LARGEST BOMBER

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 18, 22 January 1937, Page 7

LARGEST BOMBER

TESTED IN U.S.A. , A sixteen-ton Boeing bomber, described by its makers as the fastest and longest ranged aircraft of its type in the world, made a successful test flight at Seattle on December 2, reports the "New York Times." Designated as the YB-17, the aeroplane, equipped with four 1000-horse-power engines, was manned by four Air .Corps officials of the army and a mechanic. At the controls was Major John D. Corkille, a veteran test pilot. Lieutenant Leonard F. Harman was the observer. Captain Stanley M. Umstead and Captain E. R. Mcßeynolds were the other officers, and Roy Grooms was the mechanic. • After running about half the length of Goeing Field, the ship rose easily from the ground, and was'about 150 feet high when it cleared ,the'.south boundary of the airport. An hour later it returned and landed easily. Tha pilots said they had flown over Puget Sound and Seattle' at about 6000 f#et. The ship has been built to carry * ton of bombs , and fly 3000! miles nonstop. It is .the first of; thirteen similar ships ordered by the army to be constructed. It has 1000 more horse-power than (its predecessor, which had four 75-horse-power Pratt-Whitney radial _ engines. The new bomber has Wright Cyclone engines. Engineers believe that the new ship's speed will surpass that of its predecessor, which travelled ' non-stop from ! Seattle to Dayton, Ohio; at an average speed of 232 miles an hour. The YB-17, has five machine-gun turrets and carries its bombs in the fuselage, whence they can be dropped through trap-doors. The ship has a wingspread of K)5 feet,.is.,7o feet long, arid 15 feet high. ■ •