The P-12 was the US Army’s last biplane fighter. Developed by the Boeing Airplane Company in the late 1920s, the P-12 served the United States’ Army Air Corps, Navy, and Marine Corps as a highly maneuverable pursuit plane and trainer in the 1930s. The P-12 evolved through five models (B through F) with the E and F models having an all-metal fuselage. Boeing built 366 P-12s, roughly a third of which were P-12Es. All variants of the aircraft retained wooden wings.
First delivered to the Army in 1931, the P-12E on display flew with the 6th Pursuit Squadron, 18th Pursuit Group, at Wheeler Field, Hawaii until November 1939, when the Army transferred it to Chicago, Illinois. The following year, one of the P-12’s struts collapsed while landing. Rather than repair the plane, the Army donated the aircraft to the Coffey School of Aeronautics at Harlem Airport in Chicago for use as a ground trainer.
The Coffey School of Aeronautics
Founded by pioneering Black pilot and flying enthusiast Cornelius Coffey, the Coffey School of Aeronautics trained aspiring Black aviators who were otherwise denied the opportunity to fly due to their race. The school supported the US Government’s wartime Civilian Pilot Training Program’s goal of increasing military readiness and contributed to Chicago’s prominence in Black aviation history.
After the war, the aircraft deteriorated in a Chicago garage until it was discovered in the mid-1960s. Marcellus Foose and Glen Courtwright took possession of the aircraft and donated the P-12E to the National Museum of the USAF in 1973. The Museum embarked on a ten-year restoration project to bring the P-12E back to its original 1931 flying condition.
TECHNICAL NOTES:
Armament: Two .30-cal. or one .30-cal. and one .50-cal. machine guns; 244 lbs. of bombs carried externally
Engine: Pratt & Whitney R-1340-17 of 500 hp
Maximum speed: 189 mph
Range: 570 miles
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