Vought FU

Infobox Aircraft
name = FU


caption =
type = Floatplane fighter
national origin = United States of America
manufacturer = Vought
designer =
first flight =
introduction =
retired =
status =
primary user = United States Navy
more users =
produced =
number built = 20
program cost =
unit cost =
developed from = Vought UO
variants with their own articles =

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 mp 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.

pecifications (FU-1)

aircraft specifications
plane or copter?=
jet or prop?=

ref="United States Navy Aircraft since 1911" Swanborough and Bowers 1976, p.389.]

crew=1
capacity=
payload main=
payload alt=
payload more=

length main= 28 ft 4½ in
length alt= 8.65 m
span main= 34 ft 4 in
span alt= 10.47 m
height main= 10 ft 2 in
height alt= 3.10 m
area main= 270 ft²
area alt= 25.1 m²
airfoil=Navy N-9
empty weight main= 2,074 lb
empty weight alt= 943 kg
loaded weight main= 2,774 lb
loaded weight alt= 1,260 kg
useful load main=
useful load alt=
max takeoff weight main=
max takeoff weight alt=
more general=

engine (prop)=Wright J-5 Whirlwind
type of prop=9 cylinder air cooled radial engine
number of props=
power main= 220 hp
power alt= 164 kW
power original=

max speed main= 106 knots
max speed alt= 122 mph, 196 km/h
max speed more= at sea level
cruise speed main=
cruise speed alt=
cruise speed more=
never exceed speed main=
never exceed speed alt=
stall speed main=
stall speed alt=
range main= 357 NM
range alt= 410 mi, 660 km
range more=
ceiling main= 26,500 ft
ceiling alt= 8,080 m
celing more=
climb rate main=
climb rate alt=
climb rate more=
loading main= 10.3 lb/ft²
loading alt= 50.2 kg/m²
thrust/weight=
power/mass main= 0.079 hp/lb
power/mass alt= 0.13 kW/kg
more performance=*Climb to 5,000 ft (1,520 m): 5 minutes

guns= 2 x .30 in machine guns

avionics=

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.