Vought V-141

The Vought V-141 was a prototype American single-seat fighter of the 1930s, later redesignated V-143 after modification. It grew out of the unsuccessful Northrop 3-A design, which Vought bought in 1936 hoping to win a United States Army Air Corps fighter contract. The V-141 was a low-wing monoplane with a retractable tailwheel undercarriage and an enclosed cockpit, powered by a 750 horsepower Pratt and Whitney R-1535 Twin Wasp Junior radial engine, and it first flew on 29 March 1936. Testing showed poor handling, a tendency to spin and tail flutter, so the Air Corps rejected it and chose the Seversky P-35 instead. Vought then offered a modified V-143 to export customers including Argentina, Turkey, Norway and Yugoslavia without success. The sole prototype was sold to the Japanese Army in 1937 and evaluated by the Japanese Navy, but no production followed.