Vought XSO2U

The Vought XSO2U was an American observation floatplane developed by Vought-Sikorsky for the United States Navy in the late 1930s to replace the Curtiss SOC Seagull as the scout carried aboard cruisers. Vought's Model 403 resembled its OS2U Kingfisher but had the monoplane wing set higher and a squared-off cowling around an inline Ranger V-770 engine, and it could fly as a seaplane on a single float or as a taildragger landplane. The wings folded rearward, and it could carry a bomb or depth charge under each wing. The XSO2U-1 first flew in July 1939 as a landplane. It lacked directional stability, cured with a large ventral fin, and suffered from the unreliable, overheating Ranger engine. It beat the Curtiss XSO3C in evaluation, but Vought had no capacity to build it alongside the Kingfisher and the Corsair, so it lost the contract. The Navy struck it off in July 1944 and it was scrapped.