2194days

Aircraft · United States · 1940-1945

Vought OS2U Kingfisher

scout and observation floatplane

Catapulted from the decks of battleships and cruisers, the small Kingfisher spotted fall of shot for naval gunfire and searched the sea for downed airmen. In 1942 a Navy Kingfisher famously found World War I ace Eddie Rickenbacker and his B-17 crew adrift on rafts in the Pacific after three weeks lost at sea, and taxied them to safety when it could not take off with the extra weight.

Wikipedia

crew2
top speed264 km/h
armament2x MG, 650lb bombs
produced1,519

Pacific, Battle of the Atlantic, Mediterranean and North Africa

A U.S. Navy Vought OS2U-2 Kingfisher (BuNo.3117) seaplane in flight in early 1942.
A U.S. Navy Vought OS2U-2 Kingfisher (BuNo.3117) seaplane in flight in early 1942.U.S. Navy · Public domain · source
At Santiago Los Cerillos
At Santiago Los CerillosAeroprints.com · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
A U.S. Navy aviation cadet in training on a Vought OS2U Kingfisher at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas (USA).
A U.S. Navy aviation cadet in training on a Vought OS2U Kingfisher at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas (USA).Howard R. Hollem · Public domain · source