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The Keystone B-6 was a biplane bomber developed by the Keystone Aircraft company for the United States Army Air Corps.

Design and development

In 1931, the United States Army Air Corps received five working models (Y1B-6s) of the B-6 bomber. The Y1B- designation, as opposed to a YB- designation, indicates funding outside normal fiscal year procurement. Two of these were redesignations of LB-13s; three were re-engined B-3As. The Air Corps placed an order for 39 production models on 28 April 1931, with deliveries between August 1931 and January 1932.

At the same time, an order was placed for 25 B-4As, the same aircraft but mounting Pratt & Whitney engines instead of Wright Cyclones. Despite their lower sequence number, the B-4As would be delivered last. These were the last canvas-and-wood biplane bombers ordered by the Air Corps.

The performance of the B-6A varied little from the Martin NBS-1 ordered in 1921. Its successor, the monoplane bomber, had a hard time getting accepted. The Douglas Y1B-7 and Fokker XB-8 were originally designed as high-speed reconnaissance aircraft.

Variants

;LB-13

:Seven aircraft ordered but delivered as the Y1B-4 and Y1B-6 with different engine installations.

;Y1B-6

:Two pre-production aircraft and three converted B-3As, as the LB-10 but with two Wright R-1820-1 engines.

;B-6A

:Production version of the Y1B-6, 39 built.

Operators

;

  • United States Army Air Corps

Specifications (B-6A)

See also

References

;Notes

;Bibliography

  • Wagner, Ray. American Combat Planes. New York: Doubleday, 1982. .
  • USAF Museum article on B-6
  • USAF Museum article on LB-13