Chance Vought (Jump to photos)
The Lewis and Vought Corporation began in 1917 and was soon succeeded by the Chance Vought Corporation in 1922 when Birdseye Lewis retired. A former chief engineer of the Wright Company, Chance Vought began the company to take advantage of the growing field of military and civilian aviation after World War I. Operations began in Astoria, New York and in 1919 were moved to Long Island City, New York.
Vought died from septicemia in 1930, but in that short time period succeeded in producing a variety of fighters, trainers, flying boats, and surveillance aircraft for the US Navy and the US Army Air Service. Vought made history in 1922 when their VE-7 "Bluebird" trainer made the first takeoff from the decks of the USS Langley, the first American aircraft carrier. Following this success came the VE-11 naval fighter and the O2U Corsair, the first of the Corsair aircraft.
In 1928, the company was acquired by United Aircraft and Transport Corporation, but stayed its own separate division among the likes of Pratt and Whitney and Boeing.
World War and Postwar Era 1930s-1960
Despite the Great Depression, Vought continued to design and manufacture aircraft at a growing pace. Soon after Chance Vought\\\'s death in 1930, the company moved its operations to East Hartford, Connecticut. Under the Air Mail Act of 1934, United Aircraft and Transportation Corp. was forced by law to divide its businesses, resulting in Boeing Aircraft, United Airlines, and the United Aircraft Corp, of which Vought was a part. In 1939 United Aircraft moved Vought to Stratford, Connecticut where their Sikorsky division was located and renamed the entire division Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft.
Chief Engineer Rex Beisel began in 1938 to develop the XF4U, recognized by its distinctly inverted gull wings. After a maiden flight in 1940, thousands of the F4U Corsair were produced for the Navy and Marines in World War II. By the end of its production in 1952, Vought, Goodyear, and Brewster had all produced the aircraft at one point or another. Vought was restablished as a separate division in United Aircraft in 1942.
In postwar 1949, Vought moved operations to Dallas, Texas where the former North American "B" plant was located. Initiated by the Navy, who feared having their two main aircraft manufacturers located on the East Coast posed an unnecessary risk, Vought moved 27 million pounds of equipment and 1300 employees in 14 months, a record breaking industrial move at the time.
In 1954, the company fully separated from United Aircraft and became the independent Chance Vought Aircraft Inc.
Vought began manufacture of its F-8 Crusader for the US Navy in 1957, one of the first Navy fighters capable of supersonic flight and the Navy\\\'s last all-gun fighter. The same basic design was later revised and used for Vought\\\'s A-7 Corsair II in the 1960s, which was engaged in a variety of close support and strike missions during the Vietnam War.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vought
