McDonnell FH Phantom
Early US twinjet fighter aircraft / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The McDonnell FH Phantom is a twinjet, straight-wing, carrier-based fighter aircraft designed and first flown during late World War II for the United States Navy. As a first-generation jet fighter, the Phantom was the first purely jet-powered aircraft to land on an American aircraft carrier[2][N 1] and the first jet deployed by the United States Marine Corps. Although only 62 FH-1s were built it helped prove the viability of carrier-based jet fighters. As McDonnell's first successful fighter, it led to the development of the follow-on F2H Banshee, which was one of the two most important naval jet fighters of the Korean War; combined, the two established McDonnell as an important supplier of navy aircraft.[4]
FH Phantom | |
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An FH-1 Phantom landing aboard USS Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1946 | |
Role | Carrier-based fighter aircraft |
Manufacturer | McDonnell Aircraft |
First flight | 26 January 1945 |
Introduction | August 1947 |
Retired | 1949 (USN, USMC) July 1954 (USNR)[1] |
Primary users | United States Navy United States Marine Corps |
Number built | 62 |
Developed into | McDonnell F2H Banshee |
McDonnell chose to bring the name back with the third-generation, Mach 2-capable McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, the most versatile and widely-used Western combat aircraft of the Vietnam War era.[5]
The FH Phantom was originally designated the FD Phantom, but this was changed as the aircraft entered production.