The Seversky P-35 - USA
Update in Progress June 12,2007.		 Aviation Models
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The Seversky P-35 won the distinction of being the first single-seater ordered by the Air Corps with such features as a fully enclosed cockpit, and a retractable landing gear, but proved totally inadequate when faced with the harsh realities of war.

Among the significant fighter designs appearing in the 1930s, the Seversky P-35 is worth mentioning, despite the P-35's career being somewhat undistinguished. It paved the way for future aircraft that would be sorely needed for World War II, and lead to the development of the celebrated Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. The P-35 was a collaboration between Seversky and Alexander Kartveli of The Seversky Aircraft Corporation, which started out as a private venture in 1931.1 The P-35 was derived from the Seversky SEV-3, which had set a record for piston-engined amphibious aircraft reaching 230 mph (370/km/h).2 The SEV-3 was conceived as basic design that would allow for the installation of various engines to be used in roles such as a basic trainer, two-seat escort fighter, naval fighter and from which several racing versions were built. The country of Columbia ordered six amphibious reconnaissance versions of the SEV-3, while the USAAC ordered 30 dual controlled, twin-seat, fixed-gear versions and designated it the BT-8. The original amphibious SEV-3 was constructed in a rented hangar from The Edo Aircraft Corporation in College Point, NY, which specialized in the construction of floats.3

Seversky P-35.

In 1935 design competitions were being held by the US Army Air Corps for the purpose of replacing the Boeing P-26. The fixed-gear, two-seat SEV-2XD fighter design was originally submitted by Seversky, but was switched to the single-seat SEV-1XP, after eyeing the Curtiss Model 75 and Northrop 3A, both of which had retractable landing gear. The switch by Seversky was allowed since it was badly damaged, perhaps deliberately, on the way to the Wright Field competition on June 18,1935.4 This drew protests from Curtiss,5 but the final fly-off was postponed to April 1936, after the Northrop 3A crashed into the sea. The delay allowed Seversky to modify its entry, with a different tail-plane and a 14 cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engine,6 designating it the SEV-7, while Vought submitted a rebuild of the Northrop A3, the V-141; Consolidated submitted the P-30 and Curtiss submitted the Model 75, with a new Wright CycloneXR-1820-39 engine—which incidentally was the same engine Seversky had abandoned.7 While the SEV-7 did not reach its estimated speed of 300 mph, it was awarded a contract for seventy-seven production models with the AAC designation P-35.

The construction of the P-35 was of a low-wing cantilever monoplane, all metal except for the fabric covered flight control surfaces. It had an enclosed cockpit and the wings were elliptical, similar to the Supermarine Spitfire,8 with ailerons and flaps on the trailing edge. The main landing gear was partially faired, with a tail wheel fully enclosed, when retracted. The engine had a wide cowling, which enclosed one 0.50 in machine gun and one 0.30 in machine gun. Armament was completely inadequate when compared to the contemporary Hawker Hurricane, and the Messerschmitt Bf 109. Also inadequate protection of, no armor protection for the pilot, and no self-sealing fuel tanks, resulted in an aircraft that was very vulnerable against enemy fighters.

Seversky P-35.

Delivery of P-35s took place between July 1937 and August 1938, but production delays prompted the USAAC to purchase 210 Curtiss P-36s, which had come in second in the 1936 competition as the Model 75. The final P-35 on this contract was completed in 1938, with a revised wing and a supercharged Twin Wasp engine of 1,200 hp, as the XP-41, and served as the prototype for the Republic P-43 Lancer.9 Along with the production delays Seversky developed a two-seat export version of the fighter, known as the 2PA-L, powered by a single-row Wright Cyclone engine instead of the two-row Twin Wasp, of which twenty were sold to Japan, and given the JNAF designation A8VI. Japan was already causing problems for the United States and Seversky received no more orders from the USAAC. Two 2PA-Ls were sold to the USSR late in 1937, together with a manufacturing license, though it is not known whether any were actually built in the Soviet Union.10

