By the beginning of 1943 Westinghouse had made considerable progress with the engines, and the next job was to design an efficient airframe. The US Navy’s Bureau of Aeronautics decided to call on the services of the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, the resultant joint effort to be designated XFD-1.

McDonnell FD-1 Phantom / FH-1 Phantom Article

The designers set out to produce the smallest possible fighter that would satisfactorily carry a pilot, four 0.50-inch guns and their ammunition for a specified length of time. Weight, wing area and even engine power were treated as secondary consideration. Everything was to be kept as simple as possible with no “frills” or unnecessary gadgets to complicate production. Unorthodox ideas such as a tailless or tail-first layout (to keep the tail out of the way of the jet exhaust) or a prone position for the pilot were quickly put aside.

The McDonnell engineering team took just about a year to finalise the design of the XFD-1, although a preliminary mock-up inspection was held at St Louis at the end of May 1943. The release of drawings for structural work began on 25 January 1944 and construction of the prototype took a further year. By January, 1945, the last drawings had been finished, the last airframe parts made and assembled. On paper, the Westinghouse 19B was now promising a thrust of 1,500 lb (680 kg) in a version designated WE-19XB-2B for the prototypes of the XFD-1, but, in practice, engines reaching McDonnell were unable to produce this thrust and deliveries were lagging behind airframe availability.

In order to minimise the delay, taxy trials of the first XFD-1, by now named Phantom, began with only one engine installed, and ballast in the other engine bay, during January 1945. Although the 19B engine was producing only 1,325 lb at this stage, the company’s chief test pilot Woodward Burke felt confident enough to allow the aircraft to get airborne on 26 January 1945 in what has subsequently become widely re¬corded as the Phantom’s first flight. According to Kendall Perkins, though, this was only an “initial hop (rising a short way off the ground)”; the first real flight followed a few days later, after the second engine had been installed.

Satisfactory results were recorded in the first few weeks of flight testing, including a speed of 483 mph (778 km/h) at 20,000 ft (6 100 m), an initial rate of climb of 5,000 ft/min (25 m/sec) and a range of 750 mls (1 200 km). Consequently, the Navy was ready to initiate production of its first jet fighter, placing a contract for 100 FD-1s on 7 March 1945. They were to be powered by 1,600 lb st (726 kgp) Westinghouse J30-WE-20 turbojets, these being productionised WE-19s. The pro¬duction aircraft would closely resemble the prototypes, but would have increased internal fuel capacity, provision for a belly drop tank, a taller, square-tipped fin, slightly lengthened front fuselage and (on all but the first three production aircraft) dive brakes in the upper and lower surfaces of the outer wing panels.

Within a few months of production being launched, the war was over, first in Europe and then against Japan. VJ Day, on 2 September 1945, brought massive and immediate cuts in aircraft contracts in the US and that for the FD-1 was cut back to 30 aircraft, but later increased again to 60. Some considera¬tion was given to using an improved Model 19C version of the Westinghouse engine in the second batch of 30 aircraft, perhaps to have been designated FD-2s, but this did not materialise, and the entire production run was of the FD-1 configuration. After a first flight of a production FD-1 on 28 October 1946, deliveries were made from January 1947 to 29 May 1948, with the designation changing from FD-1 to FH-l halfway through the run, on 21 August 1947 (and then becoming retrospective for the Phantoms already in service).

First production aircraft designed by the company, the McDonnell FH-1 Phantom was notable in being also the first jet designed to operate from an aircraft-carrier. The US Navy placed the original letter of intent on 30 August 1943, and the first prototype made its initial flight from St Louis airport, Lambert Field, on 26 January 1945. The type was certainly not over-powered, because the final propulsion system, adopted after many studies of alterna¬tives, was two slim Westinghouse 19B engines buried in the wing roots. Later produced in small numbers as the J30, these were hardly enough for ade¬quate performance.

The first flight is thus all the more remarkable in that, at that time, Westinghouse had been able to deliver only one engine, and one of the wing-root engine bays was empty.

