The aircraft was crewed by five and the militarized version was outfitted with 2 x 0.30 caliber medium machine guns for local defense while its bombload was a serviceable 2,400 pounds (held externally). The crew included two pilots sitting inline, both in open-air cockpits, with the co-pilot seated ahead nd doubling as the flight bombardier. A radio operator held a position with the fuselage and the remaining two crew were dedicated machine gunners seated forward and aft along the fuselage spine in open-air cockpits.
The Y1B-9A became five evaluation aircraft for the USAAC and these were taken on during September of 1932, joining the two completed prototypes. Total production became these seven aircraft for none more were added from serial production. The Y1B-9As quickly proved their speed in testing and made existing pursuit fighters of the USAAC more or less obsolete - none could catch the streamlined beast in simulated interceptions. Despite this, the Y1B-9A managed only a short operational life with the USAAC, their attention soon falling to the adoption of the competing Martin B-10 bomber of 1934. The Y1B-9 was given up for good by April of 1935 with no exposure to actual combat and two were eventually lost in crashes. The Martin B-10 became the USAAC's first all-metal monoplane bomber to serve in quantity.
Nevertheless, the revolutionary features and performance qualities of the YB-9 line forced competitors to rewrite their bomber design approach and forced fighter developers to reevaluate their pursuit types which greatly influenced the air war of World War 2 in the upcoming decade. Boeing would eventually hit its stride with their B-17 Flying Fortress bomber model which led to the Atomic bomb-dropping, technology-laden B-29 Super Fortress still to come. The line culminated with Boeing's last Big Bomber in the B-52 Stratofortress of Vietnam War fame.
The Boeing YB-9 was unofficially known as the "Death Angel" and praised by Modern Mechanics as "...the World's Fastest Bomber".
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