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The Grumman G-118 (sometimes called the XF12F, though this was never official
[Buttler p. 126]) was a design for an all-weather missile-armed
interceptor aircraft for use on
US Navy aircraft carriers. Originally conceived as an uprated
F11F Tiger, it soon evolved into a larger and more powerful project. Although two prototypes were ordered in 1955, development was cancelled the same year in favor of the
F4H Phantom II
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bowe ...
before any examples were built. Grumman's next (and last) carrier fighter would be the
F-14 Tomcat, ordered in 1968.
Design
The Grumman Design 118 was a two-seat,
twin-engined, rocket augmented, carrier-based all-weather
supersonic
Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound ( Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...
fighter aircraft. It had a 45° swept wing, a "T-tail"
empennage, two small folding ventral fins, and a landing gear of tricycle configuration. For ejection, the
tandem crew were encapsulated and ejected downwards. It also featured a
boundary layer control system to improve low speed handling.
The G-118 was to be powered by two J79-GE-3 engines, with accommodations for the more powerful
J79-GE-207 engines each producing 18,000 lbf of afterburning thrust. Similar to the contemporary
Vought XF8U-3 Crusader III
The Vought XF8U-3 Crusader III was an aircraft developed by Chance Vought as a successor to the successful Vought F-8 Crusader program and as a competitor to the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II.Tillman 1990 Though based in spirit on the F8U-1 a ...
, it was designed with an additional throttleable
liquid-fueled rocket engine using a mixture of
JP-4
JP-4, or JP4 (for "Jet Propellant") was a jet fuel, specified in 1951 by the U.S. government (MIL-DTL-5624). Its NATO code is F-40. It is also known as avtag.
Usage
JP-4 was a 50-50 kerosene-gasoline blend. It had a lower flash point than JP-1, b ...
fuel and
hydrogen peroxide oxidizer which produced 5,000 lbf of thrust.
Armament stores would have been under the fuselage in two semi-recessed hardpoints for the
AIM-7 Sparrow
The AIM-7 Sparrow (Air Intercept Missile) is an American, medium-range semi-active radar homing air-to-air missile operated by the United States Air Force, United States Navy, and United States Marine Corps, as well as other various air forces ...
air-to-air missile
The newest and the oldest member of Rafael's Python family of AAM for comparisons, Python-5 (displayed lower-front) and Shafrir-1 (upper-back)
An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying a ...
and an internal weapons bay for an additional AIM-7 or three
AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles.
Specifications (G-118, as designed)
See also
References
Notes
Bibliography
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{{USN fighters
G-118
Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United States
Twinjets
Mid-wing aircraft
Carrier-based aircraft