At that time McDonnell’s US Navy designator letter was D, the pro¬totype being the XFD-1, but because of confusion with Douglas (which also used letter D) McDonnell was assigned letter H, so that the 60 pro-duction Phantoms were designated FH-1, first flying on 28 October 1946. They were gentle and easy to fly, and on 21 July 1946 a prototype landed on and took off from USS Franklin D. Roosevelt. The production aircraft were delivered from December 1946 and served mainly with US Marine fighter squadron VMF-122. Their fault was lack of performance and lack of fire¬power, and the next-generation F2H Banshee was a vast improvement on both counts and after equipping one US Navy and two USMC squadrons, were withdrawn in 1950.

FH-1 Phantom
Powerplant: two 726-kg (1,600-lb) thrust Westinghouse J30-20 turbojets
Maximum speed 771 km/h (479 mph) at sea level / 813 km/h (505 mph) at high altitude
Cruising speed 215 kt / 399 km/h
Service ceiling 13000 m (43,000 ft)
Range 1110 km (690 miles) without belly drop tank.
Empty weight 3031 kg (6,683 lb)
Maximum take-off weight 5459 kg(12,035 lb)
Wing loading 43.67 lb/sq.ft / 213.0 kg/sq.m
Wingspan 12.42 m (40 ft 9 in)
Length 11.81 m (38 ft9 in)
Height 4.32 rn (14 ft2 in)
Wing area 25.64 sq.m (276 sq ft)
Armament: four 12.7 mm (0.5-in) machine-guns in upper part of nose
Crew: 1

The McDonnell F2H Banshee began life even before the end of World War II when the US Navy requested an improved version of the FH-1 Phantom. Designed by a team headed by Herman D. Barkley, bearing a resemblance to the earlier type, the Banshee was of increased size, incorporating folding wings, and with a lengthened fuselage to house more fuel, and with similarly-mounted and more powerful Westinghouse turbojet engines. Conventional ailerons, elevators and rudder were fitted, and split trailing-edge flaps. Small air-brakes were in the top surface of the outer wings. A tricycle undercarriage, with a single wheel on each unit, has the mains retract outward into the wings, and the nose wheel retracts rearward. Fuel was in five tanks in the fuselage.

McDonnell F2H Banshee Article

Three prototypes being ordered on 22 March 1945, as XF2D-1s, these later gaining the name Banshee. First flying in prototype form from St Louis, Missouri, on 11 January 1947, by then redesignated XF2H-1.

Initial trials were successfully accomplished, McDonnell being rewarded in May 1947 by a contract for 56 production F2H-l fighters, which began to enter service with VF-171 of the Atlantic Fleet during March 1949.

Like the later Phantom II, the Banshee proved to be a versatile machine, satisfactorily undertaking day and night fighter tasks, all-weather interception, close air support and photographic reconnaissance.

Following on from the original F2H-1 came the F2H-2, which had slightly more powerful engines and a longer fuselage. Production of the basic F2H-2 totalled 364, some of which were later modified to F2H-2B standard for close support tasks.

14 examples of the F2H-2N specialized night-fighter derivative were also completed, these incorporating airborne interception radar in a slightly longer nose.

For reconnaissance, 89 F2H-2P aircraft were completed as new, these being unarmed and featuring six cameras in an elongated nose section.

Production then switched to the F2H-3 (in 1962 redesignated F-2C), which was optimized for all-weather fighter duties, the first of 250 entering service during April 1952 and being easily recognizable by virtue of a fusel¬age- rather than fin-mounted tailplane, and was 8 ft longer than the -2, with more than double the internal fuel capacity and APQ-41 radar in the nose (250 built).

During the summer of 1949 the first US pilot to ever use an ejection seat escaped his F2H-1 Banshee while speeding over coastal South Carolina at 500 kts.

From November 1955, 39 ex-US Navy F2H-3s were transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy. That service’s first operational jet fighters, they were operated from HMCS Bonaventure until 12 September 1962, when the last examples were retired from service. They proved to be the last carrier-based fighters in Canadian service. Plans to acquire the F2H-3P for reconnaissance were abandoned.

The final production model was the F2H-4 (F-2D), which introduced improved APG-41 radar and more powerful engines, the 150th and last bringing production of the ‘Banjo’ to a close in August 1953.

The F2H was finally phased out of front line US Navy use on 30 September 1959, but remained with reserve units until the mid-‘sixties.

