During the 1930s, it became evident that US Navy fighter aircraft were falling behind their US Air Corps and foreign contemporaries in performance and that something had to be done about it.
That contract was cancelled in January 1942, but the Navy\'s F7F would fly in November 1943..
In June 1941, two follow-on XP-65s were ordered (forerunner of the F7F).
It first flew on February 18, 1941 and crashed on May 14, 1941 due to an in-flight turbo explosion.
Unlike the XF5F-1 its life would be short lived.
The Army\'s XP-50 differed in having tricycle landing gear, extended nose, and turbo-supercharged engines.
Although never put into production, the XF5F-1 aircraft provided valuable aeronautical research until it was stricken on December 11, 1944 after a gear up landing.
A version, the XP-50, was developed for the Army and lessons leaned would be utilized in the superlative F7F Tigercat.
The twin-engine, twin-tail prototype was overbuilt so as to house ever increasing power plants which were never utilized.
The XF5F-1 would be developed through three distinct versions with both long-nose and short-nose configurations.
The second, a twin engine fighter, became the XF5F-1 Skyrocket.
The first, a single engine fighter, became the Vought F4U Corsair.
In 1938, the Navy solicited bids for two types of high performance fighters.
During the 1930s, it became evident that US Navy fighter aircraft were falling behind their US Air Corps and foreign contemporaries in performance and that something had to be done about it
