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An FU-1 seaplane of VJ 1 in front of a hangar at NAS San Diego, CA, on April 22, 1931.
[Source: U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation]
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.
Sources:
Wikipedia
Swanborough, Gordon and Bowers, Peter. United States Navy Aircraft since 1911. London:Putnam, Second edition, 1976.
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