A single seat export version known as the EP-1 was also produced, but with the larger 1,050 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830-45 Twin Wasp engine along with heavier armament of two 0.50 inch machine guns in the nose, and two 0.30 inch machine guns in the wing roots. Sweden ordered one hundred and twenty of these, identified for export as EP-106s and designated J9 in service with the Flygvapnet. Sixty aircraft had been delivered when, in mid-1940, an embargo was placed upon aircraft overseas sales, except for England, and in October 1940 the remaining sixty EP-106s were repossessed by the US government and allocated to the USAAC as P-35As. Republic Aviation Corporation (the new title taken by the Seversky Aircraft Corporation in October 1939 after Alexander de Seversky's departure) also built in 1940, fifty-eight of a two-seat light bomber version of the EP-I to a Swedish order; two reached Sweden, but the rest went to the USAAC, which designated them AT-12 Guardsman and employed them in the advanced training role. In 1937, one P-35 was converted by the Naval Aircraft Factory as the XFN-1, but this proved unsuited to carrier operations and no other naval versions were produced.

While the name of Seversky was associated with record setting aircraft of the 1930s Bendix and Thompson flying races, by Jacqueline Cochrane, Frank Sinclair and Seversky himself, the realities of war would provide no such glory. Once the aircraft came under fire with no armor protection for the pilot, and no self sealing tanks, the aircraft stood little chance against enemy fighters. By December 12,1941 of the forty aircraft that had been sent to the Philippines, only eight were airworthy after they were either shot down or destroyed on the ground. While is a beautiful looking aircraft, regretfully it can be said that it was not much more than that.

Seversky/
Republic
P-35A		 Specifications:
Dimensions:
P-35 P-35A
Wing span: 36 ft (11.00 m) 36 ft (11.00 m)
Length: 25 ft 2 in (7.67 m) 26 ft 10 in (8.17 m)
Height: 9 ft 1 in. (2.76 m) 9 ft 9 in. (2.97 m)
Wing Area: 220 ft.² (20.43 m²) 220 ft.² (20.43 m²)
Weights:
Empty: 4,315 lb. (1,975 kg) 4,575 lb. (2,075 kg)
Gross: 5,595 lb (2,540 kg) 6,118 lb (2,775 kg)
Max T/O: 6,295 lb (2,855 kg) 6,723 lb (3,050 kg)
Performance:
Cruise Speed: 260 mph (418 km/h) 260 mph (418 km/h)
Max Speed: 282 mph (454 km/h)
@ 10,000 ft (3,048 m)		 290 mph (467 km/h)
@ 12,000 ft (3,658 m)
Climb Rate: 15,000 ft/ 6.9 min (4,572/6'54") 1,920 ft./min (585 m/min)
Service Ceiling: 30,600 ft. (9,327 m) 31,400 ft. (9,571 m)
Absolute Ceiling: 31,750 ft. (9,677 m) 32,300 ft. (9,845 m)
Normal Range: 1,150 miles (1,851 km) 600 miles (966 km)
Max Range: 1,150 miles (1,851 km) 950 miles (1,529 km)
Powerplant:
P-35 P-35A
Pratt & Whitney R-1830-9 Twin Wasp radial engine,
850 hp (634 kW) 		Pratt & Whitney R-1830-45 Twin Wasp radial engine,
1,050 hp (783 kW)
Armament:
One 0.30 in machine gun;
one 0.50 in machine gun;
up to 300 lb (136 kg) of bombs 		Two 0.30 in machine guns;
two 0.50 in machine guns;
up to 350 lb (160 kg) of bombs

Endnotes
1. David Mondey. American Aircraft of World War II. New York, Smithmark Publishers, 1996. 213.
2. Enzo Angelucci and Peter M Bowers. The American Fighter. Mila, Italy; Haynes Publishing Group., 1987. 384.
3. Ibid.
4. David Mondey. 213.
5. Peter M. Bowers. Aircraft In Profile, Volume 4. The Curtiss Model 75. Surrey, England; Profile Publications Ltd., 1970. 95.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. David Mondey. 213.
9. Kenneth Munson. Fighters Between the Wars, 1919-39. New York, The Macmillan Company, 1960. 156.
10. Ibid.
Other Sources
1. 1937 Aircraft Year Book

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© Larry Dwyer The Aviation History On-Line Museum. 2007 All rights reserved.
Update in Progress June 12,2007.