XP-37

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Fri Oct 12, 2007 9:22 pm

Ladd Field, AK NA caption said 1940 but shouldn't that be earlier??

daveymac82c · **Posted:** Fri Oct 12, 2007 10:01 pm

As much as it isn't, it sure looks like a Yak of some sort.

Cool pic Jack.

Cheers,

David

Mgawa · **Posted:** Sat Oct 13, 2007 12:55 am

Great image Jack

Do you have any more info? here it is something from my hard...

6trn4brn · **Posted:** Sat Oct 13, 2007 6:13 am

WOW! Can you say way in the back seat driver boys and girls???

Sure is a pretty bird though...thanks Jack.

Warbird Mechanic · **Posted:** Sun Oct 14, 2007 7:55 pm

The XP-37 was the Curtiss Aircraft Company's attempt to keep their foot in the door for the next round of fighter contracts in the late 1930's. With the XP-37, Curtiss adapted their P-36 airframe to the Allison V-1710-11 engine. Its long, pointed fuselage with the cockpit just ahead of the tail fin gave it a futuristic appearence. The radiator for cooling the Prestone was located behind the supercharged Allison engine, thus necessitating the relocation of the cockpit to the rear. This arrangement was very unpopular with the pilots because of the poor visibility over that long nose, thus making taxiing the aircraft on the ground tricky. During testing, the performance of the turbo supercharger was proven to be unsatisfactory, even though the aircraft achieved its guarenteed 340 mph at 20,000 feet when all systems were functiuoning properly. The Army none the less ordered 13 YP-37's for service testing purposes. The YP-37's were approximately 450 pounds heavier than the XP-37 was. They were slower by as much as 9 mph from the 340 mph top speed the XP-37 had achieved. The YP-37 fuselages were 22 inches longer than the X model, the cockpit was moved forward a bit, and the radiator and supercharger were modified, but its performance still fell short of the Army's need for an inline fighter. Armanment was one .30 cal. and one .50 cal. in the nose. Service ceiling was 34,000 feet and range was 870 miles.

Jim

Canso42 · **Posted:** Sun Oct 14, 2007 8:04 pm

Boy, the obscure warbird club is alive and well this week. lol

Canso42

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Sun Oct 14, 2007 8:10 pm

If I remember correctly the pilot for the first flight was Tommy Tomlinson
who also made the first flights in the NA-21, BC-1, DC-2/3 (co-pilot) and
Constallation (co-pilot?) among the zillion of other things he did.

sdennison · **Posted:** Sun Oct 14, 2007 8:38 pm

So, how do you suppose the visibility is over the nose of that beauty? :shock:

I'd guess the tail seat doesn't need to move too far off of center to see around the prop. :wink:

airnutz · **Posted:** Sun Oct 14, 2007 9:34 pm

I've figured Victor Stanzel gained inspiration from the XP-37 when he designed the
Sky Shark and the later Tiger Shark. The Sky Shark was the worlds first control-line
model airplane in 1938.

There is a great museum dedicated to the works of Victor and Joe in Schulenburg, Texas
just off the main drag south of I-10..I need to go back sometime. They opened a new
factory wing in 2005, which I'd like to see. A nice break from the monotenous
drive to San Antonio.

A couple of small pics of the Sky Shark on the museum webpage for comparison to the P-37..
www.stanzelmuseum.org/index.html

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Sun Oct 14, 2007 9:39 pm

A couple of shots from Tulio.................

Tulio · **Joined:** Mon May 03, 2004 1:05 am **Posts:** 3236

Jack, thank you for uploading the photos.

A few weeks ago in Wichita, KS, I acquired four photo-album pages, with aircraft photos.

These two (plus one other photo) were on a half-thorn page, and hand-written in black ink, the following:

Arrived Buffalo 12/13/36
Job hunting 12/14/36
Started at Curtiss 12/15 . . .

Work bench in old lo . . .

The XP-37

<----- Forbidden! ----->

"Forbidden" is written between the two shots that Jack uploaded for me.

No idea what the guy's name was.

Saludos,

Tulio

CWBuff · **Joined:** Tue Jul 19, 2005 1:14 am **Posts:** 854

The ship in the first photo in this thread is a YP-37, not the XP-37. I don't know offhand the exact time period
during which the YP-37 underwent cold-weather trials, but the first YP-37 flew in June of 1939... so the year given for
the photo (1940) is quite probable.

----------------------------------

Tulio... very nice photos! Thanks for making them available to us. I have to wonder if my Grandfather was
at Curtiss at this time... I'm sure that he was involved with the P-37, but I don't know if he was with the company
from the beginning of that program or if he came in during production of the YP-37.

Really wish I had more info about his time at Curtiss...

Fade to Black...

Tulio · **Joined:** Mon May 03, 2004 1:05 am **Posts:** 3236

My pleasure : )

Saludos,

Tulio

Mgawa · **Posted:** Tue Oct 16, 2007 3:42 am

Where is taken Tulio images?

Tulio · **Joined:** Mon May 03, 2004 1:05 am **Posts:** 3236

Mgawa wrote:

Where is taken Tulio images?

"Arrived Buffalo 12/13/36

Job hunting 12/14/36
Started at Curtiss 12/15 . . . "

Curtiss Aircraft factory, Buffalo, NY

Saludos,

Tulio

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