes, invented and perfected the technique of dive-bombing, and improved their skill in the difficult task of carrier operations. A young lieutenant, Frank D. Wagner, who invented dive-bombing almost twenty years ago, a rear admiral in World War II, had the satisfaction of seeing his invention, at the peak of perfection, operating with deadly effect against our enemies in the Pacific. In fact, many of the young naval aviators who fifteen years before were conducting a continual competition to see whose squadron could excel the rest in flying, dive-bombing, and gunnery, commanded the greatest naval air force in the world.