The Curtiss company had demonstrated that it was possible to evolve a successful pursuit design from a racing aircraft. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that the Wedell-Williams Company, one of the best-known manufacturers of racing planes during the 1920s and 1930s, would also attempt to adapt its racing designs to a fighter proposal.
The Wedell-Williams company submitted a cantilever, low-wing monoplane powered by a 700 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1535 Twin Wasp radial housed in a tightly-fitting cowling that looked too big for the rest of the airframe. The landing gear retracted inward to be stowed under the fuselage, and the cockpit was fully enclosed by a rearward-sliding canopy. The cockpit was situated well-aft, reminiscent of the manufacturer's racing planes from which the design was evolved. A maximum speed of 286 mph was anticipated.
The proposal was sufficiently appealing to the USAAC that on October 1, 1935 they ordered that a set of construction drawings be prepared under the designation XP-34. However, by 1936, fighters were already flying with performances exceeding that of the proposed XP-34. When confronted with this reality, the Wedell-Williams company proposed that the engine be switched to the 900hp Pratt & Whitney XR-1830-C radial in the pursuit of better performance. However, this revision failed to interest the USAAC, and the whole program was cancelled before anything could leave the drawing board.
Source:
- The American Fighter, Enzo Angellucci and Peter Bowers, Orion Books, 1987.
