Consolidated Model 31 (XP4Y-1)

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     A recent visit to the National Archives II allowed me some time to look through photographs in Record Group 72 which pertains to the Bureau of Aeronautics. In the final box of the series while looking for other information there was a folder marked Consolidated C-31. Looking inside I found a series of photographs of a large flying boat design that I had not seen before. 
Model 31 in-flight carrying the civil registration of NX21731


      The aircraft was the first of the Consolidated product line to use the high mounted, high aspect ratio (long, narrow) cantilever wing (Davis Wing). The C-31 would first fly two months after the contract was signed for the most famous aircraft using the Davis wing the Consolidated Model C-32 (B-24).

Consolidated Photo C31-166 Complete Airplane, Floats and Flaps Down, Front View



Consolidated Photo C31-167 Complete Airplane, Floats and Flaps Down, 3-4 Front View



Consolidated Photo C31-168 Complete Airplane, Floats and Flaps Down, Side View



Consolidated Photo C31-170 Complete Airplane, Floats and Flaps Down, 3-4 Rear View



Consolidated Photo C31-169 Complete Airplane, Floats and Flaps Down, Rear View



Consolidated Photo C31-135 Complete Airplane, Floats and Flaps Down, 3-4 Rear View

      The flight trials were quite successful for the aircraft and a production contract was placed. A new aircraft production plant was constructed on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans to support building the P4Y-1 aircraft for the US Navy.
Consolidated Photo C31-043 Operating Deck


     The C-31 was the first aircraft to fly with the new, and experimental at the time, Wright R-3350 Duplex Cyclone engine. The need for engine production to support the B-29 program would prove to be the undoing of the XP4Y-1 program.


Consolidated Photo C31-036 Power Plant Installation Left Engine Inboard Side


Consolidated Photo C31-037 Power Plant Installation Left Engine Outboard Side

     The P4Y-1 contract was canceled to allow the allocation of all the R-3350 engines to support B-29 production and the Lake Pontchartrain facility produced PBY aircraft instead.

     A shout out to the staff at NARA II for helping to find these photos! The photos are contained in Records Group 72.               72-AC Box 108 Folder A.

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