he first U.S. Navy jet-propelled aircraft to land aboard a carrier and the first to enter squadron service with the Navy was the McDonnell FH Phantom (originally designated FD). Its immediate successor was the formidable F2H Banshee, which saw combat from carriers and, flown by Marines, from shore bases during the Korean War. The F4H Phantom was unquestionably the West’s best multipurpose fighter aircraft—land- and carrier-based—during the 1960s and 1970s.
Included in this line of McDonnell carrier fighters was the F3H Demon, at best a second-rate aircraft. The F3H was developed as a platform for the radar- guided Sparrow air-to-air missile and related search and guidance radar. The Demon differed in many ways from its FH and F2H predecessors, most notably because it was a swept-wing, single-engine aircraft.
The engine was a critical feature. The F3H Demon was designed around the Westinghouse J40 turbojet, which was to deliver 11,000 pounds-static-thrust (lbst). The first of two prototype XF3H-1 aircraft flew on 7 August 1951 with the XJ40-WE-6 engine, which delivered only 7,200 lbst (10,900 lbst with afterburner), while the prototype had increased in weight. That combination was dangerous. In response, the more powerful J40-WE-24 engine was proposed for production aircraft, but it never materialized. A short time later Westinghouse quit the aircraft engine business.
Another engine had to be found for the production F3H-1N all-weather fighters that had been ordered in 1951. The first 56 aircraft were fitted with the J40-WE-22, a 7,200-lbst engine. These aircraft never entered service, as problems plagued the under-powered F3H-1N, which experienced eight major accidents, at least three caused by engine failures. Some 25 of these aircraft never flew and were shipped mostly by barge from the McDonnell plant at St. Louis, Missouri, down the Mississippi River for use as non-flying training aircraft. Other F3H-lNs were barged from Patuxent River, Maryland, to Norfolk, Virginia, where they were placed on flatcars for further movement.
After searching for engine alternatives, the decision was made to fit subsequent aircraft with the Allison J71-A-2, rated at 9,500 lbst (14,400 lbst with afterburner). Two F3H-lNs had the new engine for flight evaluation followed by another 29 F3H-lNs, which were brought to F3H-2N standards with the J71 engine and other modifications.
Additional production aircraft, also given a modified wing to provide more lift, became the F3H-2N. But the J71— the best aircraft engine available at the time—also had compressor problems, which, coupled with air inlet problems on the F3H, helped to prevent the Demon from becoming an outstanding aircraft.
The F3H-2N was a large aircraft for its day, with a maximum takeoff weight of 39,000 pounds. The aircraft looked “hot" with its pointed nose, swept wings, and high tail. “Clean,” the F3H-2 could reach Mach 0.94 at 35,000 feet, and could operate at up to 44,000 feet. The aircraft was fitted with the AN/APG-51B radar. All models had four 20-mm cannon Mk 12 (the fighters with 600 rounds of ammunition) and the F3H-2 variants could carry four AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, making them among the most potent fighter aircraft of the period. Some squadrons removed the two upper 20-mm guns, saving about 500 pounds, and their ammunition accounted for another 50 pounds. Removing all guns made the aircraft “nose light.” The F3H-2N also could carry bombs in place of missiles, with eight wing and fuselage pylons available.
McDonnell built 140 F3H-2N aircraft; produced in parallel were 80 F3H-2M variants that could carry four AIM-7 Sparrow I radar-guided missiles on wing pylons. These were followed by 239 F3H-2 Demons that were optimized as strike-fighters, capable of carrying up to 6,000 pounds of bombs and air-to-ground rockets. The F3H-2 strike aircraft, with 720 rounds for their 20-mm cannon, had no missile capability. And while able to deliver conventional bombs and rockets, their primary “stores” were a single Mk 7 BOAR, Mk 12, or Mk 91 nuclear bomb. The last, also known as the B11, was a “penetration” bomb developed for Navy use against hardened targets such as protected submarine pens. The Mk 91/B11 was intended to penetrate 22 feet of reinforced concrete with a delay fuze to detonate 90 to 120 seconds after contact. Its yield was in the 10- to 20-kiloton range.
An F3H-2P photo variant was planned but dropped in late 1954 when F3H production was cut back. Ironically, two years later another 149 aircraft were ordered. A total of 519 aircraft were built through November 1959, including the two XF3H-1 prototypes.
The F3H-2N carried out successful carrier qualifications in September 1955 on board the USS Ticonderoga (CVA- 14). That model became the first Demon to enter fleet service, in March 1956 with Fighter Squadron (VF) 14. Later that year an F3H-2N from VF-124 captured the McDonnell Trophy with a nonstop, non-refueled flight from the Shangri-La (CVA-38) off San Francisco to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 2 hours, 32 minutes—an average speed of 566 miles per hour.
The Demon served in fleet squadrons until August 1964, a tenure of eight and a half years. The last squadron, VF-161, last deployed on board the Oriskany (CVA-34), traded its Demons for the successor F-4B Phantom (formerly F4H-1), an outstanding fighter aircraft in all respects.
The F3H never fired a shot in anger, much to the relief of most pilots who flew the plane. Naval aviator and writer Captain Jerry O’Rourke, observing the aircraft’s poor maneuverability and acceleration, wrote:
It was often heard in those days that “Demon pilots were the only thinking fighter pilots.” In truth, Demon pilots who were not advanced planners and thinkers didn’t last very long. A good effect of the F3H-2 was to make all naval aviators into better planners and thinkers.
The late Vice Admiral Donald Engen, who flew the F3H, wrote: “Younger or less experienced pilots might have termed the Demon to be a great fighter.
Note: The F3H was changed to F-3 in 1962 under the Department of Defense aircraft redesignation policy. At that time the F3H-1 was changed to F-3A, F3H-2N to F-3B, F2H-2M to MF-3B, and F2H-2 to F-3C.
