Since the 1960s, the Sea Fury has become popular with warbird enthusiasts, air show and air racing participants, and spectators, being among the fastest propeller-driven fighters of all time.
The U.S. Navy was able to field the highly effective Grumman F9F Panther fighter on more than 78,000 combat sorties in the Korean War because in Britain Rolls-Royce had developed an excellent jet engine in its Nene. The U.S. Navy became interested in the Nene in the summer of 1946 when looking for an engine to power its new Grumman-designed, radar-equipped, all-weather day and night fighter, the XF9F. Two Nenes were brought from England to the Philadelphia Navy Yard where, in December, the Rolls product became the first jet to pass the extremely demanding Navy test schedule. Rights were acquired for American aircraft engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney to redesign and build a version of the Nene to be designated J42, which was developed and refined to power the F9F2, the Panther that, together with the McDonnell F2H Banshee, did the primary day fighter job in Korean skies. The design evolved into the F9F-8 Cougar which, while not arriving in Korea in time to have an impact on the conflict, was to become the primary fighter of the U.S. Navy in the fifteen years after World War II.
The McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawk was rugged, reliable and quite agile, so much so that its carrier-based U.S. pilots referred to it as “Scooter.” It was almost always ready to work, and in the Vietnam War the nimble delta-winged jet could carry and deliver nearly its own weight in bombs and rockets. The little Skyhawk was one of the many brilliant designs of Douglas Aircraft’s Ed Heinemann, and was initially a private venture by Douglas to be a successor to their extraordinary Skyraider. At the time the U.S. Navy had in mind an aircraft of similar capabilities to those of the Skyraider, but powered by a turboprop engine. Heinemann had a better idea, and designed a relatively small airframe to be powered by a Pratt & Whitney turbojet and capable of the payload and range requirements of the Navy, with a far-greater-than-specified performance, and about half the specified maximum take-off weight. The result performed impressively for decades as a primary strike fighter for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marines, Argentina, and Israel.
The British Aerospace / Blackburn Buccaneer S. Mk 2B was rushed to the Persian Gulf in 1991 to provide laser designation for the missiles of RAF Tornados as they struck at Iraqi targets. The two-seat, low-level strike plane originally served with Nos. 800, 801, and 809 Squadrons, Royal Navy, in the S Mk 1 version. The brilliant, long-lived Buccaneer had been mobilized and was in actual combat in just ten days. The Bucs utilized an American system called the AVQ-23E Pave Spike system to help the Tornados accurately deliver laser-guided bombs from medium altitude. As the Gulf air war progressed, Buccaneers were also used to drop Portsmouth Aviation CPU-123/B 1,000-pound Paveway II laser-guided bombs, mainly attacking bridges and airfields. The Buccaneer was among the most important contributions of the British to the coalition effort in the Gulf. Armed with AIM-91 Sidewinders for self-defense until the missiles were declared unnecessary, the Bucs alone made it possible for the RAF Tornado bomber force to hit its targets with unparalleled precision and efficiency. The Tornado crews had never dropped laser-guided bombs before, and had to undergo a quick and very intensive training program with their Buccaneer laser buddies prior to their first LGB mission on 2 February. From the start, the Buccaneer-Tornado operating procedure was a great success. For the thirty-year-old Buccaneer, fighting what would probably be its last action, it was an impressive performance.
A Royal Navy aviator arriving at his Sea Harrier for departure on a combat air patrol from HMS Illustrious.
Known as the “airborne eyes of the fleet.” the Grumman E-2 Hawkeye has for five decades carried the primary responsibility for airborne early warning and operational coordination in the U.S. Navy. It is expected to continue as the front-line AEW and control platform for the American fleet well into the twenty-first century. Like so many naval aircraft designed and brought into manufacture in the 1950s and 1960s, the Hawkeye has been continually revised electronically to keep it technologically current. Subject to a prolonged early development phase owing to its complexity, the plane finally reached the Pacific and Atlantic fleets in quantity between 1964 and 1966.
