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 two Y1P-25 prototypes and YP-27, Y1P-28, and XP-33 proposals.

The P-30 is significant for being the first fighter in United States Army Air Corps service to have retractable landing gear, an enclosed and heated cockpit for the pilot, and an exhaust driven turbo-supercharger for altitude operation.

Variants

Y1P-25

Further development of Lockheed YP-24 with all-metal wing,

600 horsepower (450 kW) Curtiss V-1570-27 Conqueror turbo-supercharged engine.

Two fixed forward firing .30 in machine guns and one flexibly mounted gun in rear cockpit, One built.

Y1A-11

Ground-attack version of Y1P-25.

Powered by an un-supercharged engine and armament of 4x forward firing .30 in guns in nose, one in rear cockpit and up to 400 lb (182 kg) of bombs.

P-30

Initial production batch for Army Air Corps.

675 horsepower (503 kW) Curtiss V-1570-57 turbo-supercharged engine, later redesignated PB-2.

A-11

Initial production ground-attack aircraft, with un-supercharged V-1570-59 engine.

P-30A

Main production fighter powered by 700 horsepower (520 kW) turbo-supercharged Curtiss V-1570-61 engine, redesignated PB-2A.

PB-2A Special

Seventh PB-2A modified to single-seat configuration.

Crashed during flight testing.

XP-33

Proposed version with 800 horsepower (600 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1830-1 Twin Wasp engine; unbuilt.

XA-11A

Conversion of A-11 as testbed for 1,000 horsepower (750 kW) Allison XV-1710-7.

Specifications

Crew

Two

Length

30 ft 0 in (9.14 m)

Wingspan

43 ft 11 in (13.38 m)

Height

8 ft 3 in (2.51 m)

Wing area

297 sq ft (27.6 m2)

Empty weight

4,306 lb (1,950 kg)

Gross weight

5,623 lb (2,556 kg)

Powerplant

1 × Curtiss V-1570-61 Conqueror liquid-cooled V12 engine, 700 hp (520 kW)

Performance

Maximum speed

275 mph (443 km/h, 239 kn) at 25,000 ft (7,620 m)

Cruise speed

215 mph (346 km/h, 187 kn) at 15,000 ft (4,600 m)

Range

508 mi (818 km, 442 nmi)

Service ceiling

28,000 ft (8,530 m)

Climb to 15,000 ft (4,600 m)

7 min 48 s

Armament

Guns

2 x 0.30 in (7.62 mm) machine guns firing through the propeller

1 x 0.30 in machine gun in the rear cockpit

Bombs

170 lb (80 kg) bombs.