Vought FU

FU
Role	Floatplane fighter
National origin	United States of America
Manufacturer	Vought
Primary user	United States Navy
Number built	20
Developed from	Vought UO

The Vought FU was a biplane fighter aircraft of the United States Navy in service during the late 1920s.

Pleased with the company's VE-7, in 1926 the Navy gave Vought a $459,709 contract for convertible land/sea 20 fighters. Vought already had a two-seat observation plane, the UO-1, basically a VE with additional fuselage streamlining and a Wright J-3 radial engine. This was made into a fighter simply by covering over the front cockpit of the observation plane, mounting machine guns in that area, and upgrading to a 220 hp Wright R-790 Whirlwind with a supercharger. With the help of the supercharger, the newly-designated FU-1 was able to reach a speed of 147 mph at 13,000 ft.

The FU-1s were delivered to VF-2B based in San Diego, California. With their float gear mounted, one was assigned to each of the battleships of the Pacific Fleet, where they were launched from catapults. They spent 8 months in this role, but as the squadron went to aircraft carrier operations, the further-aft cockpit proved to a visibility problem when maneuvering around a carrier deck. In response, the forward cockpit was re-opened, the result being designated FU-2.

By this time they were no longer state-of-the-art, and the two-seaters primarily served as trainers and utility aircraft.

Operators

United States

• United States Navy

Specifications (FU-1)

Data from United States Navy Aircraft since 1911

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 28 ft 4½ in (8.65 m)
• Wingspan: 34 ft 4 in (10.47 m)
• Height: 10 ft 2 in (3.10 m)
• Wing area: 270 ft² (25.1 m²)
• Airfoil: Navy N-9
• Empty weight: 2,074 lb (943 kg)
• Loaded weight: 2,774 lb (1,260 kg)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 106 knots (122 mph, 196 km/h) at sea level
• Range: 357 NM (410 mi, 660 km)
• Service ceiling: 26,500 ft (8,080 m)
• Wing loading: 10.3 lb/ft² (50.2 kg/m²)
  
• Climb to 5,000 ft (1,520 m): 5 minutes

Armament

• Guns: 2 x .30 in machine guns

References

• Jones, Lloyd S. U.S. Naval Fighters. Fallbrook CA: Aero Publishers, 1977, ISBN 0-8168-9254-7), pp. 53-54.
• Swanborough, Gordon and Bowers, Peter. United States Navy Aircraft since 1911. London:Putnam, Second edition, 1976. ISBN 0 370 10054 9.