Subject: North American F-1 Fury (1 of 4)

From: [email-masked] (joseph.f.baugher)
Date: 28 Mar 94 04:00:50 GMT

On September 18, 1962, the Department of Defense combined all Air Force 
and Navy aircraft designations into the existing Air Force system.  
This spelled the demise of the old Navy separate designation system 
that we had all come to know and love, and meant that all existing 
Navy aircraft had to be redesignated.  In those cases in which Navy 
aircraft had a direct analogous Air Force version, they were given the 
established Air Force designations with the next available series 
letter.  For example, the Douglas R4D-8 became C-117D.  When there was 
no direct Air Force version, a new series was started under the old 
Navy type letters.  For example the Douglas A3D-1 Skywarrior was 
redesignated A-3.  A hyphen was inserted between the A and the 3 and 
the manufacturer's letter was dropped off.  By this time, the USAF 
fighter sequence had reached F-111 and it was decided to start a new 
series with F-1.  Existing Navy fighters were assigned some of the 
initial slots in the system.  This resulted in some duplication of the 
old Army F for Foto (photographic reconnaissance) sequence, which had 
been discontinued in 1947.  It did not duplicate the earlier Navy 
F-for-fighter scheme because of detail differences in the system (the 
hyphen after F, for example).  Existing Air Force fighters were not 
redesignated, but new fighter designs ordered by the Air Force as well 
as by the Navy after 1962 were assigned new slots in the post-1962 
fighter sequence as they were ordered into service.  

The first slot in the new unified fighter designation scheme was 
reserved for the naval version of the F-86 Sabre, the FJ Fury.  The 
USAF Sabres retained their designation of F-86.  Since the Fury was 
basically a naval version of the F-86 Sabre, it is odd that the 
Defense Department did not choose to redesignate the Fury as F-86M, 
since M would have been the next available series letter.  

The story of the F-1 Fury begins back in the last few months of the 
Second World War.  In late 1944 and early 1945, the US Navy ordered 
four carrier-based jet fighters, the Vought XF6U-1 Pirate, the 
McDonnell XFD-1 Phantom, the McDonnell XF2D-1 Banshee, and the North 
American XFJ-1 Fury.  It was hoped that these four fighters would be 
available in time for *Operation Olympic/Coronet*, the invasion of 
Japan which was planned for May of 1946.  

The North American entry, known as NA-134 on company rolls, called for 
a fairly conventional low-mounted, straight-winged monoplane of rather 
tubby cross section.  The General Electric J35 axial-flow turbojet 
mounted in the rear fuselage was fed by a nose intake and exhausted 
through a pipe in the tail.  A bubble canopy was fitted, and the wing 
was fitted with retractable slatted air brakes in the upper and lower 
surfaces.  

The USAF ordered a land-based version of the Fury under the 
designation XP-86, but North American was eventually to adapt the 
aircraft to a swept-wing configuration to produce the famed Sabre of 
Korean War fame.  However, being constrained by the need to retain 
good low-speed handling capabilities for landings aboard carriers, the 
Navy decided to stick with the straight-winged format and went ahead 
with three prototypes of the XFJ-1 Fury (Bu No 39053/39055).  

In May of 1945, the Navy had ordered 100 production FJ-1s, which was 
later cut back to 30.  Serials were BuNo 120342/120371.  These were 
known as NA-141 on company rolls.  

The first XFJ-1 (BuNo 39053) took off on its maiden flight on 
September 11, 1946, with Wallace Lien as the pilot.  

The thirty FJ-1s were delivered to the Navy from October 1947 to April 
1948.  The slatted wing-mounted air brakes fitted to the three 
prototypes were replaced on production machines by more conventional 
fuselage-mounted "barn door" air brakes.  The Fury had a small wheel 
mounted on the nosewheel strut which permitted the aircraft to "kneel" 
nose-down to facilitate parking aboard aircraft carriers.  

The first (and only) squadron to receive the FJ-1 Fury was VF-5A, 
based at NAS North Island near San Diego, California.  In late 1947, 
this squadron began an exhaustive familiarization program, including 
landings aboard a simulated aircraft carrier deck.  The first landing 
of a Fury on an actual carrier took place on March 16, 1948, when 
Commander Pete Aurand, CO of VF-5A, landed aboard the USS *Boxer*.  He 
was immediately followed by his executive officer, Lt. Cdr. Robert 
Elder.  Both officers then took off under their own power, landed 
again, then took off a second time with the aid of a catapult.  Since 
jets accelerate somewhat more slowly at low speeds than do 
piston-engined aircraft, a longer deck run was found to be necessary 
and it was decided to adopt catapulting as the standard carrier jet 
launching procedure.  

The pilots of VF-5A were fairly positive about the performance of the 
FJ-1.  The used their FJ-1s to win the Bendix Trophy in 1948, beating 
USAF F-80 Shooting Stars in a cross-country race.  However, VF-5A 
pilots did note that the performance of the FJ-1 was fairly poor when 
flying at its maximum gross weight and that the plane was somewhat 
uncomfortable to fly because of a lack of pressurization and 
temperature control.  There were also problems with the wingtip tanks.  
It turned out that the tanks were not compatible with the thin wing, 
and North American was forced to redesign them.  However, the problem 
was never entirely cured.  

VF-5A was renamed VF-51 in August 1948.  It operated the FJ-1 until 
July of 1949, when the squadron traded in its Furies for Grumman F9F-2 
Panthers.  Their FJ-1s were then transferred to the US Navy Reserve, 
whey they served as transition trainers for pilots moving onto the 
McDonnell F2H Banshee or to the Grumman F9F Panther.  

Specification of the FJ-1 Fury: 

Engine: One Allison J35-A-2, 4000 lb.st.  Weights: 8843 pounds empty, 
15,115 pounds takeoff (clean).  Maximum speed 547 mph at 9000 feet.  
Initial climb rate 3300 feet per minute.  Service ceiling 32,000 feet.  
Dimensions: wingspan 28 feet 2 inches, length 34 feet 5 inches, height 
14 feet 10 inches, wing area 221 square feet.  Fuel capacity included 
an internal load of 465 gallons and a pair of 165-gallon drop tanks at 
the wingtips, giving the FJ-1 a maximum range of 1500miles.  Armament 
consisted of six 0.50-inch machine guns with 1500 rounds total.  The 
wing was too thin to accommodate any underwing ordinance loads.  

Sources: 

  United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, Gordon Swanborough and Peter 
  Bowers, Naval Institute Press, 1990 

  F-86 Sabre in Action, Larry Davis, Squadron/Signal Publications, 1992.  

  The North American Sabre, Ray Wagner, MacDonald, 1963.  

  The American Fighter, Enzo Angelucci and Peter Bowers, Orion, 1987.  

  The World Guide to Combat Planes, William Green, MacDonald, 1966.  

  The World's Fighting Planes, William Green, Doubleday, 1964.  

  Flash of the Sabre, Jack Dean, Wings Vol 22, No 5, 1992.  

  F-86 Sabre--History of the Sabre and FJ Fury, Robert F. Dorr, 
  Motorbooks International, 1993.  

  Fury-The Navy's Sabre, Robert F. Dorr, Air International vol 44 No. 1  

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