The Wright XF3W was an American racing

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engine ...

built by

Wright Aeronautical Wright Aeronautical (1919–1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer headquartered in Paterson, New Jersey. It was the successor corporation to Wright-Martin. It built aircraft and was a supplier of aircraft engines to other builders in the ...

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 ...

Development and design

After the U.S. Navy declared its preference for radial engines, Wright developed the P-1 Simoon. To demonstrate the engine, the F3W was designed to carry it. The F3W was a single-seat biplane, with a steel tubing fuselage and wood wings, covered by fabric. Designed to be a carrier-based fighter and powered by the Simoon engine, its performance was poor. After the Navy took delivery of the aircraft, they installed a rival company's engine, the Pratt & Whitney

R-1340 The Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp is an aircraft engine of the reciprocating type that was widely used in American aircraft from the 1920s onward. It was the Pratt & Whitney aircraft company's first engine, and the first of the famed Wasp series ...

radial Radial is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Mathematics and Direction * Vector (geometric), a line * Radius, adjective form of * Radial distance, a directional coordinate in a polar coordinate system * Radial set * A bearing f ...

. The aircraft was redesignated XF3W, and flew with the new engine for the first time on 5 May 1926.

Operational history

The Navy used the XF3W as a test bed for the Pratt & Whitney engine until 1930, during which time the aircraft set a number of records. On 6 September 1929, the XF3W piloted by

Apollo Soucek Apollo Soucek (February 24, 1897 – July 22, 1955) was a vice admiral in the United States Navy, who was a record-breaking test pilot during 1929 and 1930, served in World War II, and was commander of Carrier Division Three during the Korean ...

set the world altitude record for

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...

s of ; on 6 April 1930, Soucek set the landplane altitude record of . The XF3W was also fitted with a single centreline float to evaluate the concept of basing floatplanes on battleships.

Specifications

Wright XF3W-1 seaplane at NACA Langley 1927

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright F03W 1920s United States fighter aircraft XF3W Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1926 Single-engined tractor aircraft