Vought O2U Corsair

1926


OBSERVATION AIRCRAFT	Virtual Aircraft Museum / USA / Vought

First aircraft to bear the famous company name Vought Corsair, the initial O2U was little more than a developed version of the UO/FU series that incorporated an all-steel tube fuselage structure and introduced the Pratt & Whitney Wasp radial engine. Deliveries to the US Navy began in 1927 and production totalled 291 in several versions.

3-View

A three-view drawing of O2U-1 (452 x 714)

Comments

Barry, 15.11.2016 18:00

There was indeed some 289 produced for the USN and Marine Corps and some were still serving at the beginning of World War II. The aircraft appeared in many guises some with cowled engines and some with enclosed hoods. They went from being straight forward observation planes to armed scouts and as such they were sold to many air arms across the world.

SU4 Corsair
Power plant 1 x 600 hp Pratt & Whitney R1690-42 Hornet

Span 36'" Length 27'5" Height 11'4" Wing area 337 sq ft
Empty weight 3,312 lb Max take off weight 4,765 lb

Max speed 167 mph Range 680 miles Service ceiling 18,600 ft

Armament 3 x .30" Browning machine guns one firing forward and two mounted on trainable mount in the rear cockpit

rex, e-mail, 22.04.2014 22:25

I believe this was the plane that shot the original King Kong off the Empire State Building.

Richard Sweeton, e-mail, 02.12.2011 22:07

This airplane is featured in the movie Devil Dogs of the Air (1935). My earliest memory (I was three) is of seeing one of these catch a wing while stunting over Subic Bay (no one was injured), again in '35. Cockpit photos in contemporary aviation magazines were available on microfilm at the New York Public Library in 1990, when I was researching it against the Cleveland model plans.

Ken Berner, e-mail, 04.09.2011 22:31

I can furnish a few b & w photos of this aircraft with squadron personnel, ca. 1930.

Ken Berner, e-mail, 26.07.2011 04:55

My father, then Lt. W. K. Berner USN, flew an O2U-3 with Scouting Squadron VS-8A in the late 1920s and early '30s (Asiatic Fleet). I have three photos of that squadron.

Steve Arnold, e-mail, 18.04.2010 01:48

Where can I get cockpit pictures of this aircraft.

Thanks
Steve

Roy Harris, e-mail, 24.06.2009 00:10

This aircraft served the USN and USMC in Nicaragua in the late 1920's. See George B. Clark's book "WITH THE OLD CORPS IN NICARAGUA". Some excellent stories about the flyers of these aircraft and their exploits during those campaigns.

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