Consolidated P-30

In 1931, the Detroit Aircraft Corporation, parent company of the Lockheed Aircraft Company, built a two-seat single-engined fighter aircraft based on the Lockheed Altair high-speed transport as a private venture. The prototype, the Detroit-Lockheed XP-900, flew in September 1931 and was purchased by the United States Army Air Corps as the Lockheed YP-24. It had impressive performance, being faster than any fighter then in service with the Air Corps, and an order for five Y1P-24 fighters and four Y1A-9 attack aircraft was placed for the new aircraft, despite the loss of the prototype on 19 October 1931. The Detroit Aircraft Corporation went into bankruptcy eight days later, however, leading to the cancellation of the contract. When the Detroit Aircraft Corporation failed, the chief designer of the YP-24, Robert J. Woods was hired by Consolidated Aircraft. First to fly was the Y1P-25, which was delivered to the Air Corps on 9 December 1932. It demonstrated promising performance, reaching a speed of at , but was destroyed in a crash on 13 January 1933, killing its pilot, Capt. Hugh M. Elmendorf (whose name was later given to Elmendorf Air Base in Alaska). The Y1A-11, armed with four forward-firing machine guns instead of the two of the Y1P-25 and racks for of bombs, was delivered to Wright Field on 5 January 1933. On 20 January 1933, the Y1A-11 disintegrated in midair, killing pilot Lt. Irvin A. Woodring. Despite the loss of both prototypes in a week, on 1 March 1933, the Air Corps placed an order for four P-30 fighters and four A-11 attack aircraft. These production variants differed from the prototypes in having stronger fuselages, simplified undercarriages and more powerful engines. ==Operational history==

The first P-30 was delivered in January 1934. Despite these concerns, on 6 December 1934, the U.S. Air Corps placed an order for a further 50 P-30As, with more powerful V-1570-61 engines driving a three-bladed variable-pitch propeller and with oxygen supplies for the crew. On 17 October 1936, a PB-2A flown by Lt. John M. Sterling won the Mitchell Trophy air race with a speed of . Since the PB-2A was one of the few aircraft at the time to have retractable landing gear, they were frequently damaged in "wheels-up" landings when the pilots forgot to extend the landing gear. One PB-2A was modified to a single-seat configuration as the PB-2A Special, to compete in a 1936 Air Corps competition for a new fighter to replace the Boeing P-26 Peashooter. It was larger and heavier than the other competitors and was much more expensive. It crashed during testing, with the Seversky P-35 being ordered into production. One A-11 was converted to the XA-11A testbed with the new Allison XV-1710-7 engine. ==Variants==

;Y1P-25 :Further development of Lockheed YP-24 with all-metal wing, Curtiss V-1570-27 Conqueror turbo-supercharged engine. Two fixed forward firing .30 in machine guns and one flexibly mounted gun in rear cockpit. One built. ;Y1P-28 :Proposed variant of Y1P-25 with a R-1340-19 Wasp; unbuilt. ;P-30 :Initial production batch for Army Air Corps. Curtiss V-1570-57 turbo-supercharged engine. Four built, later redesignated PB-2. ;A-11 :Initial production ground-attack aircraft, with unsupercharged V-1570-59 engine. Four built. ;P-30A :Main production fighter powered by a turbo-supercharged Curtiss V-1570-61 engine; 50 built, redesignated PB-2A. ;PB-2A Special :Seventh PB-2A modified to single-seat configuration. Crashed during flight testing. ;XP-33 : Proposed version with a Pratt & Whitney R-1830-1 Twin Wasp engine; unbuilt. ;XA-11A :Conversion of A-11 as testbed for Allison XV-1710-7. One converted by Bell Aircraft, who referred to it as their Model 2. ==Specifications (PB-2A)==