The F4B series was begun as a replacement for the Navy F2B/F3B and Army PW-8 fighters. Nothing in the F4B was radically new, but with refinements in design and basic features of both airplane and engine, the F4B series delivered better performance than its predecessors.

The first F4B-1 made its maiden flight on May 6, 1929. Delivery of the first F4B-4s, with larger fin and rudder, was in 1932 to Navy fighter squadrons on the USS Langley and the USS Saratoga. U.S. Marine Corps Squadrons VF-9M and VF-10M received 27 of the 93 F4Bs built. F4B-4s remained in active carrier service until 1937, when they were replaced with faster Grumman biplane fighters. They were then used on shore as utility aircraft. The F4B-4 exhibited here is in the markings of an aircraft belonging to VF-9M.