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Seversky P-35

The P-35, a forerunner of the Republic P-47, was the U.S. Army Air Corps' (USAAC) first production single-seat, all-metal pursuit plane with retractable landing gear and an enclosed cockpit. First flown in May 1935, the German Messerschmitt Bf-109B was the first truly modern all-metal, stressed-skin, monocoque, single-seat fighter to enter active operational service. The first production-standard Bf-109B was completed in early 1937, months before the award of the first P-35 production contract.

The P-35 was the first all-metal monoplane production fighter in the Air Corps. A strikingly beautiful airplane, the P-35 was extremely fast — it won the Bendix Air Race from 1937 to 1939 — and had a significantly longer range than other fighter aircraft of its day. It was the direct ancestor of the P-47 Thunderbolt, one of the most important and successful fighter planes of World War II.

Fighter ace, war hero, aircraft designer, entrepreneur, writer, and theorist, Alexander P. de Severskywas one of the best knownand most popular aviation figures in America during World War II. His self-appointed mission was to convince the public that airpower had revolutionized warfare and become decisively important. Although people considered him a theorist, his ideas on airpower were not original; rather, he was a synthesizer and popularizer. At the same time, de Seversky was a prophet, using logic and his interpretation of history to predict the future of air warfare.

Born in Russia in 1894, Alexander de Seversky exhibited an interest in flight, even as a child. During the Great War, he joined the Russian Imperial Navy and became a pilot. On his first combat mission, he was shot down, losing a leg as a result. Undaunted, he used a wooden prosthesis, learned how to fly again, and returned to combat, where he shot down 13 German aircraft.

In 1917 Russia posted him to the United States as an attaché, but after the Russian Revolution began, he elected to remain in America. Over the next two decades, de Seversky put his mechanical and business talents to work by founding Seversky Aircraft Corporation, designing not only aircraft, but also bomb sights, instruments, and an air-refueling apparatus.

In 1931, Soviet émigré Alexander P. Seversky and his chief designer Alexander Kartveli had established the Seversky Aircraft Corporation, which later became Republic Aircraft. The company funded two advanced prototype fighters for the Air Corps: the SEV-1XP and 2XP. Submitted to the Army for trials, the 1XP competed fiercely against the Curtiss Model 75, another company-funded test vehicle developed by one of the old leaders in fighter development. The upstart Seversky aircraft won in April 1936, but the Army required changes to the design before awarding the production contract. Redesigned by Kartveli, the 1XP became the AP-1, resulting in the first USAAC all-metal, cantilever low-wing fighter with retractable landing gear. It was also the first with an enclosed cockpit and variable propeller. While only a relatively mediocre performer, the P-35 (production version of AP-1) later evolved into the dramatically improved P-47 Thunderbolt, the most-produced American fighter of World War II

The USAAC accepted 76 P-35s in 1937-1938, and assigned all but one of them to the 1st Pursuit Group at Selfridge Field, Mich. Sweden also purchased 60 improved aircraft (designated EP-106), but the United States diverted a second order for 60 to the USAAC in 1940 and assigned them to the 17th and 20th Pursuit Squadrons in the Philippines. These aircraft, redesignated P-35As, were all lost in action early in the war. Ironically, the Japanese Navy ordered 20 two-seat versions of the P-35 in 1938, and these became the only American-built planes used operationally by the Japanese during World War II.

Unfortunately, de Seversky was a poor businessman, and as war approached, his board of directors voted him out of office and changed the company’s name to Republic. From then on, he turned his attention to writing about and publicizing air-power. In 1942 de Seversky published the influential "Victory through Air Power", which the Book of the Month Club chose as one of its featured selections and which Walt Disney made into an animated movie. As many as one of every seven Americans either saw the movie or read the book, and “victory through air power” became a house-hold phrase.

De Seversky pushed development of speed and range to new limits. His efforts provide a striking example of the demands of doctrine and strategy directing technological efforts. De Seversky stated: "... equipment and strategy are indivisible. New types of planes or armament provide tactical possibilities, and new tactics call for revision of equipment. The work of the Air Staff and of the research organization must be closely integrated, Aeronautical research facilities must be directly related to practical experimental planning. The compilation of purely theoretical data should be combined with the boldest kind of practical development."

De Seversky continued to write for the next 15 years, but his later books did not have the impact of his first one, and as time went on he grew increasingly out of touch with technical developments. He did not understand nuclear power, jet propulsion, or the new space age.

Alexander P. de Seversky developed America's first modern fighter, and then captured the essence of a new weapon of war and peace and conveyed an understanding of that essence to millions of Americans in a way unmatched by anyone else.

The only known surviving P-35 served with the 94th Pursuit Squadron, 1st Pursuit Group. The aircraft was restored by the 133rd Tactical Airlift Wing, Minnesota Air National Guard, with assistance from students of the Minneapolis Vocational Institute. It is marked as the P-35A flown by the 17th Pursuit Squadron commander, 1st Lt. Buzz Wagner, in the Philippines in the spring of 1941.