Vought, Chance

Vought, Chance (Milton) (1890–1930) aircraft designer/manufacturer; born in New York City. He was taught to fly by the Wright brothers (c. 1910) and was chief engineer of the Wright company until forming his own firm (1917). Ambitious, daring, and extremely mechanical, he had an intuitive sense for designing clean, streamlined aircraft. Among his famous designs were the Vought-Wright Model V military biplane (1916), the Vought VE-7 (1919), the Vought UO-1 military observation plane (1922–25), and the FU-1 single-seat high-altitude supercharged fighter (1925). He helped unite major aircraft companies into United Aircraft & Transport Corp. (1929).