Navy’s single engine requirement, and their designs had the option to be powered by either an R-2600 or XR-2800 engine. Curtiss offered up a navalized version of the P-36 Mohawk, with an option to be powered by the R-1830 Twin Wasp or an R-2600 engine. Bell submitted a unique design based on the P-39 Airacobra. Their proposal was the only design to be powered by a liquid-cooled Allison V-1710 engine. After evaluation by the Bureau of Aeronautics, the Navy found Vought’s V-166B submission the best overall proposal to meet their single-engine requirement. On June 11, 1938, Vought received an order to build a single prototype based on the V-166B proposal. The Navy designated it the XF4U-1. The Navy was still interested in both the Brewster and Bell proposals and authorized both companies to build a single prototype each. Brewster failed to deliver due to internal issues, but Bell completed a navalized version of their P-39 named the XFL-1 Aero Bonita. The aircraft featured conventional landing gear for the time, instead of the P-39’s tricycle gear, and a larger wing with folding mechanisms. The XFL’s performance fared poorly against the XF4U-1, however, and the Navy lost interest in the project. The Navy’s original goals succeeded; proposals based on older designs were less attractive than a new design. Vought, which had not delivered a single-seat fighter to the Navy since its FU series in the 1920s, was back to building fighters.
The XF4U-1, BuNo 1443, set a world speed record for a single engine fighter, reaching 405mph on October 1, 1940. The prototype’s armament consisted of one .50cal and one .30cal machine gun, both firing out of the engine cowling, and one .50cal in each wing. A small compartment in each wing housed antiaircraft bombs intended for use against enemy bomber formations. (NMNA)
The XF4U-1 Beisel’s design team strove to combine the strongest power plant available with the smallest fuselage and most streamlined airframe; Vought did so in hopes of meeting the Navy’s most important requirement, “speed, speed, and more speed!” To streamline the aircraft, Vought utilized advanced techniques, including spot-welding and flush-riveting to minimize drag. To maximize
Vought test pilot Boone T. Guyton, seen at Stratford, Connecticut, in 1942, prepares for a flight in a F4U-1. Early production model F4U-1s had framed canopies (also called a bird cage); later F4U-1s were fitted with a raised piece of plexiglass incorporated into the top of the bird-cage canopy to house a rearview mirror. (NMNA)
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