09/30/2007. Remarks by Jack Mckillop:
"In 1925, the Eberhardt Steel Product Company formed a subsidiary,
the Eberhardt Aeroplane and Motor Company, to design and build
aircraft.
Their first airplane was completed in June 1927; it was a
single-engine, single-seat fighter intended to operate from aircraft
carriers. One of the unique things about this machine was the wings,
the upper wing was swept back seven degrees while the lower wing was
swept forward five degrees. The intent of the swept wings was to give
the pilot better visibility. The USN agreed to test the aircraft under
no obligation to buy it. Test were conducted until December 1927 and
the Navy suggested many corrective measures be taken including
correcting lateral instability and also they wanted Eberhardt to
modify it into a seaplane before they would consider purchasing it.
The aircraft was converted to a seaplane with one large central float
and balancing floats on the lower wing. It was also re-equipped with a
different engine. Returned to NAS Anacostia, Washington,
D.C., in January 1928, the XFG-1 was redesignated XF2G-1 and underwent
tests. The tests revealed that the manufacturer had not corrected all
of the faults discovered earlier and in March 1928, the aircraft
crashed ending Eberhardt's plans to build aircraft."
