Wright XF3W Apache

The Wright XF3W Apache was an American racing aircraft built by Wright Aeronautical for the United States Navy. It began as the F3W, a single-seat biplane with a steel tube fuselage and fabric covered wooden wings, designed as a carrier based fighter to show off the company's Simoon radial engine, but its performance was poor. After the Navy took delivery it fitted a rival Pratt and Whitney R-1340 radial instead, the aircraft was redesignated XF3W, and it flew with the new engine for the first time on 5 May 1926. The Navy then used it as an engine test bed until 1930. With it Apollo Soucek set a world altitude record for seaplanes of 38,500 feet in September 1929 and a landplane altitude record of 43,166 feet in April 1930. It was also fitted with a single centreline float to try out the idea of basing floatplanes on battleships.