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Pre-war Super Bombers

Although the Boeing B-17 was to gain greater fame, Boeing also designed and built an even larger four-engine bomber in the mid-1930s, the XB-15. Its design was actually begun before the B-17, but it did not make its first flight until 1937, more than two years after that of the B-17. With a wingspan of 149 feet, almost half again as large as the B-17, the XB-15 was the victim of lag in engine development -- there were simply no engines available which were powerful enough to give it the performance it deserved. Numerous test projects were made with the XB-15, but in 1943 it was relegated to the role of a cargo airplane and redesignated the XC-105. At the end of World War II, it was dismantled in Panama.

Douglas became involved with the super-bomber in 1935 when it began design of an enormous airplane having a 212-foot wingspan and a tricycle landing gear. Designated the XB-19, it made its first flight on June 27, 1941. Like the XB-15, the XB-19 was underpowered, and after numerous test projects were conducted with the plane, it also began carrying cargo. During WWII, its Wright radial engines were replaced by Allison in-line engines of greater power, but by the end of the war, bomber technology had far outdistanced the XB-19, making further development of the plane uneconomical. In 1949 the XB-19 was reduced to scrap metal at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz.

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