Vought FU-1

Purchased FU-1 Stories

In May 1922, the Lewis and Vought Company reorganized into the Chance Vought Company, and its first notable product became the Navy's OU-1 two-seater seaplane platform. In 1926, with the development of new Boeing and Curtis seaplanes, the United States Navy (USN) commissioned Vought to produce a makeshift seaplane as a stopgap. These will serve on U.S. warships and be launched by catapults, provide over-the-horizon reconnaissance and artillery targeting, and be recovered using on-board cranes. The plane will be a single-engine biplane with floats for landing gear.

Unlike the two-seat observation plane that Boeing and Curtis are developing, the Vought design will be a single-seat form. Its name became OU-3.

The OU-3 employs dual-blade equal-spread elements and parallel struts, and its structure is a mixture of tubular steel, wood, and fabric. The engine is mounted in the front of the fuselage and drives a two-bladed propeller unit. The pilot sits under and aft of the upper wing structure in the open-air cockpit, with the cockpit slightly forward. A raised ridge serves as the pilot's headrest, and cockpit visibility is usually adequate - the majority of the plane in front of the pilot blocks most of the forward view. The rear wing is conventional in general layout - a vertical rear wing with a low horizontal plane.

The armament was a 2 x .30 caliber machine gun, fired synchronously by rotating propeller blades - standard for fighter jets at the time. Dimensions include a length of 28.4 feet, a height of 10.1 feet and a wingspan of 34.3 feet.

The arrangement of the seaplane consists of a large central float located below the front mass of the aircraft and smaller underwing floats fixed to the outside.

Power comes from a Wright J-5 (R-790) "Whirlwind" series 220 hp radial piston engine with a supercharger for improved performance. In fact, specs include a top speed of 122 mph, as well as a range of up to 410 miles and a service ceiling of up to 26,500 feet. Compared to the earlier OU-1, the OU-3 performed better in aggressive maneuvers due to its reinforced bottom.

The landing gear of the seaplane has also been designed so that it can be replaced with a more traditional wheeled arrangement for land-based operations if desired.

20 were ordered from June 1926, the product name was changed to "FU-1" in October. Deliveries were fully completed in April of the following year, and by June 1928 the line had become part of the VF-2B squadron aboard the U.S. Navy capital ships.

Their useful life, however, was short-lived as the product was quickly replaced by the more modern Boeing F3B-1 carrier-based fighter-bomber biplane, introduced in August 1928 - which coincided with the VF-2B's transition from workhorse battleship service to aircraft The service matches the vector.

After the reintroduction of the reconstruction of the OU-1's second cockpit, the Vought FU-1 ended their days as two-seater trainers. In this form they are called "FU-2".

Both the Peruvian Air Force and the Peruvian Navy have operated several FU series aircraft, becoming the only foreign operators of the aircraft. The line was completely closed in 1929.

Specification

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