Douglas F3D Skyknight

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_F3D_Skyknight

The Douglas F3D Skyknight (later designated F-10 Skyknight) is an American
twin-engined, mid-wing jet fighter aircraft manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft
Company in El Segundo, California. The F3D was designed as a carrier-based
all-weather night fighter and saw service with the United States Navy and United
States Marine Corps. The mission of the F3D was to search out and destroy enemy
aircraft at night.

The F3D Skyknight was never produced in great numbers but it did achieve many
firsts in its role as a night fighter over Korea. While it never achieved the
fame of the North American F-86 Sabre, it did down several Soviet-built MiG-15s
as a night fighter over Korea with only one air-to-air loss of its own against a
Chinese MiG-15, which occurred on the night of 29 May 1953.

The Skyknight played an important role in the development of the radar-guided
AIM-7 Sparrow missile which led to further guided air-to-air missile
developments. It also served as an electronic warfare platform in the Vietnam
War as a precursor to the EA-6A Intruder and EA-6B Prowler. The aircraft is
sometimes unofficially called "Skynight", dropping the second "k". The unusual,
portly profile earned it the nickname "Willie the Whale". Some Vietnam War U.S.
Marine veterans have referred to the Skyknight as "Drut", whose meaning becomes
obvious when read backwards. This may be in reference to its age, unflattering
looks or its low-slung air intakes that made it vulnerable to foreign object
damage (FOD).

The F3D was not intended to be a typical sleek and nimble dogfighter, but as a
standoff night fighter, packing a powerful radar system and a second crew
member. It originated in 1945 with a US Navy requirement for a jet-powered,
radar-equipped, carrier-based night fighter. The Douglas team led by Ed
Heinemann designed around the bulky air intercept radar systems of the time,
with side-by-side seating for the pilot and radar operator. The result was an
aircraft with a wide, deep, and roomy fuselage. Instead of ejection seats, an
escape tunnel was used, similar to the type used in the A-3 Skywarrior.

The XF3D-1 beat out Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation's G-75 two-seat,
four-engined, Westinghouse J30-powered night fighter design, and a contract was
issued on 3 April 1946. The US Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) also issued
a contract to Grumman for two G-75 (company designation) XF9F-1 (BuAer
designation) experimental aircraft on 11 April 1946 in case the Skyknight ran
into problems. Grumman soon realized that the G-75 was a losing design but had
been working on a completely different, single-engined day fighter known as the
Grumman G-79 which became the F9F Panther.

As a night fighter that was not expected to be as fast as smaller daylight
fighters, the expectation was to have a stable platform for its radar system and
the four 20 mm cannon mounted in the lower fuselage. The F3D was, however, able
to outturn a MiG-15. The fire control system in the F3D-1 was the Westinghouse
AN/APQ-35. The AN/APQ-35 was advanced for the time, a combination of three
different radars, each performing separate functions: an AN/APS-21 search radar,
an AN/APG-26 tracking radar, both located in the nose, and an AN/APS-28 tail
warning radar. The complexity of this vacuum tube-based radar system, which was
produced before the advent of semiconductor electronics, required intensive
maintenance to keep it operating properly.


Role
Fighter aircraft

National origin
United States

Manufacturer
Douglas Aircraft Company

First flight
23 March 1948

Introduction
1951

Retired
1970

Status
Retired

Primary users
United States Navy
United States Marine Corps

Number built
265

Developed into
Douglas F6D Missileer

Korean War

The 28 F3D-1 aircraft were used primarily to train F3D crews and did not see
combat in the Korean War. The F3D-2 Skyknight was only deployed to Korea by USMC
land–based squadrons, beginning in September 1952. The Skyknight downed more
enemy aircraft in Korea than any other single type of naval aircraft. The first
air-to-air victory occurred on the night of 2 November 1952 in a USMC F3D-2
piloted by Major William T. Stratton, Jr., and his radar operator, Master
Sergeant Hans C. Hoglind of VMF(N)-513 Flying Nightmares, Major Stratton shot
down what he believed was a Yakovlev Yak-15 (even though no Yak-15s were
reported in Korea) which was the first successful night radar interception by a
jet of a jet. The Skyknight claimed its first MiG-15 jet fighter on 8 November
1952, when Captain O.R. Davis and Warrant Officer D.F. "Ding" Fessler downed a
MiG-15 northwest of Pyongyang. USMC pilot Lt. Joseph Corvi and his radar
operator Sergeant Dan George set another record with the Skyknight on the night
of 10 December 1952, when they downed the first aircraft by an aircraft with a
radar track and lock-on and without visual contact; they performed the feat by
using their radar to lock onto a Polikarpov Po-2 biplane. They were also
credited with another probable kill that night.

Vietnam War

The Skyknight was the only Korean War jet fighter that also flew in Vietnam.
EF-10Bs served in the Electronic warfare role during the Vietnam War until 1969.
The large interior provided ample room for electronic equipment. U.S. Marine
Composite Reconnaissance Squadron One VMCJ-1 Golden Hawks began operating the
EF-10B in Vietnam on 17 April 1965 under Lt. Col Wes Corman at Da Nang Air Base
Republic of Vietnam with six aircraft. No more than 10 EF-10Bs were in Vietnam
at one time. The Electronic Warfare (EW) Skyknight was a valuable Electronic
countermeasure (ECM) asset to jam the SA-2 surface-to-air missiles (SAM)
tracking and guidance systems. VMCJ-1 made history when its EF-10Bs conducted
the first USMC airborne radar jamming mission on 29 April 1965 to support a USAF
strike mission. Four EF-10Bs also supported a massive strike on the SA-2 SAM
sites near Hanoi on 27 July 1965.

Specifications (F3D-2)

General characteristics
Crew: two
Length: 45 ft 5 in (13.84 m)
Wingspan: 50 ft 0 in (15.24 m)
Height: 16 ft 1 in (4.90 m)
Wing area: 400 ft² (37.16 m²)
Empty weight: 18,160 lb (8,237 kg)
Loaded weight: 21,374 lb (9,694 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 26,850 lb (12,178 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Westinghouse J34-WE-38 turbojets, 3,600 lbf (1633 kg) each

Performance
Maximum speed: 491 knots (565 mph, 909 km/h) at 20,000 ft (6,096 m)
Cruise speed: 454 mph (394 kn, 731 km/h)
Stall speed: 93 mph (81 kn, 150 km/h)
Range: 1,200 mi/1,000 nmi, 1,931 km internal (1,374 mi/1,193 nmi, 2,211 km with
2 × 150 gal/568 l tanks)
Service ceiling: 38,200 ft (11,643 m)
Rate of climb: 2,970 ft/min (15.1 m/s)
Wing loading: 53.4 lb/ft² (260.9 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 0.34

Armament

Guns: 4 × 20 mm Hispano-Suiza M2 cannon, 200 rpg
Rockets: 2 × 11.75 in (29.8 cm) Tiny Tim (rocket)
Missiles: 4× Sparrow I air-to-air missiles (F3D-2M)
Bombs: 2 × 2,000 lb (900 kg) bombs



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