Boeing P-26A "33-23" US Army Air Corps 20th PG, Barksdale Field, L.A. Scale 1/48 HA7506

Boeing P-26A "33-23" US Army Air Corps 20th PG, Barksdale Field, L.A. Scale 1/48 1/48 scale pre-finished Die-cast metal with a minimum of plastic. Professionally painted. All markings pad applied for superb results. Comes with a pilot that can be removed. Comes with display stand. Boeing’s first and last all-metal monoplane fighter produced for the US Army Air Corps was the P-26. Known as the “Peashooter” there were 111 P-26As produced. The wings were braced with wire instead of wooden struts and this reduced drag and along with a 500 hp engine the aircraft was much faster than the older bi-planes. The mono-wing also meant a higher landing speed so flaps had to be added to slow the aircraft down. It had fixed landing gear and an open cockpit with just a windscreen to protect the pilot. The first group to replace their Boeing P-12’s with the new Boeing P-26A was the 20th PG. The new aircraft were delivered between December 1933 and early 1934 and were assigned to the 55th, 77th and 79th PS’s. The P-26 was used until February 19, 1935. The 20th PG was stationed at the new Barksdale Field in Louisiana named after a WWI veteran 2nd Lt. E.H. Barksdale. The airfield was used by fighter and attack pilots to practice their gunnery and bombing. On January 13, 1948 the airfield was renamed Barksdale Air Force Base. The tail code for the 20th PG was PT where P stood for Pursuit while T is the 20th letter of the alphabet.