PBA Galleries

Various sizes, some quite large.

Original blueprints for an innovative America fighter aircraft that William Boeing of the Boeing Airplane Company of Seattle, Washington, hoped would compare favorably with contemporary British and French designs. The Model 15 owed a great deal to an examination of the Fokker D-VII, many examples of which had been brought to the USA after the end of the First World War under the terms of the Armistice.  The aircraft was a single-bay biplane with tapered wings linked together by an N-strut. The Model 15 made its first flight on April 29, 1923. It was sent to McCook Field in June 1923 for testing in the Army's 1923 Pursuit Competition. While there, the Boeing design came into direct competition with the basically similar Curtiss PW-8. Although the Curtiss design was slightly faster, the Boeing design was more maneuverable, more rugged and easier to maintain. In spite of a preference for the Boeing design, on September 25, 1923, the Army placed an order for 25 Curtiss PW-8s. but  three days later the USAAS purchased the Model 15 under the designation XPW-9. The Model 15 saw service with the United States Army Air Service as the PW-9 series. Deliveries of the first 25 PW-9s began on October 30, 1925, and Boeing was to deliver a total of 114 PW-9s of all variants including prototypes to the United States Army Air Corps between 1925 and February 1931. The blueprints are stamped January 1926.