The Vought OS2U Kingfisher is an American catapult-launched observation floatplane. It was a compact mid-wing monoplane, with a large central float and small stabilizing floats. Performance was modest because of its low-powered engine. The OS2U could also operate on fixed, wheeled, taildragger landing gear.

Mar 7, 2021 · In the late 1930s, Rex B. Beisel, an engineer from Vought, was ordered by the direction to anticipate this need and starting the design of such observation monoplane. It was designed as a multitask aircraft, with more focus on range and visibility than speed.

It was a nine-cylinder, single stage, air-cooled piston engine, with an ouptut at 450 hp (340 kW) for take-off, reduced to 400 hp (298 kW) at 5,000 ft (1,524 m). It drove a sing 2-bladed Hamilton Standard constant-speed propeller.

Flying from battleships, heavy cruisers and land bases during World War II, the Vought Sikorsky OS2U Kingfisher served throughout the Pacific in a variety of roles, from naval gunfire...

Feb 5, 2018 · Legendary World War I ace Eddie Rickenbacker owed his life to a Vought OS2U Kingfisher. After the B-17 in which he was flying ditched in the Pacific in 1942, Rickenbacker and other survivors spent more than three weeks in life rafts.

May 5, 2022 · The Vought OS2U Kingfisher, a scout and observation floatplane, began service with the Navy beginning in August 1940. They were built using spot welding.

The OS2U has a maximum speed of 149 knots at 5,000 feet, a cruise speed of 132 knots with seventy-five percent power at 6,000 feet, and a landing speed of 48 knots. It has a travel range of 789 nautical miles with 75% power at 6,000 feet.

While the OS2U-1 was proving itself, Vought introduced the OS2U-2, which had the R-985-50 P&W Wasp Junior engine. One-hundred-fifty-eight of these aircraft were delivered in 1940-41, the first models to be known officially as “Kingfishers.”

The OS2U-2 model introduced leak-proof fuel tanks, armor protection, as well as the more powerful R-985-50 engine, delivering the same 450hp but at 5000 feet! The new mark could also carry two 325lb depth charges.

The OS2U occasionally performed air-sea rescues, of which the most dramatic was the rescue of several downed aviators from Truk lagoon during the HAILSTONE raid. Because of the limited passenger capacity, a number of rescues were made by lashing survivors to the wings and taxiing on the surface to land or a ship or submarine rendezvous.