Sword 72122 McDonnell F3H-2/F-3B Demon

The McDonnell F3H Demon was an American made all-metal fighter plane in the dorsal wing configuration of the Cold War period. The drive was provided in the basic version by a single turbojet engine Westinghouse J-40-WE-22 . The flight of the prototype took place in 1951, and the machine served in the US Navy in 1956-1964. In total, around 520 aircraft of this type were built. The on-board armament consisted of four Colt Mk. 12 cal. 20 mm.

The McDonnell F3H Demon was developed for the needs of the US Navy, which in the late 1940s reported a need for a new jet-powered fighter with performance analogous to that achieved by US Air Force machines. The first version of the new fighter was the F3H-1N, which was powered by an engine Westinghouse J-40 - This engine turned out to be completely unsuccessful for this machine, and itself was underdeveloped and unreliable. This led to the creation of the next version: The F3H-2N, which was already powered by the Allison J71 engine. The use of the new engine resulted in the enlargement of the airframe and minor changes in the geometry of the wings. However, the new engine also turned out to be not very successful and did not meet the assumed parameters, but it was less emergency than the Westinghouse engine, which resulted in the implementation of aircraft with this power unit into serial production under the designation F3H-2. Due to the underdeveloped propulsion unit, the McDonnell F3H Demon did not turn out to be a very successful plane and was relatively quickly withdrawn from the line in favor of the F-4 Phantom fighter. McDonnell F3H Demon planes were not exported, they were never used in combat.