A Lost Generation of US Naval Aviation

As I was poking around YouTube, I found this gem of a film on carrier suitability tests being carried out on the McDonnell F3H-2 Demon. Also making cameo appearances are the production prototypes of the Douglas F4D Skyray, Douglas A4D Skyhawk, and Vought F7U Cutlass.

F3H-2 Demon Carrier Tests

All but the venerable Skyhawk had short services in the fleet and those three had the same problem – underpowered engines. Westinghouse had made extravagant promises on a new generation of jet engines and the aluminum birds were specifically designed around them. When the engines turned out to be complete failures, the U.S. Navy’s equivalent of the Air Force’s Century series were hamstrung.

Only the “Gutless” Cutlass flew with Westinghouse engines while other manufacturers engines were shoehorned into redesigned versions of the Demon and Skyray. Performance of the planes never met their potential as a result. Meanwhile, A-4 Skyhawks are still flying today, over fifty years later.

That is not to say they did not have some success. The Cutlass and Demon introduced the AIM-7 Sparrow medium range radar guided missile to the fleet. Both were very maneuverable, with the Cutlass able to out dogfight even F-86 Sabres and FJ Furies. The F4D Skyray could climb to altitude faster than anything else flying at the time.

F7U Firing AIM-7 Sparrow

F4D Skyray Carrier Operations

Oh what world beaters these could have been if the Westinghouse engines had lived up to their specifications! Instead the Navy had to wait for Vought’s next design, the F-8 Crusader, to get a decent fighter. Fortunately for them, it was just around the corner and a twin engine derivative of the F3H would evolve into the F4H Phantom II…