Manufacturer: Abrams

Model: P-2M

Name: Explorer

Type:

Date: 1938

Status: Experimental

Country: United States of America

Service: U.S. Army Air Corps

Designation: XO-951 Observer

The Abrams P-2 Explorer has always been one of my favorite pre-war aircraft, and one that I wish had aroused military interest so it could have been produced in quantity. Instead, it remained a sole prototype that was owned and operated by the Abrams company as an aerial photographic platform for many years.

There isn't even the slightest indication that Abrams submitted his design to the military... despite the obvious qualities of the type and its superiority over most military observation types of its day!

What I did here, therefore, was very basic: take one of the most famous photos of the Explorer (see below right) and modify it to make it look as if it had been evaluated at the U.S. Army Air Corps's Wright Field test ground. I simply removed all civilian and company markings and affixed military ones that are typical of the 1930s Wright Field tests.