Eastern Suburbs Scale Modelling Club

.: Peter McKinnon's 1/72nd Choroszy Modelbud - 1920's era Huff / Daland Keystone Bomber

The Huff-Daland LB-1 was the first in a long series of bombers better known as the Keystone bombers (after a change of company name). The LB-1 was typical of military aircraft of the early 1920s in that it was a conservative design little different from the aircraft of the First World War. It was made with a steel tube frame and was fabric covered. The single Packard engine gave it a top speed of 121mph, much better than the 99mph of the Martin MB-2/ NBS-1, which was the standard US bomber at the start of the 1920s.

A single XLB-1 was built, and given a 1923 serial number. This was a three-man bomber, with a maximum bomb load of 1,500lb and a range of 940 miles. It was followed by ten service test LB-1s. These were much heavier aircraft, with a maximum bomb load of 2,750lb and a fourth crew member. The engine was slightly improved, but the power remained the same, and so the LB-1 had slightly worse performance figures than the XLB-1, and with its full bomb load a much shorter range. The ten LB-1s were delivered to the Air Corps during 1926. Some work began on an improved LB-1A, but that aircraft was never built. The LB-1 was also the basis for the heavy XLB-1.

Click image the image below for a desktop wallpaper