The Hawkeye flies with a crew of five including a pilot, co-pilot, and three radar operators, as a shipboard early warning and fighter control aircraft. Its two Allison turboprop engines power it to a maximum speed of 397 mph and a typical cruising speed of 315 mph with a ceiling of 31,700 feet and a ferry range of 1,905 miles. The Hawkeye first went to war aboard the USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63) in the South China Sea off Vietnam in 1965 where it began its high-achieving career controlling air strikes, warning of enemy aircraft in the vicinity, and guiding friendly aircraft around ground defense installations.
Plagued with problems from the outset, the Grumman F-14 Tomcat first flew in late 1970 and first went to sea on deployment aboard the carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65) in 1974. It was finally retired from U.S. Navy service in September 2006. During that service the big twin-engined interceptor offered and provided a unique threat to potential enemies of the American fleet. It could destroy multiple targets at extreme distances and was capable of bringing down enemy fighters before they could attack, as well as missile-launching aircraft before they could launch their weapons. The Tomcat was the largest and heaviest of the American Navy’s strike aircraft prior to being replaced by the excellent F/A-18 Hornet family of multi-role strike fighters.
An F4U Corsair traps on the deck of the USS Tarawa in 1946;
A Royal Navy Grumman Martlet (Wildcat) suffers a crash on deck;
A Curtiss SB2C Helldiver preparing for take-off.
A BAE Sea Harrier is airborne from the ski launch ramp of HMS Illustrious.
At NAS Miramar near San Diego, a Vought F-8 Crusader being looked after by U.S. Navy ground crewmen;
Not the most agile of combat planes, the Tomcat was designed to defeat the Soviet MiG-21 and MiG-23 fighters, but was not a match for the MiG-29 or the Su-27. In its long career the Tomcat suffered upwards of forty losses through spinning accidents, a slew of engine compressor blade failures resulting in many more losses, and a growing lack of trust by its pilots in the planes’s engines, bringing with it a collective attitude of excessive caution. But with production of the F-14A, B, and D models, the Tomcat gained a new lease of life in the 1990s. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, and resultant cutbacks in U.S. military spending, then brought a major contraction in the Tomcat community, as well as the disestablishment of many historic squadrons which were equipped with the plane.
Lieutenant Jennifer Brattle was a Naval Flight Officer with VF-211 aboard the USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74), flying in the F-14A Tomcat as a Radar Intercept Officer (RIO)—a backseater. In her squadron she also functioned as Public Affairs Officer, Assistant Personnel Officer, Coffee Mess Officer, Educational Service Officer, and Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Officer. She flew as a RIO in Tomcats from May 1998 and by November 1999 had accumulated about 300 flight hours in the plane: “Basically, I help the pilot in his duties. I help with navigation and I’m in charge of the radar and the weapons systems. If the mission we are on is bombs, I set up all the stations for the bombing, I work the radar and back up the pilot in his work.”
Dating from the 1950s, the original Dassault-Breguet Etendard transonic strike fighter was planned to be a land-based strike plane for NATO and the French Air Force, but in the end it was the French Navy that maintained an interest and took it on board for carrier operations. Eventually the plane went through further development and a more powerful, high-performance version emerged. The Super Etendard is, in fact, quite different from the standard model, with a modified high-performance wing, as well as significantly improved avionics and armament. The Super entered fleet service in 1978, with the French Navy accepting a total of seventy-one aircraft. Five were leased to Iraq, while fourteen went to Argentina where they were operated against the British in the 1982 Falkland Islands c
ampaign from the Argentine carrier Veinticinco de Mayo (originally a Colossus-class carrier of the Royal Navy). It was an Argentine Super Etendard naval strike fighter which launched a French Exocet missile to sink the British destroyer HMS Sheffield in the Falklands campaign.
An F4U Corsair on static display at the Duxford, England, Flying Legends air show.
In the 1960s the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force were told by the British Air Ministry to study the possible commonality of their requirements regarding a new aircraft type; a short-take-off-landing fighter, to be based on the Hawker P1127 VSTOL prototype. The Navy wanted an air superiority, catapult-launched fighter, while the Air Force was more interested in a supersonic ground attack plane. Nearly every time the British and American services are asked by those on high to put aside their differences and find a way to make the same aircraft work for them both, the result is months or even years of pulling and pushing until the concept is finally declared unacceptable by both branches. It happened just that way with this VSTOL attempt.
