In September 1941, McDonnell Aircraft Corporation won an Army Air Force contract for the XP-67 Bomber-Destroyer, the first experimental airplane of all McDonnell design. The XP-67 was conceived to attain a maximum speed of 405 miles per hour, with a combat range of 2,385 statute miles. Although only one experimental airplane was flight-tested, this difficult pioneering project proved a worthwhile engineering exercise for designing the jet propeilled fighters that followed.