The Vought XF3U was the prototype of a two-seat, all-metal biplane fighter, built by Vought Aircraft Company of Dallas, Texas for the United States Navy.
[edit] Development and design
The XF3U was designed to meed the Bureau of Aeronautics 1932 Design Specification No. 111, which called for a high-performance fighter with a fixed undercarriage and powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-1535 Twin Wasp Junior air-cooled radial engine. Of the seven proposed aircraft the XF3U and the Douglas XFD were chosen. The XF3U was the first all-metal aircraft produced by Vought. The aircraft was also equipped with an enclosed cockpit. During flight testing in 1933, it outperformed the Douglas entry and was chosen the winner.
[edit] Operational history
The Navy no longer was interested in two-seat fighters, and therefore only the one XF3U prototype aircraft was built. The XF3U subsequently evolved into a dive bomber, and became the XSBU prototype for the SBU-1 Corsair.[1]
[edit] Specifications
Data from [1]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
3 × .30 in (7.62 mm) machine guns
[edit] References
- Notes
- ^ a b c Angelucci 1987, p. 434.
- Bibliography
- Angelucci,Enzo. The American Fighter from 1917 to the present. New York: Orion Books, 1987. ISBN 0-517-56588-9.
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1 Not assigned • 2 Assigned to a different manufacturer's type • 3 Sequence restarted
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