The Navy opted instead to buy the McDonnell F4K Phantom, while the Air Force went on with its feasibility studies until 1965, when the British government cancelled further work on a P1154 supersonic VSTOL variant. By special agreement, the government, together with the U.S. and Germany, continued development on the P1127 version which evolved into the Pegasus 3-powered Kestrel. In early tests aboard HMS Ark Royal at Lyme Bay in 1963, the Royal Navy showed but minor interest in what it regarded then as little more than a novelty. By 1965 the RAF requirement for such a front-line VSTOL plane, primarily in Germany, finally meshed with the ongoing development of the Kestrel. It had been almost totally redesigned to incorporate the avionics of the cancelled P1154, and utilized an uprated Pegasus engine of 19,000 pounds thrust. It entered service with the RAF in 1969 as the Harrier. By April 1973 a new class of ship, a sort of combined anti-submarine and VSTOL carrier, was at last agreed on and the first of the class, HMS Invincible, was ordered on 17 April.
In 1971, No 1 Squadron RAF had deployed to HMS Eagle in an exercise to test their Harrier GR1s in “emergency deployment” to RN helicopter carriers. The exercise was of more than casual interest to the Royal Navy at that point, and they immediately began pursuit of a navalized version: the Sea Harrier. This variant required many major changes, not least being the employment of an uprated 21,500 pound thrust Pegasus 104 engine.
In the 1982 Falklands War, the Sea Harrier, armed with the American AIM-9L Sidewinder missile, provided a wake-up call that the Argentine Air Force, who referred to the plane as “the black death,” could not ignore. No Sea Harriers were lost in air combat there, though several were destroyed by enemy action or were casualties of the terrible South Atlantic weather. In 166 days at sea during the conflict, the Sea Harriers of HMS Invincible had a 95 percent serviceability rate. The airplane certainly proved itself, along with the Fleet Air Arm case for the continued operation of fixed-wing aircraft from its carriers.
The Grumman A-6 Intruder joined the U.S. Fleet in February 1963 and served there with distinction until the late 1990s. The Intruder stemmed from a Navy requirement in the late 1950s for a carrier-borne day-night medium attack jet capable of delivering a range of weaponry, including nuclear. It was to be a very sophisticated plane with amazing electronic capability and great flexibility of function. The Intruder could carry a massive 18,000 pound load of ordnance on five external store stations under the wing and fuselage, which ranged from conventional iron bombs through such smart weapons as the HARM and Harpoon and the AIM-9 Sidewinder for self-defense. It carried a radar package enabling it to perform virtually “blind” at low level. Operated by a crew of two, the pilot and the bombardier / navigator sat side-by-side. In the Vietnam War the A-6 often flew in company with other U.S. Navy aircraft, such as the A-4 Skyhawk, and provided bomb-release commands to these less sophisticated planes.
The formidable U.S. Navy F4U Corsair, sometimes referred to by the Japanese as “whistling death” during the Pacific campaign of the Second World War.
Both U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine front-line units flew the A-6 for more than three decades, including considerable duty in Southeast Asia. After a period of “de-bugging” common to most new, and nearly all complex aircraft, the A-6A became fully operational and demonstrated that it was more than capable of effectively replacing the very best propeller-driven medium bomber to date, the Douglas A-1 Skyraider. The Intruder was formidable and could operate independently in the worst weather conditions, something it had to do frequently during the Vietnam War. When no other aircraft could do the work, the A-6 was invariably a reliable performer, putting its bombs precisely on target. With greatly improved avionics, it became better and better over the years and, while not quite as versatile as the Skyraider, the Intruder delivered an overall level of performance without parallel.
It came to the U.S. Navy in 1961, the big, noisy, smoke-dirty McDonnell F-4 Phantom, seven years after the Saint Louis airplane builder had been commissioned to design the twin-engined strike fighter-interceptor. Its requirement was changed early in the design stage when the Navy decided that the new plane should be purely a missile fighter. Evidently both the service and the builder had become convinced that the days of close-in dogfighting were over forever, and that there was no need to carry a gun on the Phantom, a view that found little favor among Phantom crews who were to fly it in air combat. Still, it was the finest aircraft of its type for more than ten years … the fastest, highest-climbing aircraft then operating.
