FH Phantom

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Image:Fh1.phantom.750pix.jpg The McDonnell FH-1 Phantom was a twin-engine jet fighter aircraft designed during World War II for the United States Navy. On July 21, 1946, a Phantom became the first combat jet aircraft to operate from an American aircraft carrier, the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In early 1943, the McDonnell was invited by the U.S. Navy to co-operate in the development of a shipboard jet fighter, using an engine from the set turbojets under development by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Three prototypes were ordered on August 30, 1943 and the designation XFD-1 was assigned. Then, after evaluating a number of engine combinations, from using eight 9.5 inch (241 mm) diameter engines down to two engines of 19 inch (483 mm) diameter, a selection using the two 19 inch (483 mm) engines was found to be the lightest and simplest configuration.

An aircraft design with the engines buried in the wing root was selected to keep intake and exhaust ducts short, an arrangement that offered greater aerodynamic efficiency than underwing nacelles. Provisions for four 0.5 in (12.7 mm) machine guns were made in the nose.

When the first XFD-1 was completed in January 1945 only one Westinghouse 19XB-2B engine was available for installation. Ground runs and taxi test were conducted with the single engine, and such was the confidence in the aircraft that the first flight on January 26, 1945 was made with only the one turbojet engine. With successful completion of tests, a production contract was awarded on March 7, 1945 for one hundred FD-1 aircraft. Later the designation was changed to FH-1 as the manufacturer’s letter “D” had already been assigned to the Douglas Aircraft Company. (22 years later, long after the last FH had been delivered, McDonnell and Douglas would merge to form McDonnell Douglas).

With the end of the war the number under contract was reduced to 60 aircraft and the first production aircraft was delivered in January 1947.

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