MB-3A

Encyclopedia : M : MB : MB3 : MB-3A

The Thomas-Morse MB-3A was an open-cockpit bi-plane fighter primarily manufactured by the Boeing Company for the U.S. Army Air Service in 1922.

Developed in 1919 by the Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation of Ithaca, New York, the MB-3 fighter was based on the French Spad-7, with rights on the design held by the Air Service. Thomas-Morse produced fifty MB-3's for the Air Service and ten for the U.S. Marine Corps but were underbid by Boeing for contracts to deliver 200 additional planes, which Boeing designated the MB-3A. Boeing's mass production methods allowed it to profit while still charging a lower price (in the case of the MB-3A, $7,240 per copy), but was the beginning of the decline of Thomas-Morse. Boeing credits this contract with rescuing the company from financial difficulties following the cancellation of orders after World War I, and with being the impetus for its rise as a premier manufacturer of military aircraft.

The MB-3A was delivered to the Air Service beginning in 1922 and was its primary pursuit aircraft. The MB-3A was considered obsolete in 1925 and with the re-organization of the Air Service into the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1926, was replaced by the PW-8 and PW-9 fighters.

Specifications (MB-3A)

References

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.