Pleased with the company's
VE-7, in 1926 the Navy gave
Vought a $459,709 contract for 20 convertible land/sea fighters. Vought already had a two-seat observation plane, the
UO-1, basically a VE-7 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
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 at . 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 these
observation seaplanes were launched from
catapults. They spent eight months in this role, but as the squadron went to
aircraft carrier operations, the further-aft cockpit proved to have a visibility problem when maneuvering around a carrier deck. In response, the forward cockpit was re-opened, the resulting aircraft being designated
FU-2. By this time they were obsolescent, and the two-seaters served primarily as trainers and utility aircraft. ==Operators==