Northrop Gamma

1932

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Northrop Gamma

In January 1932 John Northrop and Donald Douglas formed the Northrop Corporation as a partly-owned subsidiary of the Douglas Aircraft Co. The first aircraft from the new corporation was the Northrop Gamma, several of which were built to special order for record-breaking flights and research work. The first two aircraft, a Gamma 2A and a Gamma 2B, were powered respectively by a 585kW Wright and 373kW Pratt & Whitney Wasp radial; both were delivered at the end of 1932, the first to Texaco who loaned it to Frank Hawks for record-breaking flights and the second to Lincoln Ellsworth, who eventually used it for a transantarctic flight. TWA bought three Gamma 2D aircraft with 529kW Wright Cyclone engines as single-seat mailplanes in 1934. The second was later reengined with a 578kW Wright and was used by Texaco to test oil temperatures and flows before being sold to the US Army Air Corps, which designated it UC-100.

A number of Gammas were delivered to individual customers, including two to the UK, a 2E for the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment and a Gamma 2L, the last to be built, was used by the Bristol Aeroplane Co. as a test-bed for its Hercules engines. The Chinese government ordered 24 Gamma 2E aircraft as light bombers, with 529kW Wright engines; they could carry a 726kg bombload and had four 7.62mm forward-firing machine-guns in the wings, and one rearward-firing in the rear cockpit. A further 25 Gamma 2Es were assembled in China from components provided by Northrop.

Comments
Guglielmo, e-mail, 04.03.2017 23:36

Any source for detailed Northrop Gamma 3-view drawings ? Thanks for helping.

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Barry, 11.07.2016 17:33

Gamma 2D

1 x 710 h.p Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 cylinder radial

Span 47'10" Length 31'2" Height 9'0" Wing area 360 sq ft
Empty weight 4,119 lb Gross weight 7,350 lb

Max speed 223 mph at 6,300 ft Cruising speed 204 mph
Range 1,970 miles Service ceiling 23,400 ft

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w.c. campbell, e-mail, 27.07.2015 23:19

what was the purpose of the small raised winglets on top of the outer wings on the gamma 2a?

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