The Berliner-Joyce XF2J was the company's second

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

fighter for the United States Navy. The XF2J was ordered on 30 June 1931 and although designated as a two-seat fighter, it was used as an observation aircraft.

Design and development

The XF2J's construction was all-metal with a fabric covered rudder. The upper wing was " gulled", with a short, sharply upward-angled section, with the remainder of the wing with a slight dihedral. The lower wing span was shorter than the upper wing, and was braced with "N" struts and wires. A .30 calibre machine gun was located in each of the gulled sections of the upper wing and were synchronized to fire through the propeller arc.Forgotten Fighters p 56 The tightly-cowled 9-cylinder

Pratt & Whitney R-1690C Hornet The Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet was a widely used American aircraft engine. Developed by Pratt & Whitney, 2,944 were produced from 1926 through 1942. It first flew in 1927. It was a single-row, 9-cylinder air-cooled radial design. Displacemen ...

was the engine originally specified, but was changed to the 14-cylinder

Wright SR-1510-92 Whirlwind The Wright Whirlwind was a family of air-cooled radial aircraft engines built by Wright Aeronautical (originally an independent company, later a division of Curtiss-Wright). The family began with nine-cylinder engines, and later expanded to incl ...

before the aircraft flew. The propeller was a metal constant speed two-blade design. The original open cockpits were modified to sliding canopies shortly after delivery to the navy.

Operational history

The XF2J-1 suffered from the same faults as the P-16, resulting in an unfavourable service trial of the one prototype, which had appeared two years late due to a protracted development phase, exacerbated by financial difficulties that eventually led to the demise of the company Baugher, Joe.
"Berliner-Joyce P-16/PB-1."
''USAAC/USAAF/USAF Fighter and Pursuit Aircraft'', 7 June 1998. Retrieved: 22 June 2007. The poor visibility over the nose and the landing characteristics doomed the XF2J-1, especially in light of the availability of the superior Grumman FF-1.

Specifications (XF2J-1)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Bowers, Peter M, ''Forgotten Fighters/1 US Navy, 1918–1941'' ARCO Publishing, New York, 1971, * W.Green, D.Swanborough ''The Complete Book of Fighters'', 2000

External links

Berliner-Joyce XF2J-1
{{USN fighters F2J Gull-wing aircraft 1930s United States fighter aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1933 Single-engined tractor aircraft Carrier-based aircraft