The Naval Aircraft Factory XOSN was an American biplane observation

floatplane A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...

developed by the

Naval Aircraft Factory The Naval Aircraft Factory (NAF) was established by the United States Navy in 1918 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was created to help solve aircraft supply issues which the United States Department of the Navy, Navy Department faced upon the ...

for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during the late 1930s.

Design and development

In 1936, the Navy asked all interested aircraft manufacturers to submit bids for a new observation-scout aircraft, capable of operating from either water or land, but primarily intended for service on

battleships A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

and cruisers for

gunnery spotting An artillery observer, artillery spotter, or forward observer (FO) is a soldier responsible for directing artillery and mortar fire support onto a target. An artillery observer usually accompanies a tank or infantry unit. Spotters ensure that ...

. Three companies –

Stearman Aircraft Stearman Aircraft Corporation was an aircraft manufacturer in Wichita, Kansas. Although the company designed a range of other aircraft, it is most known for producing the Model 75, which is commonly known simply as the "Stearman" or "Boein ...

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 ...

and the Naval Aircraft Factory - submitted aircraft to meet the requirements. The Naval Aircraft Factory design, assigned the designation XOSN-1, was a two-seat

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 ...

of mixed metal and fabric construction, with the pilot and observer seated in tandem in a fully enclosed cockpit. Innovations included automatic

leading-edge slats A slat is an aerodynamic surface on the leading edge of the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. When retracted, the slat lies flush with the rest of the wing. A slat is deployed by sliding forward, opening a slot between the wing and the slat. Air from ...

on the upper wing and an I-strut bracing system that eliminated the need for interplane bracing wires. Provisions were made for either float or wheeled landing gear of a conventional

taildragger Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

type.

Operational history

The XOSN-1 was delivered for official trials in May 1938 and evaluated along with the other entrants. After Vought's monoplane XOS2U-1 was selected for production, the XOSN-1 was assigned to the

Naval Academy A naval academy provides education for prospective naval officers. List of naval academies See also

* Military academy {{Authority control Naval academies, Naval lists ...

at Annapolis where it was used as a trainer until mid-1944.

Operators

; *

Specifications (XOSN-1)

References

;Citations {{USN observation aircraft 1930s United States military reconnaissance aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Floatplanes Aircraft first flown in 1938 XOS1N Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear Single-engined piston aircraft