First published in 1983, the FJ-1 Fury book covers North America's first jet fighter and forerunner to the Air Force F-86 and Navy FJ-2/FJ-3 Furys. It was a pudgy straight-winged aircraft that would prove the feasibility of jet fighters aboard aircraft carriers when VF-5A/VF-51 operated the aircraft aboard the USS Boxer and USS Princeton. It was also operated by the reserves from Dallas, Los Alamitos, Oakland and Olathe. The book has 62 b&amp;w photos with 4 illustrations and a first-hand account of flying with VF-51.

North American FJ-1 Fury (Naval Fighters, Number Seven)

History

Steve Ginter

Ron Picciani

Military

Ginter Books

In 1953, the mainstay of carrier-based anti-submarine warfare (ASW) forces in the Navy were represented by a pair of Grumman AF-2W and AF-2S Guardians flying as a hunter-killer team and operating from an escort carrier of the Commencement Bay(CVE-105) class. The Guardian's wingspan of 60 feet, length of 43 feet 5 inches and height of 16 feet 7 inches, made it the largest single-engine piston-driven airplane ever to operate from an aircraft carrier.

Grumman Af Guardian

Ginter, Steve

Bob Kowalski

Kowalski, Bob

The North American AJ "Savage" came into being as a direct result of the greatest Navy and Government controversy since Billy Mitchell and the Battleships. This controversy was over the future Nuclear strike capabilities of the Navy, if any.

Naval Fighters Number Twenty-Two North American AJ Savage

In 1947, both the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy sponsored VTOL design studies called project Hummingbird. The rapid development of increasingly powerful powerplants had reached the point where a true VTOL aircraft was in the realm of possibility. The U.S. Navy's firsthand experiences with Japan's Kamikaze taught them the vulnerability of their great mobile peacekeepers, the carrier. Because of this experience the Navy felt that the only way to protect any naval presence in enemy waters was to equip all ships with a VTOL fighter.

Naval Fighters Number Twenty-Seven Convair XFY-1 Pogo

COLEMAN

Bill Chana

Skeets Coleman

B. J. Long

Skeets&#34

Coleman, "Skeets"

Naval Fighters

It was no secret to the U.S. Navy that jet and rocket aircraft were being developed in Europe, and that once fully developed, would be of superior performance than piston engine aircraft. Because of these facts, the Navy initiated investigations into alternative solutions to counter these new jets. By late 1942, the Navy decided upon a composite-powered fighter. In December, ADM John S. McCain released the proposal to nine manufacturers, including Ryan. The Ryan proposal was accepted and a contract for three prototypes and one static test article was placed on February 11, 1943.

Ryan FR-1 Fireball And XF2R-1 Darkshark (Naval Fighters Number Twenty-Eight [28])

Bob Kowalski continues the saga of the bomber Torpedo (BT) program and the similar Scout Bomber (SB) program with the obscure story of the Douglas XSB2D-1 and BTD-1 "Destroyer".The United States was still at peace when the Navy issued a requirement for a design to serve with the fleet as both a successor to the SBD, which would be nearing obsolescence, and as a possible replacement for the SB2C, which was undergoing what can charitably be called a prolonged proportional development period. To meet this requirement, two prototypes of the SXB2D-1 were ordered by the Navy on June 30, 1941.

Naval Fighters Number Thirty Douglas XSB2D-1 & BTD-1 Destroyer

In 1939 with war on the horizon, the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics sent the aviation industry a request for proposal for a new torpedo-bomber (VTB). The competition was won by Grumman with its XTBF-1 proposal. Known as the Avenger, two XTBF-1 prototypes were ordered in the spring of 1940. Vought also had a promising proposal and was awarded a contract for one XTBU-1 prototype.

Naval Fighters Number Thirty-Three XTBU-1 & TBY-2 Sea Wolf

Phil Prophett

Chana, Bill

Prophett, Phil

On 20 December 1944, the industry was asked to enter a design competition for a 105,000 pound patrol boat powered by four Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radials. In January 1945, the proposal was amended to include anti-shipping, anti-submarine, and air-search and rescue. Ultimately, the project was cancelled when the submitted designs were deemed marginally superior to existing aircraft. The concept was resurrected on 27 December 1945 in the form of a 165,000 pound flying boat with improved hull design and four turboprop engines to significantly improve performance.

Naval Fighters Number Thirty-Four Convair XP5Y-1 & R3Y-1/-2 Tradewind

The Douglas F5D-1 Skylancer was a progressive development of the F4D-1 Skyray. Many people believe that the Skylancer was a faster and better choice than its competitor, the Vought F8U Crusader. They believe that it had inherently better stretch potential to the point where it could have out-performed the F-4 Phantom if the J-79 engine had been installed as envisioned by Ed Heinemann.

Naval Fighters Number Thirty-Five Douglas F5D-1 Skylancer

Bob Kowalski continues the saga of the Bomber Torpedo (BT) program and the similar Scout Bomber (SB) program with the obscure story of the Douglas XTB2D-1 "SkyPirate". The story started in Naval Fighters #24, Martin AM-1/-1Q Mauler and continued with Naval Fighters #30, Douglas XSB2D-1 and BTC-1 "Destroyer".

Naval Fighters Number Thirty-Six Douglas XTB2D-1 Skypirate

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Books by Steve Ginter