The Douglas F5D Skylancer is a development of the
F4D Skyray
The Douglas F4D Skyray (later redesignated F-6 Skyray) is an American carrier-based fighter/ interceptor built by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Although it was in service for a relatively short time (1956–1964) and never entered combat, it w ...
jet fighter
Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...
for the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
. Starting out as the F4D-2N, an all-weather version of the Skyray, the design was soon modified to take full advantage of the extra thrust of the
Pratt & Whitney J57
The Pratt & Whitney J57 (company designation: JT3C) is an axial-flow turbojet engine developed by Pratt & Whitney in the early 1950s. The J57 (first run January 1950) was the first 10,000 lbf (45 kN) thrust class engine in the United State ...
eventually fitted to the Skyray instead of the
Westinghouse J40
The Westinghouse J40 was an early high-performance afterburning turbojet engine designed by Westinghouse Aviation Gas Turbine Division starting in 1946 to a US Navy Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) request. BuAer intended to use the design in severa ...
originally planned.
Design and development
Soon the design became too different from the Skyray to be considered just a variation of it, and the aircraft was assigned a new designation as the F5D Skylancer. Almost every part of the airframe was modified, though the basic form remained the same as did the wing shape, though it became much thinner. The wing skinning was reinforced, correcting a problem found in the F4D. The fuselage was 8 ft (2.4 m) longer and
area ruled to reduce transonic drag, being thinner in the region of the wing roots. Everything was shaped to reduce drag and increase stability at high speed.
Although the four 20 mm (.79 in) cannon in the wing roots were retained, primary armament was to be missiles or rockets; four
AIM-9 Sidewinder
The AIM-9 Sidewinder (where "AIM" stands for "Air Intercept Missile") is a short-range air-to-air missile which entered service with the US Navy in 1956 and subsequently was adopted by the US Air Force in 1964. Since then the Sidewinder has prove ...
s or two
AIM-7 Sparrows, and/or a battery of spin-stabilized unguided 2 in (51 mm) rockets.
Nine test airframes were ordered, with a 51-aircraft production order to follow. Production aircraft were to be powered by the more powerful J57-P-14 engine, while there was a rejected proposal to use the even more powerful
General Electric J79
The General Electric J79 is an axial-flow turbojet engine built for use in a variety of fighter and bomber aircraft and a supersonic cruise missile. The J79 was produced by General Electric Aircraft Engines in the United States, and under li ...
and variable-geometry inlets in Mach 2 version.
[Frankel 2010, p. 187-188.]
Operational history
The first flight was made by F5D-1 (Bu. No. 139208) on 21 April 1956 and was supersonic; the aircraft proved easy to handle and performed well. After four aircraft had been constructed, however, the Navy cancelled its order. The stated reason was that the aircraft was too similar to the already-ordered
Vought F8U Crusader
The Vought F-8 Crusader (originally F8U) is a single-engine, supersonic, carrier-based air superiority jet aircraft built by Vought for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps (replacing the Vought F7U Cutlass), and for the French ...
, but it is believed by some historians that politics played as big a part; Douglas was already building a very large proportion of the Navy's planes, and giving them the F5D contract would have made it even closer to monopoly.
[Gunston 1981, p. 73.] The project test pilot was
Lt. Cmdr Alan B. Shepard Jr. whose report stated that it was not needed by the Navy. One F5D crashed during testing by the Navy.
NASA use
![F5D-skylancer-armstrong-museum](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/F5D-skylancer-armstrong-museum.jpg)
The four aircraft continued to fly in various military test programs. Two were grounded in 1961 (likely 139209 and 142349 which had been designated for spare parts in 1958), but the other two: F5D-1 (Bu. No. 139208) NASA 212, later becoming NASA 708 and F5D-1 (Bu. No. 142350) NASA 213, later becoming NASA 802 continued to fly. Transferred to
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
in the early 1960s, NASA 212 was used as a testbed for the American
supersonic transport
A supersonic transport (SST) or a supersonic airliner is a civilian supersonic aircraft designed to transport passengers at speeds greater than the speed of sound. To date, the only SSTs to see regular service have been Concorde and the Tupol ...
program, fitted with an
ogival
An ogive ( ) is the roundly tapered end of a two-dimensional or three-dimensional object. Ogive curves and surfaces are used in engineering, architecture and woodworking.
