W.Green, G.Swanborough The Complete Book of Fighters

STURTEVANT B USA

   One of the most unusual single-seat pursuit aircraft designed and built in the USA during World War I was the Sturtevant B, created by Grover C Loening of the Sturtevant Aeroplane Company of Boston, Mass. Embodying a number of advanced features, such as a welded steel tube structure, the Sturtevant B was a sesquiplane of unique configuration in that the lower plane was a narrow-chord surface with the primary purpose of providing anchorage for the apices of the quadrupod bracing struts. The mainplane was faired into the forward fuselage decking. Power was provided by a 140 hp Sturtevant A5 eight-cylinder water-cooled engine with radiators mounted beneath the mainplane centre section leading edge on each side of the fuselage. Four examples of the Sturtevant B were ordered by the US Army Signal Corps in 1916, the first of these flying on 20 March 1917. Malfunction of the tail control surfaces led the test pilot to decide to terminate the flight and the virtually unmanageable aircraft struck a tree during the landing approach and was wrecked. This accident led to the US Army cancelling the remaining three aircraft. No specification for the Sturtevant B is available.