• Manufacturer: Hasegawa

• Kit/reference: S08

• Subject: Boeing P-26A Peashooter

• Scale: 1/32

• Barcode/EAN: 4967834080089

• Type: Static plastic model kit

• Manufacturer's country: Japan

• Hasegawa category: 1/32 aircraft

• Kit status: Older/discontinued listing

• Approximate kit weight: 350 g

The manufacturer — Hasegawa

is one of Japan's major scale-model manufacturers, particularly well known for aircraft kits.

Hasegawa developed an extensive range of 1/32 aircraft kits, alongside its much larger 1/48 and 1/72 catalogues.

The company's larger-scale aircraft are particularly popular with collectors because 1/32 provides considerably more room for cockpit, engine and surface detail than 1/72.

The P-26A S08 belongs to Hasegawa's long-running 1/32 aircraft family. Contemporary catalogue records identify it specifically as S08, rather than one of the later six-digit Hasegawa kit numbers.

The S08 was also sufficiently established in the Hasegawa catalogue to be listed by specialist retailers as a separate product rather than as a temporary limited-edition boxing.

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Kit contents

The S08 is a conventional injection-moulded plastic aircraft kit.

The basic kit provides the components needed to construct the Boeing P-26A in 1/32 scale, including:

• fuselage halves;

• upper and lower wing components;

• tailplane and fin;

• engine and cowling components;

• landing gear;

• wheels;

• cockpit components;

• pilot/crew-related parts where included by the tooling;

• propeller;

• machine-gun details;

• clear cockpit/windscreen components;

• decals.

The kit is an unassembled plastic model, with paint and glue normally required separately. A specialist listing explicitly describes the product as an unassembled plastic model kit and confirms the 1/32 scale.

Because this is an older Hasegawa tooling, its construction and surface detail should be judged in the context of its production era rather than against today's newest 1/32 kits.

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Scale

The kit is 1/32 scale.

The actual P-26A had a wingspan of approximately 8.5 metres, giving a model span of about:

266 mm / 10.5 inches

The real aircraft's length was approximately 7.18 metres, producing a model length of roughly:

224 mm / 8.8 inches.

That makes the P-26 relatively compact even in 1/32.

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The real aircraft — Boeing P-26 Peashooter

The Boeing P-26 Peashooter occupies an important position in American military aviation history.

It was the first all-metal, low-wing, monoplane fighter to enter mass production for the United States Army Air Corps.

It represented a transitional point between two generations of fighter aircraft.

The aircraft still had:

• an open cockpit;

• fixed landing gear;

• externally braced wings;

• a relatively conventional tail;

but its low-wing monoplane configuration and metal construction pointed toward the much faster fighters that would follow.

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Development

The P-26 originated from Boeing's Model 248 design.

The prototype first flew in 1932.

At the time, the design represented a considerable change from the biplane fighters still serving with the US Army.

The US Army Air Corps subsequently ordered production aircraft under the designation P-26.

The first production P-26A aircraft were delivered in 1934.

Hasegawa's catalogue description identifies the P-26A as the first mass-produced single-wing fighter in American aviation and gives the production period as 1933–1936.

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Why it was called the "Peashooter"

The nickname Peashooter reflected the aircraft's relatively small size and distinctive appearance.

Compared with the large fighters and bombers that would emerge later in the 1930s, the P-26 was remarkably compact.

Its narrow fuselage, open cockpit and large exposed landing gear gave it a distinctly transitional appearance.

The name was unofficial, but it became permanently associated with the aircraft.

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Engine

The P-26A was powered by the Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp radial engine.

The prototype used an R-1340-21 producing approximately 550 hp.

Production P-26As were fitted with the Pratt & Whitney R-1340-27, also producing approximately 550 hp.

The air-cooled nine-cylinder radial engine was enclosed within the characteristic circular cowling at the front of the aircraft.

The combination of relatively low weight and the powerful radial engine gave the P-26 impressive performance for its era.

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Performance

Representative P-26A specifications are:

• Crew: 1

• Engine: Pratt & Whitney R-1340 radial

• Power: approximately 550 hp

• Length: 7.18 m

• Wingspan: 8.50 m

• Height: 3.04 m

• Maximum speed: approximately 377 km/h / 234 mph

• Range: approximately 1,000 km

• Service ceiling: approximately 8,350 m

• Armament: 2 × .30-calibre Browning machine guns

• Bomb load: up to approximately 90 kg.

These figures explain why the aircraft was considered a substantial improvement over the biplane fighters it replaced.

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Armament

The standard P-26A carried two Browning machine guns.

They were mounted in the forward fuselage and fired through the propeller arc using synchronisation equipment.

The aircraft could also carry a small bomb load.

The standard fighter armament was therefore comparatively light by WWII standards, but appropriate to the mid-1930s.

