Boeing P-12/F4B Biplane History
Operated by the United States Navy as the F4B and the United States Army Air Corps as the P-12, the Boeing P-12/F4B aircraft was a pursuit aircraft developed to replace Boeing’s F2B and F3B. It continued to use the same Pratt and Whitney Wasp engine as it’s predecessors but proved to be more agile, as it was both smaller and lighter. It’s service ceiling was notably far higher than earlier American fighters. There were many variants to the original design, including the following: P-12, XP-12A, P-12B, P12-C, P-12D, P-12E, P-12F, XP-12G, XP-12H, P12-J, YP-12K, XP-12L, A-5, XF4B-1, F4B-1, F4B-1A, F4B2, F4B-3, F4B-4, F4B-4A, Model 100, Model 100A, Model 100D, Model 100E, Model 100F, Model 219, Model 256 and Model 267.