Contracts were to call eventually for a total of 892 production aircraft.

Gallery

XF2D-1 / XF2H-1
Engines: 2 x Westinghouse J34 turbojets
Number produced: 3

F2H-1 Banshee
Engines: 2 x Westinghouse J34-WE-22 turbojets, 3000 lbs.st.
Length 40 ft 2 in
Armament: 4 x 20 mm cannon.
Number produced: 56

F2H-2 Banshee
Engines: 2 x Westinghouse J34-WE-34 turbojets, 3250 lbs.st.
Length 40 ft 2 in
Armament: 4 x 20 mm cannon.
Number produced: 364

F2H-2B Banshee
Engines: 2 x Westinghouse J34-WE-22 turbojets, 3000 lbs.st.
Length 40 ft 2 in
Armament: 4 x 20 mm cannon, 2 x 500 lb bomb.

F2H-2N
Length 40 ft 2 in
Number produced: 14

F2H-2P Banshee
Armament: none
Number produced: 89

F2H-3 / F-2C
Engines: two 14.45kN (3,250-lb) thrust Westinghouse J34-WE-34 turbojets
Maximum speed 933 km/h (580 mph) at sea level
Service ceiling 14874 m (48,800 ft)
Max range 2374 km(1,475 miles)
Maximum speed 35,000 ft / 10,668 m: 532 mph / 856 kph
Empty weight 55056 kg (11,461 lb)
Maximum take-off 7802 kg (17,200 lb)
Wingspan 12.73 m (41 ft 9 in)
Length 14.68 m (48 ft 2 in)
Height 4.42 m (l4 ft 6 in)
Wing area 27.31 sq.m (294 sq.ft)
Armament: four 20-mm cannon, plus (Canadian aircraft only) two AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles.
Crew: 1
Number produced: 250

F2H-4 / F-2D
Engines: 2 x Westinghouse J34-WE-38 turbojets, 3600 lbs.st.
Wingspan: 44 ft. 11 in
Length: 47 ft. 6 in
Loaded weight: approx. 19,000 lb
Max speed: 610 m.p.h
Ceiling: 56,000 ft
Typical range: 2,000 miles at over 500 mph
Armament: 4 x 20 mm. cannon
Crew: 1

The beginning of the Korean conflict on 25 June 1950 and the shortcomings of the Douglas B-26 / A-26, accounted for the urgent procurement of a light tactical bomber.

Martin B-57 Canberra Article

The new bomber had to be capable of operating from unimproved airfields, at night and in every kind of weather, with conventional or atomic weapons. High altitude reconnaissance was another must. For such purposes, the B-45 was too heavy; the Navy AJ-1, too slow; and the Martin experimental B-51’s range too short.

As a result of the outbreak in Korea, the Air Force reached a final decision. The desire for a night intruder was so strong that it took just a few days to set in motion the informal production endorsement of February 1951. Because of its experience with the XB-51, the Glenn L. Martin Company was recognized as the most qualified contractor to assume the domestic production of the British aircraft and to deal with the likely engineering difficulties involved in manufacturing a high-performance tactical bomber.

The new bomber became the Martin B-57, a by-product of the English Electric Canberra, the first British-built jet bomber, initially flown in 1949. Adaptation of a foreign-made aircraft to American mass production methods, as well as the use of different materials and tools, could present many difficulties. Another problem, perhaps more critical, centered on the Wright J65 turbojets, due to replace the Canberra’s two Rolls Royce Avon turbojet engines. The J65 was the U.S. version of the Sapphire, a British hand-tooled production currently scheduled for manufacturing by the U.S. Curtiss-Wright Corporation. The Air Force was fully aware of these potential pitfalls, but had no better option. It had an immediate requirement for a light jet bomber, with a 40,000-foot service ceiling, a 1,000-nautical mile range, and a maximum speed of 550 knots.

Testing of two imported Canberras revealed design faults that could affect the safety, utility, and maintenance of the future B-57. Then, one of the British planes crashed; Martin’s subcontractors could not meet their commitments; and the J65 prototype engines consistently failed to satisfy USAF requirements. In June 1952, further test flights had to be postponed for a year because of continuing engine and cockpit troubles. As a result, the Korea-bound B-57 did not fly before 20 July 1953, just 7 days before the conflict ended. Production of the crucial RB-57 was also delayed. The reconnaissance version entered service in mid-1954, after testing again confirmed that the more powerful J65 engines, added equipment, and other improvements had increased the aircraft’s weight, in turn reducing the speed, distance, and altitude of both the B-57 and the RB-57.

