The origins of the OJ stemmed from a 1929 Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) requirement calling for an observation seaplane intended for service aboard Omaha class light cruisers, readily convertible to wheels or floats and light enough to operate from the cruiser-type catapult.

[1] Prototypes were ordered from Keystone-Loening (then a subsidiary of Curtiss-Wright), Berliner-Joyce and Vought, and designated as the XOK-1, XOJ-1 and XO4U-1 respectively.

The Berliner Joyce design, a conventional biplane of mixed metal and fabric construction with staggered wings and the pilot and observer seated in tandem in open cockpits, first flew in May 1931.

One OJ-2 modified in early 1934 with an NACA-type cowling and enclosed cockpits was delivered for trials as the XOJ-3, but after a crash it was rebuilt and returned to service as an OJ-2.

The Navy stopped the overhaul program for the aircraft and by the middle of 1941 all of them had been struck off charge.