1930 The Boeing XP-9 monoplane fighter makes its first flight in Dayton, Ohio.
The Boeing XP-9 (company Model 96) was the first monoplane fighter aircraft produced by the United States aircraft manufacturing company Boeing. It incorporated sophisticated structural refinements that were influential in later Boeing designs.
Designed in 1928 to meet the requirements of a US Army request for a monoplane fighter. Its primary contribution to aircraft design was its semi-monocoque construction, which would become a standard for future aircraft. Boeing employed the structural features of the XP-9 into their contemporary P-12 biplane fighter when the P-12E variant incorporated a semi-monocoque metal fuselage structure similar to that of the XP-9. The undercarriage arrangement of the P-12C had also been first tried out on the XP-9 and then transferred into the production model. Only one prototype was ever produced, with the program being canceled because of poor pilot visibility.
