McDonnell FH1 Phantom: Naval Fighters NF#115 softcover
McDonnell FH1 Phantom: Naval Fighters NF#115 softcover
This book covers the Navy's first jet aircraft to operate from a carrier, the McDonnell FD-1/FH-1 Phantom. The underpowered twin-jet fighter proved, along with North American's FJ-1, the feasibility of operating jets from carriers.
The US Navy’s first purpose-built carrier jet fighter was the McDonnell FD-1/FH-1 Phantom. First ordered in January 1943, the small elegant aircraft had a long gestation period due to the delay in development of its Westinghouse jet engines. Originally six and even eight small 300 lb thrust engines buried in the wing were considered as powerplants, before two-1,600 lb thrust engines were settled on. These were mounted just outside of the wing roots and allowed conventional flaps and ailerons of any size to be utilized on the wing. It was fitted with tri-cycle landing gear, tailhook, and catapult equipment. The 500 mph aircraft first flew in 1946, and two XFD-1 protoypes were built along with 60 FD-1/FH-1 production Aircraft with half the FH-1s going to Navy carrier squadron VF-17A/VF-171 and half to Marine squadron VMF-122. The Navy operated its full squadron operationally aboard the USS Saipan (CVL-48) and the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB-42) proving the feasibility of jets and carriers. The Marines fielded a FH-1 Flight Demonstration Team, “The Flying Leathernecks” too. The FH-1 had no vices in the air and with new engines the Phantom was re-engineered into the larger and very successful Korean War carrier fighter, the F2H Banshee. The Phantoms were relegated to the reserves from 1950 through 1954 before being removed from service.
Published Fall 2022, softcover, 64 pages, 159 black & white and 4 color photographs, 25 illustrations, 6 insignia, model kit section, softcover, 8 1/2" x 11"
Naval Fighters Series
The Naval Fighters series are dedicated to preserving America's aviation history. Each monograph's size is dictated by the individual aircraft's own history, and in some cases can encompass several volumes. In addition to the aircraft's development and testing, each book covers squadron histories, insignias, flight and maintenance manual excerpts, sea stories, if applicable, and model reviews. Take a look inside the aircraft to see how they were put together. See the prototypes of the aircraft, some of which never made it off the drawing boards.
Ginter Books are for both the aviation enthusiast and the aviation modeler. Each publication seeks to present full information about the history of the aircraft, drawings and photographs of the interiors as well as exteriors, and many of the many color schemes used by the squadrons. This offers both the modeler and the historical customer a general reference guide to each aircraft. The collection of books includes many prototype models that never reached actual production, but were valuable stepping stones in advancing the technology necessary to achieve the modern naval fighters we have today.
These books are a "must" for any serious model builder as they give panel lines, wing-folds, bomb loads, cockpit detail and much more information via line drawings and photographs. They are also a "must" for the aviation history buff, as they detail the conception of these aircraft.
Photos used have come from a great variety of sources that are credited in their captions. Many photos have not been used in any other publications before.
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