Curtiss B-2 CONDOR

Photo by Muess de 1' Air

From the model 36, which had been evaluated in 1924 as the XNBS-4 short range night bomber, Curtiss developed the model 52 with the same unusual feature of engine nacelles that extended to the rear of the wing trailing edge to provide accommodation for a pair of gunners. Other alteration were a steel tube rather than wooden fuselage structure, thicker section wing aero-foils, and Curtiss Conqueror rather than Packer Liberty engines. In all other respects the Model 52 was a typical three bay biplane bomber, and first flew in July 1927 as the XB-2, The prototype was lost in December 1927, but the US Army Air Corps order 12 b-2 production bombers that differed in several small details from the XB-2. The aircraft were delivered from June 1920 and formed the equipment of the 11th Bombardment Squadron, the only American heavy bomber unit of the period. The last of the aircraft was retired in 1936.