The Berliner-Joyce OJ was an American biplane observation floatplane developed by the

Berliner-Joyce Aircraft Berliner-Joyce Aircraft was an American aircraft manufacturer. History The company was founded on the February 4, 1929, when Henry Berliner and his 1922 company, Berliner Aircraft Company of Alexandria, Virginia, joined with Maryland Aviati ...

for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during the early 1930s.

Design and development

The origins of the OJ stemmed from a 1929

Bureau of Aeronautics The Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) was the U.S. Navy's material-support organization for naval aviation from 1921 to 1959. The bureau had "cognizance" (''i.e.'', responsibility) for the design, procurement, and support of naval aircraft and relate ...

(BuAer) requirement calling for an

observation seaplane Observation seaplanes are military aircraft with flotation devices allowing them to land on and take off from water. Their primary purpose was to observe and report enemy movements or to spot the fall of shot from naval artillery, but some were a ...

intended for service aboard ''Omaha'' class light cruisers, readily convertible to wheels or floats and light enough to operate from the cruiser-type catapult. Prototypes were ordered from Keystone-Loening (then a subsidiary of

Curtiss-Wright The Curtiss-Wright Corporation is a manufacturer and services provider headquartered in Davidson, North Carolina, with factories and operations in and outside the United States. Created in 1929 from the consolidation of Curtiss, Wright, and v ...

), Berliner-Joyce and

Vought Vought was the name of several related American aerospace firms. These have included, in the past, Lewis and Vought Corporation, Chance Vought, Vought-Sikorsky, LTV Aerospace (part of Ling-Temco-Vought), Vought Aircraft Companies, and Vought Ai ...

, and designated as the XOK-1, XOJ-1 and XO4U-1 respectively. The Berliner Joyce design, a conventional biplane of mixed metal and fabric construction with staggered wings and the pilot and observer seated in tandem in open cockpits, first flew in May 1931. By that time the rival XOK-1 was already destroyed in a crash. Following trials that lasted into 1932, BuAer awarded Berliner-Joyce a contract. An order for 18 production aircraft designated OJ-2 was placed in March 1932, and two more orders followed, one in May 1933 for nine aircraft and a further 12 aircraft in December 1933 for use by reserve units. One OJ-2 modified in early 1934 with an

NACA The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its assets ...

-type cowling and enclosed cockpits was delivered for trials as the XOJ-3, but after a crash it was rebuilt and returned to service as an OJ-2.

Operational history

The OJ entered service with VS-5B and VS-6B in 1933 mainly for use on ''Omaha'' class light cruisers. Some OJs were used by reserve units with the first being VN-6R which were based near Washington to train reserve pilots and to enable staff officers to maintain their flying categories. By 1936 all the remaining aircraft were operated by reserve units and at the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

29 aircraft were still in service. The Navy stopped the overhaul program for the aircraft and by the middle of 1941 all of them had been struck off charge. Unusually for its generation, only four aircraft were lost in accidents without any loss of life.

Variants

;XOJ-1 :Prototype powered by a 400hp R-985-1 Wasp Junior radial engine, one built. ;OJ-2 :Production variant which had interchangeable floats or wheeled landing gear, 39 built. ;XOJ-3 :One production OJ-2 modified with NACA cowling and enclosed cockpit; later reverted to the standard OJ-2 configuration and returned to service.

Operators

; *

** VS-5B ** VS-6B

Specifications (OJ-2)

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{USN observation aircraft 1930s United States military reconnaissance aircraft Floatplanes OJ Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1931