Berliner-Joyce XF2J

The Berliner-Joyce XF2J was the company's second biplane fighter for the United States Navy. The XF2J was ordered on 30 June 1931 and although designated as a two-seat fighter, it was used as an observation aircraft.

Design and development

The XF2J's construction was all-metal with a fabric covered rudder. The upper wing was "gulled", with a short, sharply upward-angled section, with the remainder of the wing with a slight dihedral. The lower wing span was shorter than the upper wing, and was braced with "N" struts and wires. A.30 calibre machine gun was located in each of the gulled sections of the upper wing and were synchronized to fire through the propeller arc.
The tightly-cowled 9-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-1690C Hornet was the engine originally specified, but was changed to the 14-cylinder Wright SR-1510-92 Whirlwind before the aircraft flew. The propeller was a metal constant speed two-blade design.
The original open cockpits were modified to sliding canopies shortly after delivery to the navy.

Operational history

The XF2J-1 suffered from the same faults as the P-16, resulting in an unfavourable service trial of the one prototype, which had appeared two years late due to a protracted development phase, exacerbated by financial difficulties that eventually led to the demise of the company The poor visibility over the nose and the landing characteristics doomed the XF2J-1, especially in light of the availability of the superior Grumman FF-1.