Vought VE-7G

11/15/2014. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "The VE-7, product of the new Lewis & Vought Corporation at Long Island City, NY, appeared in the summer of 1918 after the Aircraft Production Board urged American industry to turn out new original designs for the war program instead of trying to adapt European designs, as had been the previous policy. Vought was asked to develop an advanced trainer to use the 150 hp French Hispano-Suiza Model A engine, then in production by the Simplex Automobile Division of the Wright-Martin Company. (After WW I, Lewis & Vought was renamed Chance Vought Corporation after its founder, the famed aircraft designer Chance M. Vought.)

The VE-7 proved to be an excellent design that generally resembled a slightly scaled-down British DH-4 with the nose of a French Spad. Large orders were soon placed, and additional manufacturers were lined up to assist in production. However, the VE-7 did not go into production during the war. This was due to an economy and time-saving measure that resulted in the same 150 hp Wright-Hispano engine being installed in the existing 90 hp Curtiss JN-4D primary trainer, making it the JN-4H for advanced training duties. After the war, the USN became interested in a version of the VE-7 fitted with the 180 hp Wright-Hispano E engine. The naval versions were built by Vought and by the Naval Aircraft Factory to a total of 128, which was really large-scale production for the early 1920s. BuNos. A-5661 to A5700, A-5912 to A-5969; A-5971; A-6011 to A-6030, A-6436 to A6444.

Procured originally for training purposes, the performance of the VE-7 was such that it was used for a great variety of work under a number of sub-designations:

In the observation models, the observer rode in the forward cockpit, a reversion to early WW I practice when the disposable load of light-weight aircraft was carried right at the center of gravity. Service experience proved the VE-7s (and later UO-1s) to be notoriously tail-heavy. In spite of its relatively large wingspan, however, the VE-7 made a nimble single-seat fighter, a role in which it served as first-line equipment until 1926, with the pilot occupying the former rear cockpit.

VE- 7 landplanes operating over water were frequently fitted with emergency flotation gear of a design developed at the RAF Experimental Station on the Isle of Grain during WW I. Although this feature had been tested on earlier experimental USN aircraft, the VE-7s were the first US service models to be so equipped. To prevent nosing over when alighting on water, a Grain-developed hydrovane was installed ahead of the wheels. The seaplane versions were the standard observation and scouting aircraft of the fleet in the early post-war years, being carried aboard battleships and cruisers and launched by catapult. A larger vertical fin was frequently installed on the seaplane versions and was sometimes left in place when the aeroplane was temporarily converted to a landplane.

The VE-9 was identical with the VE-7 except for minor details and the improved E-3 version of the 180 hp Wright-Hispano engine. The USN ordered 21 as observation models (BuNos. A-6461 to A-6481, A-5970), most being the unarmed VE-9H for use with battleships and cruisers. Two experimental VE-9Ws, to have been fitted with the new 200 hp Lawrance J-1 air-cooled radial engine, were cancelled after it was decided to fit the new Vought UO-1 then on order with the radial instead of the higher-powered liquid-cooled engine for which it had been designed."