TheDouglas XB-19 was a four-engined, piston-drivenheavy bomber produced by theDouglas Aircraft Company for theUnited States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during the early 1940s. The design was originally given the designationXBLR-2 (XBLR denoting "Experimental Bomber, Long Range"). It was the largest bomber built for the USAAF until 1946, with theConvair B-36 surpassing it in size.
The XB-19 project was intended to test flight characteristics and design techniques for giant bombers. Despite advances in technology that made the XB-19 obsolete before it was completed, the Army Air Corps believed the prototype would be useful for testing despite Douglas Aircraft wanting to cancel the expensive project.[a] Its construction took so long that competition for the contracts to build theXB-35 andXB-36 occurred two months before its first flight.
The plane first flew on 27 June 1941, more than three years after the construction contract was awarded. It was based atWright Field from January to November 1942.[1][b] In 1943, theWright R-3350 engines were replaced with liquid-cooledW24Allison V-3420-11 by the aircraft division ofFisher Body in support of theXB-39 project.[3][4] As part of the program, it was equipped with engine driven auxiliary powerplants.[5][6] After completion of testing, the XB-19 was earmarked for conversion into a cargo aircraft, but modifications were not completed, and the aircraft flew for the last time on 17 August 1946. It was eventually scrapped at Tucson in June 1949.[7][8]
The new U.S. Air Force had plans to save the XB-19 for eventual display, but in 1949 the Air Force did not have a program to save historic aircraft and the Air Force Museum had not yet been built.[9][10] The XB-19 was therefore scrapped, but two of its enormous main tires were saved.[c]
^Beranek, Leo L.; Nichols, Rudolph H.; Rudmose, H. Wayne; Sleeper, Harvey P.; Wallace, Robert L.; Ericson, Harold L. (1944).Principles of Sound Control in Airplanes (Report). Office of Scientific Research and Development, National Defense Research Committee. p. 68. Retrieved2022-02-15.
^Exner, D. W. (January 1944),"Parallel Operation of Airplane Alternators",Technical Data Digest, vol. 10, no. 1, Technical Data Library, Engineering Division, pp. 33–34, retrieved2022-02-15
"Dedication of the New XB-19 Bomber",Air Corps News Letter, vol. 24, no. 10, Intelligence Division, Air Corps, pp. 1–2, 15 May 1941, retrieved15 February 2022
Lynn, Bert D. (March 1945),"What Became of the B-19?",Douglas Airvew, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 8–9, 28, retrieved15 February 2022
"Man-O'-War with Wings".Popular Mechanics. Vol. 76, no. 1. July 1941. pp. 8–11, 191. Retrieved15 February 2022.
McLarren, Robert (November 1940)."The World's Biggest Bomber".Model Airplane News. Vol. 23, no. 5. pp. 14–15,60–62. Retrieved15 February 2022.
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Film of the first test flight on 27 June 1941
