In 1934 the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia was tasked to design and manufacture a new primary trainer for the U.S. Navy. The N3N biplane trainer was designed to work in both land and seaplane configurations. From 1936 to 1942, the factory produced almost one thousand N3Ns, of which more than eight hundred were N3N-3 models. Tricky ground handling characteristics as a landplane and the Navy's standard yellow paint scheme for trainers led to the unofficial nickname, the "Yellow Peril." The U.S. Navy used N3Ns extensively throughout World War II as primary trainers, retiring the last N3N in 1961.