Aviation of World War II

Home Russian

Brewster

The history of the Brewster Aironic Corporation dates back to the early 19th century. It was then that the Brewster Transport Partnership (Brewster Carridge Company) came into being. By the beginning of the 20th century, the company, already called Brewster & Co, was redesigned as a manufacturer of car bodies. After the US entered the First World War, the company began to develop a promising aircraft market. In 1920, the company received a subcontract for the production of seaplanes, and in 1924 a division was formed within the company: Brewster & Co, Aircraft Division. But soon the firm entered into a major contract with Rolls-Royce and temporarily stopped production of aircraft. This continued until 1931 inclusive. The financial condition of the company during this period seriously deteriorated. The situation changed in 1932 with the arrival of James Work. During the First World War, he worked as a draftsman at the Brooklyn Navy Yard shipyard. At the same time, he became interested in aviation and began to improve his qualifications in this direction. In the early 1920s, he was already working as a designer and then as chief engineer at the naval aviation base in Lakehurst. In 1926-1929 he was a design engineer and vice director of the Naval Aviation Plant in Philadelphia. Work then briefly served as vice chairman of the Meteoric Detroit Aircraft Corporation. On February 6, 1932, Work, along with a group of like-minded people, acquired Brewster & Co., Aircraft Division, along with the title, for $ 30,000. The newly minted Brewster Aircraft Corporation has opened its headquarters in the same building on Long Island that formerly housed Brewster & Co., Aircraft Division. Work has managed to conclude a lucrative lease for a period of 7 years. At first, the company was not very active. Its small staff was engaged in the production of tail and wings for the Grumman FF-1 fighters. In late 1932, Jimmy Work entered into a subcontract with Chance Vout to produce the OS2U seaplane for the US Navy. These first orders allowed the firm to gain a foothold. Meanwhile, Work has put together a good design and management team. In September 1932, Dayton T. Brown joined Work, who had previously worked — as Work himself had done before — at the Naval Aviation Plant and the Detroit Aircraft Corporation. In his new position, Brown headed the design bureau and took over as vice chairman. Four years later, Temple Joyce, who had previously been co-owner of Berliner-Joyce, joined the firm. At Work, Joyce became director of sales. Dayton T. Brown's first design was a modern all-metal dive bomber. It was the so-called "scout bomber" (SB), which included the famous SBD "Dontless". Engineers used many of its technical solutions in their subsequent fighter project.

When the command of the US Navy published in 1935 the requirements for the creation of an aircraft intended to replace the carrier-based fighter F3F, based on the results of the competition, projects from three different companies were selected for further development. The most conservative was the project of the Grumman company, which continued the line of development of the F3F biplane. The Seversky company presented a version of the P-35 army fighter adapted for landing on aircraft carriers. At that point in time, only Brown's aircraft, designated XF2A-1, represented a truly modern design in the eyes of the American navy. It had a cantilever midplane scheme with a closed cockpit and retractable landing gear. The fighter's armament consisted of two synchronized 12.7 and 7.62 mm machine guns mounted above the engine. The main technical innovation of the car was the retractable chassis, developed by Brown and patented by Brewster. It was tested on the XSBA-1 bomber and was successfully tested. The main landing gear in the extended position formed the same angle with the wheel as between the lower surface of the wing and the contour of the lower part of the fuselage. The load was equally distributed between the rack and the cleaning strut. With the help of the latter, the wheel was pulled into the fuselage, while the rack was retracted into the wing. The disadvantage of this original landing gear was the significant bending moment caused by the main struts and requiring additional wing spar reinforcement.

The plane was chased by setbacks. It was created by a firm that tarnished its reputation in the eyes of the American navy. Indeed, "Brewster" constantly missed deadlines and did not always maintain the proper quality. The attitude towards the company was transferred to the plane. The time of its appearance and the theater of operations, as well as many other factors, did not allow the aircraft to fully manifest itself.