Vought V-143 NR-56V USAAC Wright Field Materiel Division 23 June 1937

These are 1/72 scale decals for the Vought V-143 NR-56V, as demonstrated to the United States Army Air Corps at Wright Field, Ohio on 23 June 1937, wearing Light Blue No. 23 overall with natural metal cowling and wheel spat details, and civil registration NR-56V in two size options.

The V-143 was the refined export development of the Vought V-141, incorporating aerodynamic improvements and a more powerful engine in an attempt to secure the production contract that had eluded the V-141 in 1936. Demonstrated once more to the Army Air Corps at Wright Field on 23 June 1937, the V-143 again failed to win a USAAC order — but this final American evaluation was almost its last act before a far more consequential transaction. Just months after this Wright Field demonstration, the V-143 was sold to Imperial Japan, shipped across the Pacific, and handed to the Naval Air Technical Arsenal for exhaustive technical evaluation as the AXV1. The design lessons extracted from that evaluation — retractable undercarriage, stressed-skin construction, aerodynamic refinement — fed directly into the development of the Mitsubishi A6M Zero.

The civil registration NR-56V — carried throughout the V-143's American demonstration career — and the Light Blue No. 23 finish connect this aircraft visually and historically to the entire V-141/V-143 family already represented in the ootbModels range. The Wright Field Materiel Division seal and Army Air Corps wings are included on the decal sheet. Includes two registration size options: NR-56V in two sizes.

The penultimate chapter in the Northrop 3-A → V-141 → V-143 → Zero story — a natural companion to the Vought V-141 USAAC, Vought V-141 USN, Vought V-141 Export, and Vought AXV1 listings. Please allow some time for decal printing and shipping.