The program was reduced, but there was no talk of cancellation. In 1955, the B/RB-57s justified their costs when they served overseas pending the B/RB-66 deliveries which, as predicted, had fallen behind schedule. The first Martin B‑57A (the name Canberra was re­tained, though Night Intruder was also used) flew on 20 July 1953. In 1956, much-needed RB-57Ds joined the Strategic Air Command, and various configurations of this model satisfied important special purposes.

The main model (202 built) was the B 57B with a redesigned forward fuselage with a crew of only two seated in tandem under a giant rear hinged canopy. This attack version introduced a heavier bombload in a rotary door weapon bay, plus eight pylons under the outer wings and forward firing guns. The B 57B equipped two wings in Tactical Air Command and a wing of PACAF (Pacific Air Forces) but had mainly been passed to Air National Guard units by the early 1960s. Vietnam requirements then demanded aircraft in this class and all available B 57Bs (many had been re built into other models) were rushed to South Vietnam and used very success¬fully in the attack role and in particular as FAC (Forward Air Control) aircraft.

Delivered too late for combat in Korea, the RB-57 in May 1963 and the B-57 in February 1965 began to demonstrate under fire in Southeast Asia the basic qualities justifying the Canberra’s original selection.

RB-57 Reconnaissance Canberra Article

The original B-57A differed little externally from the English Canberra B2. The RB-57A was similar, with reconnaissance equipment.

The B-57B, with eight 0.50 in or four 20mm guns in the wings, bombs in an internal bomb bay, and underwing racks, served with the Chinese Nationalist and Pakistani air forces.

Variants include the RB-57D(A) and (B) with cameras, the RB-57D(C) and (D) electronics reconnaissance aircraft with radomes at the nose and tail and under the fuselage, and the RB-57(C) with wingtip radomes.

In 1970, other reactivated and newly equipped B-57s, known as Tropic Moon III B-57Gs, were deployed to Southeast Asia, where they made valuable contributions until April 1972. A total of 16 B 57Bs was rebuilt as B-57G (Tropic Moon) all weather and night attack aircraft with APQ 139 radar, a FLIR (forward looking infra-red), low light TV and laser ranger. The most capable aircraft of its day, the B 57G remained a mere study programme despite brilliant combat results.

The last new-built version was the B 57E multi role attack/bomber and target tug, all 68 of which were later modified for other tasks.

Finally, WB-57Fs, either modified RB-57Fs or former B-57Bs, were still flying high-altitude radiation sampling missions in 1973. Concurrently, EB-57Es, and related adaptations of the versatile B-57, continued to play significant roles, with no immediate phaseout in sight.

403 were built under licence by Martin (in six variants) as the B-57 and served with the US Air Force from August 1953 until 1982 in various marks and guises. At a later date a number of these were converted by General Dynamics to serve as ultra high-altitude strategic reconnaissance aircraft. These were provided with a wing span of 37.19m, two 80kN Pratt & Whitney TF33-P-11 turbofan engines (replacing the conventional power plant), plus two 14.68kN Pratt & Whitney J60-P-9 turbojets in underwing pods, and many equipment and avionics changes to fit them for their specialised role. The B-57 saw combat over Vietnam beside other Canberras from Australia.

The USAF bought 21 WB-57F aircraft, which were built by General Dynamics from existing B-57Bs and RB-57Ds. The airplanes’ ability to reach altitudes over 65,000 feet, carry payloads in excess of 4,000 lbs, and its triple spar wings made it a very capable high-altitude platform. Missions included everything from weather reconnaissance for Apollo space launches to sampling radiation in nuclear weapon test plumes.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s the Air Force decided to ground the WB-57F and depend exclusively on the U-2 for high-altitude support. The mission of monitoring nuclear test bans was better done by the WB-57F than the U-2, however. That mission was important enough that three aircraft were given to NASA to keep that capability alive, which were designated N925N, N926NA, and N928NA.

