The Curtiss Model 76 Shrike (A-18) was an American attack aircraft of the Second World War in service from 1937 to 1943. The A-18 was a mid-wing monoplane of basically metal construction with the exception of the fabric covering on the control surfaces and those parts of the wing behind the front spar. The crew of two was located in a raised fuselage section over the wing, the pilot having good fields of vision from his position above the wing leading edges but being separated from the observer/gunner who was positioned above the trailing edges. The A-18 was powered by two Wright R-1820-47 radial piston engines rated at 850 hp providing a top speed of 247 mph and a typical range of 1048 km. Armaments consisted of four 7.62 mm Browning forward-firing machine-guns in the nose and one 7.62 mm Browning trainable rearward-firing machine-gun in the dorsal position. Research A-18
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Abbreviations
Research A-18