Etymology
The earliest use of the word ''ogive'' is found in the 13th c ...
wing platform (the type eventually used on
Concorde
The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC).
Studies started in 1954, and France an ...
; data from the program was shared with the European designers), as well as being used as a vision field test platform for the
X-20 Dyna-Soar
The Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar ("Dynamic Soarer") was a United States Air Force (USAF) program to develop a spaceplane that could be used for a variety of military missions, including aerial reconnaissance, bombing, space rescue, satellite maintena ...
. This aircraft was retired in 1968. NASA 802 was used for simulation of abort procedures for the X-20, because it had a very similar shape and handling characteristics. Following the DynaSoar cancellation, it was used as a
chase plane
A chase plane is an aircraft that "chases" a "subject" aircraft, spacecraft or rocket, for the purposes of making real-time observations and taking air-to-air photographs and video of the subject vehicle during flight.
Background
Safety can ...
and for various other programs until it was retired in 1970.
Surviving aircraft
![F5D Skylancer BuNo 139208](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/F5D_Skylancer_BuNo_139208.jpeg)
* BuNo 139208 (NASA 708) still in NASA markings was part of Merle Maine's private collection in Ontario, Oregon until 2014.
The aircraft currently resides at
Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum
The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum is an aviation museum in McMinnville, Oregon. Its exhibits include the Hughes H-4 Hercules (''Spruce Goose'') and more than fifty military and civilian aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), and spacec ...
in
McMinnville, Oregon
McMinnville is the county seat of and largest city in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. The city is named after McMinnville, Tennessee. As of the 2019 census, the city had a population estimate of 34,743.
McMinnville is at the confluence of ...
.
* BuNo 142350 (NASA 802) is a part of the
Ohio History Connection
Ohio History Connection, formerly The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society and Ohio Historical Society, is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 1885. Headquartered at the Ohio History Center in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio History Connect ...
permanent collection. The aircraft sits on static display outside of the
Armstrong Air & Space Museum in
Wapakoneta, Ohio
Wapakoneta, (, ) is a city in and the county seat of Auglaize County, Ohio, United States, about north of Dayton and south of Toledo. The population was 9,957 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of and is included in the Wapakonet ...
.
Neil Armstrong flew the aircraft during the
Dyna-Soar
The Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar ("Dynamic Soarer") was a United States Air Force (USAF) program to develop a spaceplane that could be used for a variety of military missions, including aerial reconnaissance, bombing, space rescue, satellite maintena ...
research program. This aircraft has returned to static display outside of the museum after undergoing an 8-month restoration in 2017 and 2018.
Specifications (F5D-1)
See also
References
Notes
Bibliography
*Angelucci, Enzo. ''The American Fighter''. Sparkford, Somerset, UK: Haynes Publishing Group, 1987. .
*Frankel, Mark. ''Killer Rays: The Story of the Douglas F4D Skyray and F5D Skylancer''. North Branch, Minnesota: Specialty Press, 2010. .
*Ginter, Steve. ''Douglas F5D-1 Skylancer (Naval Fighters No. 35)''. Simi Valley, California: Ginter Books, 1996. .
*Gunston, Bill. ''Fighters of the Fifties''. Cambridge, UK: Patrick Stephens Limited, 1981. .
*Winchester, Jim, ed. "Douglas F4D Skyray." ''Military Aircraft of the Cold War (The Aviation Factfile)''. London: Grange Books plc, 2006. .
External links
F5D-1 Skylancer
{{USN fighters
F5D Skylancer
Douglas FD5 Skylancer
Single-engined jet aircraft
Tailless delta-wing aircraft
Carrier-based aircraft
NASA aircraft
Low-wing aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1956