When N925N was retired and put on display at Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona, it that left NASA with two WB-57Fs. Another airframe joined the fleet in 2011 after been taken out of the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, (AMARG), better known as the “Bone Yard,” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. The aircraft, designated N927NA, began as a B-57B, and then was one of 21 aircraft rebuilt as an RB-57F in 1964. As an RB-57F the aircraft had its wingspan increased to 122 feet and the original Wright J65 turbojets were replaced by Pratt & Whitney TF-33 turbofans, doubling both the wingspan and thrust.

N927 had been retired in June 1972 and remained on “celebrity row” at the Bone Yard until May 2011 when it was dismantled and trucked to Sierra Nevada Corporation at Centennial Airport, Colorado. After being refurbished to flying condition it was flown to Ellington AFB in August 2013.

The aircraft had been in storage for over 40 years and made its first flight in 41 years in the summer of 2013, setting a record for the longest an aircraft had sat in the Bone Yard before returning to flying status.

Based at Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, the WB-57F operates in NASA’s High Altitude Research Program. The aircraft provides unique, high-altitude (up to 70,000 feet MSL) airborne platforms to United States government agencies and other customers for scientific research, advanced technology development, and testing around the world.

Since 2000, the unique performance capabilities of the WB-57F aircraft and increasing costs associated with the ER-2 program have resulted in NASA allowing multiple customers to use the WB-57Fs for atmospheric and satellite sensor research. The DOD programs have gotten much broader, and N928 (and sometimes N926) have multiple customers asking us to help them develop satellite sensors.

Both aircraft were enjoying multiple customers. By June 2014, both aircraft were upgraded with global positioning satellite navigation systems, F-15 main landing gear and brakes, and the gross weight capability of both aircraft was certified from 63,000 pounds to 72,000 pounds. Ongoing upgrades to the aircraft include installation of the ACES II ejection seat system and installation of an improved, modern autopilot.

Gallery

B-57B
Night intruder bomber
Engines: 2 x Wright J65-W-3 Sapphire turbojets, 7,500lb thrust
Wingspan: 64 ft
Length: 65 ft. 6 in
Loaded weight: 46,000 lb.
Max speed: over 600 m.p.h.
Ceiling: over 45,000 ft.
Max range: 3,000 miles.
Armament: 8x.50 in. machine-guns
Bombload: 6,000 lb; 8×5-in. rockets
Hardpoints: 4
Crew: 2

B 57B
Engines: two 3,275 kg (7,220 lb) thrust Wright J65 W 5 turbojets.
Maximum speed 937 km/h (582 mph) at 12190 m (40,000 ft).
Service ceiling 14630 m (48,000 ft).
Range 3700 km (2,300 miles).
Weights: empty 11793 kg (26,000 lb)
Maximum take off 24948 kg (55,000 lb)
Wing span 19.51 m (64 ft 0 in)
Length 19.96 m (65 ft 6 in)
Height: 4.75 m (15 ft 7 in)
Wing area: 89.18 m (960 sq ft).
Armament: eight 12.7 mm (0, 5 in) or four 20 mm guns; up to 2722 kg (6,000 lb), 16 underwing rockets or mixed rocket/ bomb/napalm loads.

RB-57D
Engines: 2 x Pratt & Whitney J57C, 11,000 lb
Wingspan: 106 ft
Length: 65 ft 6 in
Height: 14 ft 10 in
Max speed: 632 mph at 40,000 ft
Service ceiling: 60,000 ft

RB 57F
Engines: 2 x Pratt & Whitney TF33 P 11 turbofan, 18,000 lb (8,165 kg) st, and 2 x P&W J60 P 9 auxiliary turbojets, 3,300 lb (1,500 kg) st.
Wing span: 122 ft 5 in (37.32 m)
Length: 69 ft 0 in (21.03 m).
Height: 5.8 m / 19 ft 0 in
Max take-off weight: 20360 kg / 44886 lb
Empty weight: 13600 kg / 29983 lb
Max. speed: 880 km/h / 547 mph
Ceiling: 25000 m / 82000 ft
Range w/max.fuel: 6440 km / 4002 miles
Typical endurance: Over 10 hr
Crew: 2
Armament: None