Warbird Information Exchange

I watched Dive Bomber with Fred McMurray and Errol Flyn the other nite and could not identify the "RAF Fighter" that appeared in the movie. It looked like a 30's racer. Anyone know what it was?

It has been a while since I've seen that movie, but I seem to recall it is a P-22 Ryan trainer.

It is a Ryan Pt-22 with a dummy cowl to make it look more like a fighter. Notice the prop hub is in the top part of the cowl opening.

Bill

Are you sure it wasn't powered by the supercharged 6300 horsepower POBJOY experimental engine?

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Hi all,
Are you refering to the aircraft that crashed on take off at the first part of the movie? If so that plane was a Phillips XPT-1 Aeroneer. The plane has a Ranger inverted 6-cylinder engine.

It certainly was a Ryan PT-22, great ID by those who responded.
The civilian version was simply called the Ryan ST.
The cowl was a Hollywood "prop/makeover", as the ST was
not radial powered, some were powered by a small five cylinder
radial but did not have any cowl, the cylinders were open, showing
the rocker covers.
Some Ryans had the in-line 6 cylinder Menasco engine, it was
inverted with the crank on top, cylinder heads on the bottom.
I know a little about this aircraft as my' Dad learned to fly them
in the Army Air Corps at the begining of WWII, he was already
a pilot at age 17 and after joining the Army was quickly trained
in this aircraft.
He loved to fly it, and flew another many years later, during the
1970's with some buddies that restored one and kept it at
Westosha airfield Wisc.
Back to the movie version, I don't know why they would use one
as an RAF fighter but suspect it was political.
The war in Europe was on and I suspect that if a real fighter, such
as a current American inventory fighter painted like an RAF fighter
might have sent a wrong message overseas, remember we were
not involved in the war as of yet.
Hope this was helpful, Out Here, Tom

Sorry guys,I was thinking of the move Power Dive(1941). bill

Mystery solved! Thanks to all who responded.

Not to be too critical but there are significant differences between a Ryan STA/STM versus a PT-22 besides just the engine. The PT-22 has swept wings, different gear, different wing bracing, external stiffners and a different tail.

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Wacoykc is exactly right...I believe the aircraft in the movie was a Ryan ST with a Menasco 4 cylinder inline engine and a fake radial cowl, and not a PT-22. BTW, the ST series is not a civilian version of the PT-22 at all; the ST series was designed 6 or 7 years prior to the PT-22.

-Pat

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