Dive Brakes

Dive Brakes in Abstract, Northrop A-17A attack aircraft.
Another image from our visit to the National Museum of the USAF during the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve 2004. The undercarriage of this particular aircraft was illuminated with red and blue lights.

The A-17 series was a direct descendent of the pace setting Northrop "Gamma", made famous by the aerial explorer Lincoln Ellsworth. It replaced the Curtiss A-8 and A-12 Shrike and was the last of the pre-war single-engine attack aircraft ordered into production by the Army Air Corps.

Caught in the pre-World War II doctrine that emphasized air superiority over ground support, the A-17 was never fully tested in peacetime exercises or in combat. Its fate was sealed in 1938 when the Army Air Corps determined that all future attack aircraft procured would be multi-engine models.

Despite this handicap, the A-17's design and novel features such as split perforated flaps figured prominently in the success of a distinguished line of Douglas aircraft including the Dauntless dive bomber and the post World War II Skyraider.

The first 109 production A-17s featured fixed, partially enclosed landing gear. One hundred and twenty nine A-17As configured with fully retractable landing gear and a more powerful engine followed between February 1937 and August 1938.

The A-17A could lift over one ton of bombs. The bombs were carried on four external racks and in an internal bomb bay that featured vertical chutes, which held up to twenty 30 lb. fragmentation bombs. In addition to the bombs, the A-17A was armed with four forward firing .30-caliber machine guns for strafing, and one flexible mounted .30-caliber gun in the rear cockpit for self-defense.

A-17As saw unit service for less than four years. In June 1940, all but 20 A-17As were sold overseas. The remaining Army Air Forces A-17 and A-17As were used as advanced trainers and squadron support aircraft, most ending up as ground maintenance trainers. The last A-17A was written off of Army Air Forces records in early 1945.

The aircraft on display, Air Corps serial number 36-207, is the only A-17 series aircraft known to exist. It was delivered to the Air Corps and assigned to Barksdale Field, Bossier City, Louisiana on 25 June 1937.

Following a brief stay at Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas, the aircraft was assigned in April, 1940 to Bolling Field, District of Columbia, and also served as a support aircraft for US Military attachés in Honduras, Guatemala and Haiti. The aircraft was dropped from Army Air Forces records in January 1945.

The aircraft, put on display in early 2000, is marked in the colors of the 90th Attack Squadron, 3rd Attack Group, at Barksdale Field in June, 1938.

SPECIFICATIONS
Span: 47 ft. 9 in.
Length: 31 ft. 8 in.
Height: 9 ft. 3 in.
Weight: 7,543 lbs. maximum
Armament: Four fixed and one flexible mount .30-cal machine guns, and up to 1,100 lbs. of bombs
Engine: One Pratt & Whitney R-1535-13 of 825 hp.
Crew: Two - Pilot and Gunner
Cost: $26,000
Serial Number: 36-207

PERFORMANCE
Maximum speed: 220 mph
Cruising speed: 170 mph
Range: 732 miles
Service Ceiling: 19,400 ft.