The North American XB-21 was a prototype bomber aircraft evaluated by the United States Army Air Corps in 1937 but not ordered into production.

The aircraft first flew on December 22 1936 and the type was promising enough for the Air Corps to initially place an order for five YB-21 pre-production machines. All these were all cancelled, however, when it was found that Douglas' comparable B-18 Bolo was available for around half the price ($63,977 against $122,600). Consequently, no aircraft other than the single initial prototype were built.

Specifications (XB-21)

General Characteristics

• Crew: 6-8
• Length: 61 ft 9 in (18.83 m)
• Wingspan: 95 ft (28.96 m)
• Height: 14 ft 9 in (4.50 m)
• Wing area: 1,120 ft² (104 m²)
• Empty: 19,082 lb (8,674 kg)
• Loaded: 27,253 lb (12,388 kg)
• Maximum takeoff: 40,000 lb (18,181 kg)
• Powerplant: 2x Wright R-2180 -1, 1,200 hp (895 kW) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 220 mph (352 km/h)
• Range: 1,960 miles (3,136 km)
• Service ceiling: 25,000 ft (7,622 ft)
• Rate of climb: 1,000 ft/min (305 m/min)
• Wing loading: 24.3 lb/ft² (119 kg/m²)
• Power/Mass: 0.09 hp/lb (0.21 kW/kg)

Armament

• 5x .303 Browning machine guns
• up to 8,800 lb (4,000 kg) of bombs

References

• USAF Museum description of XB-21

Related content

Designation sequence: B-18 - XB-19 - Y1B-20 - XB-21 - XB-22 - B-23 - B-24