F2H Banshee
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The McDonnell F2H Banshee was a military carrier-based jet fighter aircraft, used by the US Navy from 1951 to 1959 and by the Royal Canadian Navy from 1955 until 1962.
It was a development of the FH-1 Phantom, although it was being planned before the Phantom went into production. The basic design was for an enlarged and more powerful Phantom, with new Westinghouse turbojets raising power from 1,600 to 3,000 lbf (7 kN to 13 kN), an increased fuel load, a move away from the WW II standard 0.5 in guns to 20 mm cannon, and addition capability to carry bombs, rockets or missiles as well.
A mock-up of the new fighter, designated XF2D-1, was completed in April 1945. The project survived the end of the war but development work was slowed and the first prototype was not built until late 1946. The aircraft made its maiden flight on the 11th January 1947 from Lambert Field, St. Louis, test pilot was Woodward Burke. The Navy redesignated the aircraft the XF2H-1 as the manufacturer's designator "D" was already assigned to the Douglas Aircraft Company. After some problems with the tailplane were resolved an order for 56 craft was placed in May, 1947. The first craft were delivered in August 1948 for service evaluation by Navy pilots, a year later during an aerobatic test a pilot was forced to eject, the first US pilot to use an ejector seat in a real emergency. The F2H-1 was retrofitted with 3,150 lbf (14 kN) thrust engines as they became available.
Despite the Navy's accepting the F2H-1 it was the more capable F2H-2 that was most widely used; 334 of this type were built. With newer 3,250 lbf (14.5 kN) thrust engines, a reconfigured fuselage gometry and increased wingspan it had less drag and improved performance. It also could be fitted with wing-tip 200 US gallon (760 L) droptanks. It served during the Korean War with the 7th Fleet, initially as a fighter but as newer aircraft were introduced (such as the Grumman F9F and Douglas F3D) it took a photo-reconnaissance role.
The F2H-3 was the last significant alteration. The fuselage was extended by over 8 feet (2.4 m) to increase internal fuel load by 1,102 US gallons (4,172 L), allowing the aircraft to complete many missions without the auxiliary wing-tip tanks seen in most photographs of earlier variants. The horizontal stabilizer was moved from the vertical tail down to the fuselage and incorporated significant dihedral. The Banshee was also fitted with Westinghouse radar equipment, enabling the fighter to be used for all-weather missions, and the cannons were moved downwards and rearwards away from the nose to accommodate the new radar. These changes resulted in an airplane that looked significantly different from its predecessors, and it was nicknamed "Big Banjo" by its crews.
The last variant was the F2H-4. It had Hughes radar in place of the earlier Westinghouse radar, and also had slightly more powerful 3,600 lbf (16.0 kN) thrust engines. The F2H-4 was externally identical to the F2H-3.
Production ended in September 1953 with almost 900 aircraft built. The interest from the RCN to replace the Hawker Sea Fury with the F2H-3 in a 60 aircraft $40 million deal had initially been for new aircraft. Budget problems meant that the RCN eventually acquired second-hand USN aircraft, 39 at a cost of $25 million. The aircraft were delivered from 1955 to 1958 and flew from HMCS Bonaventure or as NORAD interceptors with the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile. The last RCN Banshees were retired without replacement in September 1962. They were the only jet-powered fighters ever deployed by the RCN. After the retirement of the F2H-3, the Canadian military would not deploy another aircraft armed with the Sidewinder missile until the introduction of the CF-18 Hornet in 1982.
The aircraft was made famous by its central role in the book The Bridges at Toko-Ri. The subsequent movie of the same name used F9F Panthers in place of Banshees for all the flying sequences, although parked Banshees are visible in the background of several scenes.
Specifications (F2H-1)
Units Using the Banshee
United States Navy
Royal Canadian Navy
- VF-870
- VF-871
- VX-10
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