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Fixed landing gear

One of the features that makes the P-26 instantly recognisable is its fixed landing gear.

By the time the P-26 was entering service, retractable landing gear was becoming increasingly common.

Boeing retained fixed gear partly because of the weight and complexity advantages.

The aircraft therefore looked more modern than its biplane predecessors while still carrying a conspicuously old-fashioned undercarriage.

This compromise would not last long.

Later American fighters rapidly adopted retractable landing gear and enclosed cockpits.

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Open cockpit

The P-26 retained an open cockpit.

This was another transitional feature.

The pilot sat relatively exposed behind the engine and wing.

The arrangement gave good visibility and simplified construction, but it offered less protection and considerably more aerodynamic drag than the enclosed cockpits appearing on later fighters.

Boeing subsequently introduced an enlarged headrest and other modifications to improve pilot protection.

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The P-26B and P-26C

The P-26 family included several variants.

P-26A

This was the principal production version.

It used the Pratt & Whitney R-1340 engine and represented the majority of production aircraft.

P-26B

The P-26B was intended to use the R-1340-33, rated at approximately 600 hp, together with a modified fuel system.

However, engine availability and reliability problems meant that the P-26B did not become a major production version.

P-26C

The P-26C was essentially a further production development with changes to the fuel system and equipment.

The distinction between the different versions is useful when examining surviving aircraft and period photographs.

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Production

Approximately 151 P-26 aircraft were built.

The P-26A constituted the overwhelming majority.

The relatively small production run reflects the rapid pace of technological development during the 1930s.

Within only a few years, the aircraft's open cockpit and fixed undercarriage were becoming obsolete.

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Service with the USAAC

The P-26 became one of the principal fighters of the United States Army Air Corps during the mid-1930s.

It equipped several pursuit squadrons and provided valuable experience with the new monoplane fighter concept.

However, it had a relatively short frontline career.

By the second half of the 1930s, newer fighters were already appearing.

Aircraft such as the Seversky P-35 and Curtiss P-36 Hawk offered more modern configurations, including retractable landing gear and increasingly enclosed cockpits.

The P-26 therefore rapidly moved from first-line fighter to second-line and training duties.

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Foreign service

The P-26 was also exported.

Examples were supplied to:

• China

• Philippines

• other foreign users.

Chinese P-26s saw combat against Japanese forces during the early stages of the Second Sino-Japanese War.

This gives the aircraft a combat history beyond its US Army service.

The Philippine Air Corps also operated P-26s, some of which were involved in the fighting that followed the Japanese attack on the Philippines in December 1941.

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P-26 and the beginning of the Pacific War

By the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the P-26 was already obsolete as a frontline fighter.

Nevertheless, some remained in service overseas.

The Philippine aircraft were particularly significant because they were among the few American-designed fighters available locally when the Japanese invasion began.

They were hopelessly outclassed by more modern Japanese fighters, but their presence illustrates how rapidly American fighter technology had progressed between the P-26's introduction and the beginning of WWII.

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Historical significance

The P-26 is important because it sits directly between the biplane fighter era and the modern monoplane fighter era.

It still possessed characteristics inherited from earlier aircraft:

• fixed undercarriage;

• open cockpit;

• external wing bracing;

• relatively light armament.

At the same time, it introduced characteristics that became standard:

• low-wing monoplane layout;

• all-metal structure;

• enclosed engine installation;

• much higher speed.

Within only a few years, aircraft such as the P-40 Warhawk, P-38 Lightning and P-47 Thunderbolt would make the P-26 look like an entirely different generation of aircraft.

That rapid change is one of the reasons the Peashooter remains such an interesting modelling subject.

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Surviving aircraft

Unlike many pre-war fighters, the P-26 has surviving examples.

The most famous is the P-26A Peashooter at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Another P-26 has been restored and is associated with the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

Because genuine P-26 airframes survive, the aircraft is much better documented than many inter-war types.

This also makes it possible to compare the Hasegawa model against original aircraft rather than relying entirely on drawings and photographs.

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Full-size aircraft selling price

The P-26 was a US military aircraft rather than a civilian product.

Consequently there was no normal retail price comparable with a contemporary civilian touring aircraft.

The aircraft was acquired through US government procurement.

I would therefore record:

Original full-size selling price: Military procurement — no reliable standard retail selling price established.

I would not substitute a later P-35/P-36 price or a prototype development cost.

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Current full-size value

Unlike the Heller Bloch MB.210 discussed previously, the P-26 does have surviving complete aircraft.

However, surviving P-26s are museum pieces and historically important collector aircraft, not normal aircraft-market inventory.

Consequently there is no dependable current public-market "asking price" for an original P-26A.

A transaction involving a surviving genuine P-26 would be an exceptional museum/heritage transaction rather than a normal used-aircraft sale.

Current full-size value: No reliable public market price; surviving examples are museum/heritage aircraft.