Boeing P - 26 Peashooter The Boeing P - 26 Peashooter was the first American all - metal production fighter aircraft and the first pursuit monoplane used by the United States Army Air Corps . Designed and built by Boeing ; the prototype first flew in 1932 , and the type was still in use with the U . S . Army Air Corps as late as 1941 in the Philippines . Design and development . The project , funded by Boeing , to produce the Boeing Model 248 began in September 1931 , with the Army Air Corps supplying the engines and the instruments . The design , which included an open cockpit , fixed landing gear and externally braced wings , was the last such design procured by the USAAC as a fighter aircraft . The Model 248 had a high landing speed , which caused a number of accidents . To remedy this , flaps were fitted to reduce the landing speed . The Army Air Corps ordered three prototypes , designated XP - 936 , with the first flight on 20 March 1932 . The Boeing XP - 936 was still tricky to land ; sometimes , because of the short nose , it tended to roll onto its back and would flip forward , injuring a number of pilots . The prototype ' s unarmored headrest offered virtually no protection in such instances . As a result , production Model 266s ( " P - 26A " s ) had a taller , armored headrest installed . Two fighter s were completed as the " P - 26B " with a fuel - injected Pratt & Whitney R - 1340 - 33 engine . These were followed by 23 " P - 26C " s , with carburated R - 1340 - 33s and modified fuel systems . Both the Spanish Air Force ( one aircraft ) and the Chinese Air Force ( eleven aircraft ) ordered examples of the Model 281 version of the P - 26C in 1936 . The diminutive " Peashooter " , as it became affectionately known by service pilots , was faster than previous American combat aircraft . Nonetheless , due to the rapid progress in aviation design in the 1930s , its design was to quickly become an anachronism , with its wire - braced wings , fixed landing gear and open cockpit representing outdated design features . The Curtiss P - 36 , Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Hawker Hurricane , with enclosed cockpits , retractable landing gear and monocoque wings , all flew for the first time in 1935 , just three years later than the P - 26 . However , the P - 26 was easy to fly , and it remained in service until the U . S . entered World War II . Operational history . U . S . Army Air Corps . Deliveries to USAAC pursuit squadrons began in December 1933 with the last production aircraft in the series coming off the assembly line in 1936 , designated the P - 26C . Ultimately , 22 squadrons flew the Peashooter , with peak service being six squadrons in 1936 . P - 26s were the front line fighters of the USAAC until 1938 , when Seversky P - 35 s and Curtiss P - 36 s began to replace the P - 26 . A total of 20 P - 26s were lost in accidents between 1934 and the start of World War II , but only five before 1940 . Air Corps units using the P - 26 were the : Overseas deployments . Between 1938 and 1940 , P - 26s were assigned overseas to supplement Seversky P - 35s in two defense units based at Wheeler Field , Territory of Hawaii : The 17th PG became the 17th Attack Group in 1935 , and its P - 26s were transferred in 1938 to the 16th Pursuit Group ( 24th , 29th , and 78th PS ) at Albrook Field in the Panama Canal Zone . These P - 26s were transferred in 1940 to the 37th Pursuit Group ( 28th , 30th , and 31st PS ) which flew them until they were replaced by P - 40s in May 1941 . Some continued service with the 32d Pursuit Group ( 51st and 53rd PS ) , but only nine P - 26s remained operational in Central America at the start of World War II . P - 26As were also flown by the 3rd PS of the 4th Composite Group , based in the Philippines . Between 1937 and 1941 , 31 were sold to the fledgling Philippine Army Air Corps . Combat service . The first Boeing P - 26 to experience major combat operation was the Chinese Model 281 . On 15 August 1937 , eight P - 26 / 281s from the Chinese Nationalist Air Force 3rd Pursuit Group , 17th Squadron , based at Chuyung airfield , engaged eight out of 20 Mitsubishi G3M " Nell " medium bomber s from the Kisarazu Air Group sent to attack Nanking . The Chinese Boeing fighters helped shoot down two of the four Japanese bombers destroyed that day without suffering any losses . Subsequent engagements between the Chinese Peashooter pilots and pilots of the Imperial Japanese Navy flying the Mitsubishi A5M " Claudes " were the first aerial dogfights and kills between all - metal monoplane fighter aircraft . A single P - 26 was in service with the Spanish Republican Air Force during the Spanish Civil War of 1936 – 1939 , but no aerial kills were recorded with this fighter aircraft . It was shot down in 1936 . By December 1941 , U . S . fighter strength in the Philippines included 28 P - 26s , 12 of which were operational with the 6th Pursuit Squadron of the Philippine Army Air Corps . Filipino - flown P - 26s claimed one G3M and two or three Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero s before the last of the P - 26s were burned by their crews on 24 December 1941 . Only nine P - 26s remained airworthy , serving in the Panama Canal Zone . In 1942 – 43 , the " Fuerza Aérea de Guatemala " acquired seven P - 26s ostensibly by the U . S . government smuggling them in as " Boeing PT - 26A " trainers to get around restrictions of sales to Latin America n countries . The last two P - 26s in service were still flying with Guatemala ' s Air Force until 1956 , when they were replaced with P - 51 Mustang s . The P - 26 ' s last combat operation was with the Guatemalan Air Force during a coup in 1954 . The P - 26 was the last Boeing Company fighter aircraft to enter service until Boeing acquired McDonnell - Douglas with production and continuing support contracts for the Boeing F / A - 18E / F Super Hornet in 2002 . Between those aircraft , Boeing did produce the experimental XF8B in 1944 as well as the prototype YF - 22 in 1991 .