How did Boeing turn a twin-engine contest into a…

How did Boeing turn a twin-engine contest into a four-engine one?

Short answer

There was no contest restricted to twin-engined types: in August 1935 the US Army Air Corps evaluated prototypes from several manufacturers at Wright Field, Ohio, and Boeing brought the four-engined Model 299. In the comparison it beat the twin-engined DB-1 and Model 146. The transfer flight from Seattle took nine hours and three minutes.

Published: November 2, 2026 · Updated: November 2, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

How did Boeing turn a twin-engine contest into a four-engine one?

Sunset silhouette of flying fortress, Langley Field, Va

A design begun in 1934

Boeing began design work in June 1934. The result, the Model 299, first flew on 28 July 1935, with Boeing's chief test pilot, Leslie Tower, at the controls. In August 1935 the US Army Air Corps organised an evaluation of various manufacturers' prototypes at Wright Field, Ohio, and the Boeing Aircraft Company entered its four-engined Model 299.

The flight from Seattle to Wright Field

On 20 August 1935 the prototype flew from Seattle to Wright Field in nine hours and three minutes, at an average ground speed of 252 mph (219 kn; 406 km/h), far faster than its competitors. In the fly-off, the performance of the four-engined Boeing was superior to that of the twin-engined DB-1 and Model 146.

The doctrine that backed the four engines

MacArthur and Andrews argued that the capabilities of large four-engined aircraft surpassed those of shorter-range twin-engined types, and that the B-17 fitted better with the new doctrine then taking shape in the USAAC. Major General Frank Andrews, commander of Army General Headquarters (Air Force), assigned twelve Y1B-17s to the 2nd Bomb Group, based at Langley Field, Virginia. A succession of turbosuperchargers built by General Electric would equip production B-17s as standard from the first production model, allowing them to fly higher and faster than the Y1B-17.