Background The origins of the Banshee can be traced back to the
FH Phantom, the
United States Navy's first carrier-based jet fighter. This predecessor had been first proposed by McDonnell in January 1943 and made its first flight on 2 January 1945. Even prior to production-standard Phantoms commencing delivery in January 1947, the company had already progressed with development of a successor. On 2 March 1945, the U.S. Navy's
Bureau of Aeronautics instructed McDonnell to produce three prototypes of the improved derivative they had envisioned, designated
XF2D-1. The company's design team had originally intended for this aircraft to be a straightforward modification of the Phantom and thus to share many components between the two aircraft, but it promptly became clear that the new aircraft ought to possess heavier armament, greater internal fuel capacity, and several other improvements that made the original concept infeasible. The resulting aircraft required the use of much larger and more powerful engines; the powerplant selected was a pair of newly developed
Westinghouse J34 turbojets, which provided nearly double the total thrust from compared to the Phantom but, since the larger engines still had to fit within the wing roots, this required a larger and thicker wing. The Banshee was provisioned with a "kneeling" nose
landing gear that had a pair of small wheels forward of the regular nosewheel. The regular nosewheel could be retracted so that the aircraft would rest on the smaller wheels; it could taxi with its nose down, redirecting the hot jet blast upwards to pose less risk to ground crews, and to allow parked aircraft to be tucked under each other to save space. This function was usually removed from later variants as it was found to be of little practical use and caused deck handling problems. During April 1945, a mockup was completed. The project survived the numerous cancellations that came around the end of the conflict, however, the pace of development was slowed considerably, leading to the first of three prototypes not being completed until late 1946.
Into flight On 11 January 1947, the first prototype performed its
maiden flight from
Lambert Field,
St. Louis, Missouri, piloted by McDonnell test pilot Robert M. Eldholm. During August 1948, similarities to the FH-1 meant that McDonnell was able to complete the first
F2H-1, a mere three months after the last FH-1 was built; service evaluations commenced that same month while the fuel capacity was increased to . The
empennage was a new design, the dorsal fin was reduced, and the
dihedral was eliminated from the horizontal stabilizers. The wing and tail were reduced in thickness to increase the critical Mach number and different airfoil sections were used. The F2H-1 was retrofitted with engines as they became available. Although the Navy was satisfied with the F2H-1, it was the more capable
F2H-2 that was most widely used. Powered by Westinghouse J34-WE-34 engines, capable of producing of thrust, it proved to be capable of significantly improved performance. The wings were strengthened to add provision for
wingtip fuel tanks but, unlike those of the contemporary
Grumman F9F Panther, the Banshee's wingtip tanks were detachable. A pair of armament pylons were added under each inboard and outboard wing, for a total of eight, allowing the aircraft to carry of stores, consisting of up to four bombs and four unguided rockets. The latter was necessary to control the roll to the left when a heavy nuclear bomb was carried. One cannon was removed to provide room for the electronics needed to arm the weapon. 25 F2H-2Bs were built. The
F2H-2N was the U.S. Navy's first carrier-based jet
night fighter, making its first flight on 3 February 1950, although only 14 would be built. The
F2H-2P photo reconnaissance version had six cameras in a longer nose and was the US Navy's first jet-powered carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft. First flight was on 12 October 1950, and 90 were built. The F2H-2P was a valuable photo-reconnaissance asset due to its long
range for a jet aircraft, high ceiling of , and
speed that made it difficult to intercept even by other jet aircraft. As a result, the F2H-2P was responsible for supplying roughly 40% of the
United States Air Force (USAF)
Fifth Air Force's daytime reconnaissance needs. The
F2H-3 was an all-weather fighter, with a larger diameter
Westinghouse AN/APQ-41 radar fitted in an longer fuselage which also increased its internal fuel load by over 50%, The weapons load was increased to and
AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles would be cleared for use. The F2H-3 also added provisions for
aerial refueling consisting of as-needed bolt-on,
in-flight refueling probe that replaced the upper port cannon. 250 were built, with the first flight being made on March 29 1952. An
F2H-3P reconnaissance variant was proposed to replace the F2H-2P, but was ultimately not built. No Banshee flew under the new designations as the last examples were already in storage when the new designations came into effect. ==Operational history==