The two-man crew of the Navy F-4 sat in tandem, with the pilot doing the flying from the front seat while the RIO (Radar Intercept Officer) operated the powerful long-range acquisition radar from the rear cockpit. The method worked well and both crew members appreciated the second pair of eyes on board in the unforgiving aerial combat arena.
Two missile types were carried as fundamental ordnance on the Phantom. The short-range heat-seeking Sidewinder for use in distances up to two miles, and the radar-guided Sparrow with a range of thirteen miles. When the airplane entered into air combat during the Vietnam War, it became clear that the lack of an internal gun put the crew at a distinct disadvantage. Early in that war U.S. rules of engagement required Phantom crews to make visual identification of every target, perfectly reasonable in that most aircraft in Vietnamese skies then were American. The practice virtually eliminated the standoff capability of the Sparrow missile, compounding the F-4 crews’ disadvantage in not having a gun, but was overcome with the development of a special radar receiver. Eventually, in May 1967, crew complaints about the armament of the plane were rewarded with the arrival in Vietnam of the F-4D model, which accommodated a pod-mounted 20mm Vulcan cannon. The installation was later modified to be fully internal in the F-4E variant. The powerful Gatling gun gave the Phantom the ability to dogfight on more even terms than its pilots and RIOs had ever known.
The Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm operated the FG Mk 1 Phantom with 892 Squadron at RNAS Yeovilton in March 1969. With the cancellation of CVA-01, the new British aircraft carrier intended to replace HMS Ark Royal by the late 1970s, the Royal Navy requirement for Phantoms was reduced and a number from its order were transferred to the RAF. These were used to equip 43 Squadron at RAF Leuchars near Saint Andrews, Scotland. In July 1972 all of the 892 Squadron Phantoms were relocated to Leuchars which became home to all Royal Navy and Royal Air Force FG Mk 1s in Britain. Powered by Rolls-Royce Spey engines, the FG Mk 1 was slightly faster than the U.S. airplane. It was deployed at sea on Ark Royal the only Royal Navy carrier then capable of operating the Phantom.
Another excellent effort from the designers at Grumman was the EA-6 Prowler, a carrier-borne, all-weather electronic warfare plane. The Prowler came into the U.S. Navy inventory in 1971 and served as the only dedicated electronic warfare aircraft for the use of the Navy, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Air Force for nearly four decades, until the arrival in the fleet of the EA-18G Growler in 2009.
The Prowler came a
bout in the development of the Intruder strike aircraft, when it became clear that a specialized electronics-based support version of the aircraft was needed to help the Intruders get in and out of enemy airspace. To some extent the EA-6 evolved from the Intruder, but the ultimate EA variant had a very special and distinctive electronic counter-measure stand-off jamming capability. In addition to its highly sophisticated electronic warning systems, the Prowler, which is operated by a crew of four, carries HARM missiles. It has a range of 1,100 miles.
The principal strike fighter of the U.S. Navy from the 1990s has been the Boeing McDonnell Douglas FA/18 Hornet. It first flew in 1978 and entered service in 1980 and is probably the most capable and versatile fighter-bomber in the entire history of the American Navy. In the Iraq and Bosnian conflicts the Hornet showed its worth in both the air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. It is a twin-engined, light-weight, relatively low-cost fighter offering both rapid acceleration and economical performance. Being fairly small and easily accommodated in the limited space of an aircraft carrier, it has a rather small fuel capacity, and its operations generally involve aerial refuelling. It was designated primarily as a naval plane to operate from aircraft carriers, but in the inventories of the Canadian, Spanish, and Australian air arms, it operates from land bases. It is a highly automated machine whose computers signficantly reduce the flying workload of the pilot, freeing him or her to fight the enemy. Its electronic offensive and defensive systems make it an extremely potent adversary. U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18Ds are two-seat versions in which the back-seater participates in the combat role and can also act as a forward air controller for other aircraft.
The Bird Farm Page 4