LF7270 CURTISS XP-31

The Curtiss XP-31 Swift was an American experimental fighter aircraft from the interwar period. A prototype flight took place in 1932, but the machine never entered mass production. The plane was 8 meters long, with a maximum wingspan of 10.97 meters. The drive was provided by a single Curtiss V-1570 engine with 600 hp. The maximum speed oscillated around 335 km / h, with a flight range of about 600 kilometers. The deck armament consisted of four 7.62 mm Browning M1919 machine guns. The XP-31 Swift was developed at the Curtiss Airplane and Motor Company as part of a competition announced by the US Air Force for a new fighter plane. It was assumed that the new aircraft would be a monoplane structure with a solid undercarriage in a classic layout, with a metal structure. The Curtiss XP-31 Swift also offered a closed pilot's cabin, which improved the aerodynamics of the plane in flight. The machine, although it constituted a fairly important stage in the development of the Curtiss company and the acquisition of new design competences, lost the competition with the Boeing P-26 fighter, from which its performance was significantly worse.