OS2U Kingfisher

Infobox Aircraft
name=OS2U Kingfisher


caption=
type=Observation floatplane
manufacturer=Vought
designer=
first flight=1938
introduced=
retired=
status=
primary user=United States Navy
more users=Royal Navy
produced=
number built=1519
variants with their own articles=

The Vought OS2U Kingfisher was a American catapult-launched observation floatplane. It was a compact mid-wing monoplane, with a big central float and small stabilizing floats. Performance was modest, because of its light engine. The OS2U could also operate on fixed, wheeled, taildragger landing gear.

The OS2U was the main shipboard observation aircraft used by the United States Navy during World War II, and 1,519 of the aircraft were built. It served on battleships and cruisers of the US Navy, and with the US Coast Guard, the Royal Navy and the Soviet Navy. The Royal Australian Air Force also operated a few Kingfishers from shore bases.

The Naval Aircraft Factory OS2N was the designation of the OS2U-3 aircraft built by the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The OS2U first flew on March 1, 1938.

Variants

;XO2SU-1:Prototype Vought Model VS.310 powered by a 450hp (336kW) Pratt & Whitney R-985-4 engine, one built.;OS2U-1:Initial production variant as the prototype but powered by a 450hp (336kW) Pratt & Whitney R-985-48, 54 built.;OS2U-2:Production variant with minor equipment changes and powered by a 450hp (336kW) Pratt & Whitney R-985-50, 158 built.;OS2U-3:Based on the 02SU-2 with self-sealing fuel tanks, armour protection, two 0.3 in guns (dorsal and nose mounted), and able to carry 325lb (147kg) of depth charges or 100lb (45kg) bombs, powered by a 450hp (336kW) Pratt & Whitney R-985-AN2 engine, 1006 built.;OS2U-4:Two aircraft converted with narrow-chord and high-aspect ratio wings, also fitted with full-span flaps. Not developed.;OS2N-1:Naval Aircraft Factory built 02SU-3 with a 450hp (336kW) Pratt & Whitney R-985-AN-2 or -AN-8 engine, 300 built.;Kingfisher I:British designation for the OS2U-3, 100 delivered to the Royal Navy.

Operators

*ARG (nine)
*AUS - Royal Australian Air Force
*CHI (fifteen)
*CUB
*DOM (three)
*MEX (six, 201 Squadron)
*NLD (twenty-four not delivered in time)
*USSR
*UK: Royal Navy (one hundred)
*USA United States Navy US Coast Guard (forty)
*URU (six)

urvivors

At least nine Kingfishers seem to be still around in museums all over the world [http://www.geocities.com/usnavyindanger/seaplanefighters.htm] . There is one at the National Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola, Florida (obtained in 1971 from the Uruguayan Navy) [ [http://collections.naval.aviation.museum/emuwebdoncoms/pages/doncoms/Display.php?irn=16006706&QueryPage=%2FDtlQuery.php Display ] ] [http://aeroweb.brooklyn.cuny.edu/database/museums/getimage.htm?id=547 Kingfisher at National Naval Aviation Museum Alabama]

Two Kingfishers are to be found on battleships: One on the battleship Alabama in Mobile, Alabama [http://aeroweb.brooklyn.cuny.edu/database/aircraft/getimage.htm?id=15769 Kingfisher at Mobile] and one onboard the battleship North Carolina. With the assistance of an RCAF Piaseki helicopter, Lynn Garrison salvaged this Kingfisher from Calvert Island, off British Columbia during the winter of 1963. It crashed there on a ferry flight to Alaska during World War Two. Garrison then donated it to the North Carolina Battleship Commission. It was restored for display by volunteers at Vought Aeronautics in Grand Prairie, Texas. Another Kingfisher on display is to be seen at the National Air and Space Museum outside of Washington DC. [http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Navy/Vought-Sikorsky-OS2U-3-Kingfisher/1162312 Kingfisher nect to 'Enola Gay']

At the Yanks Air Museum at Chino, California there is a Kingfisher waiting 'to be restored', and one at Palm Springs Air Museum north of Palm Springs International Airport has recently been brought back to a nice state [http://www.airfighters.com/photo_2388.details Kingfisher at Palm Springs] as needs to be done with one at Whale World, Albany, Western Australia [http://www.airliners.net/photo/Untitled/Vought-Sikorsky-OS2U-3-Kingfisher/0464660 Kingfisher at Whaleworld] . In the Museo Nacional Aeronáutico y del Espacio de Chile, Santiago there is a restored Kingfisher [http://www.angelfire.com/oh3/pmodels/KING3.jpgChilean Kingfisher] , as is one at Museum of the Revolution (Museo de la Revolución), Havana, Cuba. The latter is equipped with a 'fixed gear'. It has since been relocated to the Museo del Aire in Havana [http://www.airteamimages.com/52358.html Photograph of the Cuban Kingfisher at the Museo del Aire, Havana]

pecifications (OS2U-3)

aircraft specification

plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop
crew=Two, pilot and observer
ref="The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft" Editors: Paul Eden & Soph Moeng, ISBN 0-7607-3432-1, page 1128
length main= 33 ft 10 in
length alt= 10.31 m
span main= 35 ft 11 in
span alt= 10.95 m
height main= 15 ft 1.5 in
height alt= 4.61 m
area main= 262 ft²
area alt= 24 m²
empty weight main= 4,123 lb
empty weight alt= 1,870 kg
loaded weight main=
loaded weight alt=
max takeoff weight main= 6,000 lb
max takeoff weight alt= 2,721 kg
more general=
engine (prop)=Pratt & Whitney R-985-AN-2
type of prop=radial engine
number of props= 1
power main= 450 hp
power alt= 336 kW
max speed main= 164 mph
max speed alt= 264 km/h
range main= 805 mi
range alt= 1,296 km
ceiling main= 13,000 ft
ceiling alt= 3,960 m
climb rate main=
climb rate alt=
loading main=
loading alt=
power/mass main=
power/mass alt=
more performance=
armament=
* 2x .30 in (7.62 mm) M1919 Browning machine guns
* 650 lb (295 kg) of bombs

ee also

aircontent
related=

similar aircraft=
* Arado Ar 196
* Aichi E13A

sequence=

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Adcock, Al. "OS2U Kingfisher in Action (Aircraft in Action No. 119)". Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications, Inc., 1991. ISBN 0-89747-270-5.
* Doll, Thomas E. and Jackson, B.R. "Vought-Sikorsky OS2U Kingfisher". "Aircraft in Profile, Volume 14". Windsor, Berkshire, UK: Profile Publications Ltd., 1974, p. 113-136. ISBN 0-85383-023-1.
* Pattison, Barry. "Kingfisher in the Antipodes". Glen Waverly, Victoria 3150, Australia: Red Roo Model Publications, 1998.
* Sturtivant, Ray & Burrow, M. "Fleet Air Arm Aircraft - 1939 to 1945". Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air Britain (Historians) Ltd, 1995. ISBN 0-85130-232-7.

External links

* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3901/is_200406/ai_n9446476/pg_1 Wainwright, Marshall. "Kingfisher goes to war" Air Classics, June 2004.]
* [http://www.serviceclub.org/air_space_catapult_crews_layout-fm05.pdf Old, slow and ugly]