Carrier air power is being bolstered strongly by the McDonnell F4H-1 Phantom II fighter, now operational.
This remarkable plane drew more attention before reaching the Fleet than most aircraft do in a normal lifespan. From the time public announcement was made in December 1958 that the F4H had been chosen in competition with Chance Vought’s F8U-3 Crusader, itself one of the truly great fighter designs of our time, the Phantom II has marched steadily ahead in proving the wisdom of the Navy’s choice.
In December 1959, the F4H set a world altitude record of 98,560 feet. Commander Larry Flint, Patuxent River test pilot who was at the controls, said: “At that altitude the atmosphere was dark. I could actually discern the curvature of the earth.”
Before pulling up into the “zoom climb” which attained the altitude record, the Phantom II flew at a speed in excess of 1,300 m.p.h. in level flight.
Since then, the F4H has completed a thorough Navy Preliminary Evaluation at the factory and a strenuous series of tests at Patuxent River. In addition to its designed capability as a high performance all-weather fighter, the airplane proved it could launch Sparrow III missiles and drop conventional as well as nuclear weapons.
Its structural demonstrations are proving it to be a sound machine. Latest in the series of qualification trials were carrier operations from Independence, Intrepid, and Saratoga.
When asked to comment on the F4H’s performance during the Independence trials, Lieutenant Commander Paul Spencer, another Patuxent River test pilot, said: “The F4H is a big airplane. It is twice the weight of the FI 1F and nearly three times the weight of the A4D. Yet with all this bulk, it handles better than any of our modern Navy fighters.”
The F4H is considered operational now that the first deliveries are being made to Fighter Squadron 121, a unit of Air Group 12, at NAS Miramer. VF-121 will indoctrinate other fleet pilots in the plane’s use.
Superlatives come easy when describing the Phantom II, but what, specifically, sets it above all other carrier fighters?
The F4H is the Navy’s first supersonic, two-place, twin-engine, all-weather interceptor, capable of destroying any manned or air-breathing aircraft under any weather conditions, day or night, with deadly Sparrow III missiles. The Sparrow III, principal armament of the F4H, can kill an enemy aircraft from any direction, including head-on.
The plane’s twin General Electric J-79 engines, in afterburner, provide more than 30,000 pounds of thrust. This awesome power- plant in a fighter aircraft permits extremely fast getaway from the parent carrier and insures early closing with an enemy. On 5 September, the Phantom broke the world speed record for 500 kilometers with a speed of 1,216.78 m.p.h. This record was bettered on 25 September, when the plane flew over a 100-kilometer course at an average speed of 1,390.21 m.p.h.
A secondary asset that comes with twin engines is improved safety. In the event of an engine failure in flight, the second engine is more than adequate to bring the bird home to roost.
As twin engines improve performance and safety, so do two persons improve weapon capability. Rapid advances in “black box” warfare, as in aircraft performance, have made it more and more difficult for one man to fly his aircraft well and, at the same time, employ the aircraft as the advanced weapon it was designed to be. In the F4H, one place is taken by the pilot, while the second seat is manned by a weapon system expert.
Recent design changes have resulted in raising the cockpit canopy high enough to allow the installation of controls in both seats at a later date. This change is being made in the interest of pilot training.
The F4H will bring to the carrier fleet the most recently developed fighter-type radar. While specific details concerning this new radar capability cannot be revealed, it is interesting to compare photographs of early F4H models with the latest model and to observe how much the plane’s nose has swollen with the addition of its new radar “dish.”
The F4H is not likely to win any beauty contests. It lacks the grace and symmetrical lines of such fighters as the F4D Skyray, the FI IF Tiger, and the F8U Crusader. But the heavyweight appearance of its fuselage, the upturn of its wings, and the down-pointing stabilizers that detract from its beauty add to its performance and ease of handling.
A major victory scored by the F4H was the Navy’s acceptance of the two-place fighter concept. That this airplane was able to overcome strong sentiments in that region of thought is an indication that it will also dispel another conviction. Many engineers have unshakable convictions that the best airplane is one which was designed for a specific purpose, and not as an all-purpose vehicle or as “a platform for all sorts of gadgets” foreign to its basic design. They can cite example after example to prove their point. The first blueprints for the F4H were laid down for a long range attack-fighter plane. Yet this plane is on the very threshold of becoming the most effective carrier-based fighter of our times.
Even the airplane’s name seems to be loaded with meaning. Named after the Phantom I, which was the first jet fighter to operate from a carrier, the Phantom II appears to be the last carrier jet fighter. While there may be design concepts for such aircraft as the Missileer (a low and slow airplane which will serve as a launching platform for high and fast missiles), and for possible vertical-take- off-and-landing / short-take-off-and-landing fighter designs, there are no programs underway to create a successor to the F4H as a carrier fighter.
One engineer in the Bureau of Naval Weapons, when asked if this was not unusual in light of the fact that the average airplane takes some eight years to move from drawing board to production, answered:
“No, I don’t think it is unusual at all. It is my opinion that when we design an interceptor that will out-perform the F4H, it will not be an airplane at all. It will be a missile, or possibly a rocket ship, with built-in brains.”