Douglas F3D
| Douglas F3D / F-10 Skyknight | |
|---|---|
 Douglas EF-10B "Skyknight" of the USMC squadron VMCJ-2 |
|
| Type: | All-weather fighter plane |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
March 23, 1948 |
| Commissioning: |
1951 |
| Production time: |
1950 to 1952 |
| Number of pieces: |
277 |
The F3D Skyknight was a twin-engine fighter of the US Navy from 1948. The middle-decker was built by Douglas Aircraft Company in El Segundo , California .
The F3D was designed as a carrier-based all - weather aircraft and was used by the US Navy and the US Marine Corps .
history
The F3D did not have the typical look of a jet-powered fighter. As early as 1945, the US Navy had advertised a jet-powered night fighter with radar equipment . Ed Heinemann's Douglas team designed the hunter around what was then a rather bulky attack radar with two seats for the pilot and radar operator mounted side by side. From an aerodynamic point of view, the aircraft can be seen as a jet-powered parallel development to the Douglas A-1 "Skyraider". The aircraft was therefore correspondingly wide, deep and spacious. It used two Westinghouse J34 - turbojets under the wings close to the fuselage. Four 20-millimeter cannons were built into the lower fuselage. Douglas received a contract for three XF3D-1 prototypes on April 3, 1946 .
The radar system in the F3D-1 was a Westinghouse AN / APQ-35 . It was a combination of three different types of radar, a search radar , a tracking radar and a warning radar in the stern. The radar system was very complex because there was no semiconductor technology at the time. Maintenance was accordingly difficult.
Ejection seats were not installed for reasons of weight. Instead, a conventional parachute jump was planned for emergencies, which was made easier by a shaft behind the cockpit through which the crew should slide to the emergency exit hatch on the underside. This concept was later taken up again in the Douglas A3D .
The first flight of the XF3D-1 took place on March 23, 1948. A contract for 28 series F3D-1 machines followed in June 1948. The F3D-1 was then supplemented by the F3D-2 , which was first ordered in August 1949. The F3D-2 had new Westinghouse J46 engines and larger engine cells. However, problems with the J46 engine led to the installation of J34-WE-36 engines. The F3D-2 received a new Westinghouse AN / APQ-36 radar system. By March 23, 1952, a total of 237 F3D-2s had been built.
Versions
- XF3D-1
- Prototypes, 3 built; one (BuNo 121458) was equipped with Sparrow-I guided missiles in 1952
- F3D-1 (F-10A)
- Production version with Westinghouse J34 WE 36 engines; 28 built, from 1962 F-10A
- F3D-1M (MF-10A)
- Conversion of 12 F3D- 1s equipped with Sparrow-I guided missiles; from 1962 MF-10A
- F3D-2 (F-10B)
- Series version with improved avionics; was to receive Westinghouse J46 engines, but they were not ready for series production, therefore built with J34-WE-36, 237, from 1962 F-10B
- F3D-2B
- Conversion of an F3D-1 in 1952 that could carry a nuclear weapon
- F3D-2M (MF-10B)
- Reconstruction of 16 F3D-2s equipped with Sparrow-I guided missiles and APQ-36 radar in a longer radome; from 1962 MF-10B
- F3D-2Q (EF-10B)
- Conversion of 35 F3D-2s, upgrading of armament and installation of ECM equipment for electronic warfare; from 1962 EF-10B
- F3D-2T (TF-10B)
- Conversion of 60 F3D-2s to training aircraft for radar training; from 1962 TF-10B
- F3D-3
- planned version with swept wings and Westinghouse J46 engines; 287 aircraft were ordered but canceled in 1952
Mission history
The few F3D-1s were never used in the war and were mainly used for training purposes. The F3D-2, on the other hand, was used very intensively in the Korean War by the US Marine Corps squadron VMF (N) -513. They were used as escort fighters for B-29 bombers on night missions. They also flew nightly combat missions and penetrated far into enemy territory. The Skyknights shot down a total of eight enemy planes, without any losses of their own. She was the US Navy guy with the best kill rate in the Korean War.
After the Korean War, the F3D was gradually replaced by more powerful machines. The machines were later used to test air-to-air missiles such as Sparrow I, II, and III and Meteor missiles. These machines were called F3D-1M and F3D-2M .
The F3D-2M was the first Navy fighter to use Sparrow I air-to-air missiles, which were guided by the crew to the target. In the late 1950s, some F3D-2s were used for electronic warfare , they were called F3D-2Q (later also EF-10B ). Some were later converted to F3D-2T trainer aircraft.
In 1962 the designations were changed from F3D-1 to F-10A and from F3D-2 to F-10B . The EF-10B flew missions until 1969 in the Vietnam War . In 1970 the last EF-10B were retired. Some machines went to Raytheon as test aircraft and were taken out of service in the 1980s.
In 1959 Douglas designed the successor to the F3D-2, the Douglas F6D Missileer , which, however, was never to be built.
production
Acceptance of the Douglas Skyknight by the US Navy:
| version | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XF3D-1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||
| F3D-1 | 9 | 19th | 28 | ||
| F3D-2 | 19th | 91 | 122 | 232 | |
| F3D-3 | 5 | 5 | |||
| TOTAL | 11 | 39 | 96 | 122 | 268 |
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Data from the F3D-2 Skyknight |
|---|---|
| Length: | 13.9 m |
| Wingspan: | 15.24 m |
| Wing area: | 37.16 m² |
| Height: | 4.9 m |
| Drive: | two Westinghouse J34 -WE-36 with 1542 kg each |
| Top speed: | 909 km / h |
| Range: | 1,931 km |
| Crew: | Pilot and radar operator |
| Service ceiling: | 11,645 m |
| Empty weight: | 8,240 kg |
| All-up weight: | 10,690 kg |
| Max. Weight in flight: | 12,560 kg |
| Armament: | four 20 mm Hispano-Suiza M3 cannons |
swell
- René Francillon: McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Since 1920: Volume I. Putnam, London 1979, ISBN 0-87021-428-4 .
- Lloyd Jones: US Naval Fighters. Aero Publishers, Fallbrook 1977, ISBN 0-8168-9254-7 .
- Lloyd Jones: US Fighters. Aero Publishers, Fallbrook 1975, ISBN 0-8168-9200-8 .
- Edward H. Heinemann and, Rosario Rausa: Ed Heinemann - Combat Aircraft Designer. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1980, ISBN 0-87021-797-6 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Statistical Digest of the USAF 1949. pp. 164 ff .; 1951, p. 153 ff .; 1952, p. 153 ff .; 1953, p. 185.
Web links
- Boeing "McDonnell Douglas History, Skyknight, F3D (F-10)"
- GlobalSecurity "F3D (F-10) Skyknight"
- DOUGLAS F3D SKYKNIGHT / Greg Goebel's AIR VECTORS