Full Description
The Northrop Corporation offered the single engined Gamma 2F attack plane to the US Army Air Corps in October 1934. After modification work this type evolved into the highly innovative A-17 attack aircraft of which 110 aircraft were ordered. Northrop integrated all modern aircraft technologies of the day, such as all metal monocoque construction, two pitch propeller, flaps and dive brakes into the design, combined with forward firing machine guns fitted in the wings, a respectable bomb load, high speeds and admirable flying range. It eclipsed all other attack types then in service.
This book offers an overview of an iconic aeroplane. The authors, all specialists in their field, have compiled a comprehensive story and gathered more than 350 photographs, colour profiles and maps, thus offering a fascinating view at an aircraft type linking the 'Golden Age of aviation' days with the dark years of World War Two.
Contents
Jack Northrop's early aircraft: About Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta, A-17 in US Air Corps Service, 1939 - a year of steady decline, Secretive transfer of aircraft, Panama Canal Zone, Puerto Rico, The A-33, Failed Export to France, Transfer to South Africa, Canada, Export Success, Sweden, Northrop 8A-2 in Argentina, Douglas 8A-3Pin Peruvian service, Douglas 8A-3N for the Dutch "Militaire Luchtvaart", Iraqi airforce, Sources.
