Flightdeck Fridays
(ed: OK, so it’s not Friday and this is an older Flightdeck Friday, but for some of the new folks arriving at the new site for the first time, here is what Flightdeck Friday’s are all about. Read, enjoy [hopefully] and comment – Please… – SJS)
Well, we have Friday Musings , Fullbore Fridays, Beer and Babes Fridays, so I guess it’s time to roll in with Flightdeck Fridays, presented herewith. What will one find? Well, it likely won’t be the usual stuff. Sorry, but they border on the overexposed anyway. Instead this will explore some of the lesser known or more infamous types that have graced the flight decks over the years. Oh, and the occasional folly too…
Presented today is the F3H Demon:
The end of WWII and the Korean War soon demonstrated the emerging technical potential of the Soviet Union and its client-states. The emergence of the MiG-15 in Korea was a real eye-opening event. It forced the Navy to struggle with the integration of several jet designs for its air wings. Success in aerodynamic refinement was promoting several swept wing, high performance Carrier aircraft, but their success hinged on one vital element – successful, concurrent evolution of a couple of key jet engine designs, one of them
being the Westinghouse J-40.
Unfortunately, many promising designs for the Navy and USAF were based on the in-development Westinghouse J-40, which was proposed as producing 11,000 lbs basic thrust with an AB version to follow at 14,400 lbs – a BIG engine for that era. In addition to the Demon, Navy hopes included the F4D Skyray and the A3D Skywarrior. The J-40 never came close to the Westinghouse promise (some sources say it got up to 6800 lbs), and was failure prone to the point of being totally unsafe. The J-40 program was ultimately cancelled, and soon caused the demise of Westinghouse as a jet engine manufacturer. It also strung out several aircraft development programs due to their need to find a new power plant, and adapt those designs to that alternative.
Initial work on the F3H series had been laid out in 1949, and a prototype flight of the original F3H-1N took place in August,1951, powered by the J-40. However, during this design / construction period, McDonnell and the Navy became seriously concerned that the J-40 program was so far behind that both deliveries and performance hopes were totally unrealistic.
McDonnell took it on their own initiative to propose a redesigned “Demon†based on the Allison J-71 engine, which, though still in development , was progressing well toward full production with the promise of meeting performance goals. The Navy agreed to the plan as a fallback, and the J-71 proposal was subsequently designated the F3H-2(N).
Th
e F3H never saw combat, and was operational for only eight years, but its weapons system allowed it to hold the line as a well-equipped All Weather CAP fighter, until the introduction of the F-8 and F-4 series.
If it were not for the weight “Death Spiral†caused by the failure of the Westinghouse J-40, the much-scorned Demon would likely have been a remarkable Carrier aircraft. It had the Navy’s first truly integrated all-weather weapons system, based on the new SPARROW AA missile – and it worked well for its time. From all accounts, the F3H flew well “up and awayâ€, but was grossly underpowered, even with the substitution of the J-71 for the J-40. Many of its features were the basis for the development of McDonnell’s final Navy product – the F-4 series.
Next Friday: Two Props and a Jet…(or How To Stage a Nuke Off a Carrier, 50’s -style)
What a shame that all of the kinks couldn’t be worked out, because this surely is an elegant looking fighter jet. Would the Air Force have also used the F3-H during this time or only the Navy? These seem like simple questions to someone of your knowledge, but it’s so difficult to discover anything about the history of the various fighter jets that the Canadian Air Force have used. Thank you once again for a most interesting post.
Veritas et Fidelis Semper
P.S. I’m having a difficult time not using the wee faces!
Deborah:
The F3H was a Navy only a/c, though it shared some design elements with the F-101 Voodoo. The important item to note is that the F3H (and to an extent, the F-101 also) led to the infinitely superior F-4 Phantom. BTW, the F-101B was flown by the RCAF.
– SJS
Hi SJS. I am actually new to your site and found it doing my research on a book I just read. Awhile back you did an article about the Assassins Mace. I was wondering if you read the new book by Evan Pedone with the same name? I was wondering if you really think that the weapons program, and the plot in the story is possible. Is this what you were leading to in your article? I read the book and at first I thought it was going to be just another military book. But working my way through I thought for a second it just may be possible. Regardless that weapon is terrifying and I couldnt imagine it being used. If so it would be game over.
Max:
Believe this is the post you were looking for. It lays out one potential scenario using medium range ballistic missiles vs. a carrier strike group. Assassin’s Mace refers not to just one weapon, but employment of weapons, traditional and non-, in unconventional or asymmetric manners to offset and neutralize a foe’s advantages. Hence the use of ant-CSG LRBMs are considered to be employment of the Assassin’s Mace – as would a cyber attack against C4I nodes, ASAT employment, etc.
This is the follow-up article that details some of the problems employing these weapons…
Good to have you onboard! 😀
– SJS