Naval Aircraft Factory TF

The Naval Aircraft Factory TF, short for Tandem Fighter, was an American twin-engine flying-boat escort fighter that first flew in October 1920. It grew out of British requirements of April 1918 for a long-range seaborne fighter able to escort maritime reconnaissance flights over the North Sea and Atlantic. The factory proposed a flying boat with the hull of the Curtiss NC-1, four crew and flexible Lewis machine guns, with the engines set in a tractor and pusher pair on the centreline, which changed the name from Twin to Tandem Fighter. Four prototypes were built, powered by two 300 horsepower Hispano-Suiza engines after the planned Kirkham engines proved troublesome. Overheating, rudder and aileron problems and a damaged water tank led to the project being cancelled on 11 January 1923.