Demon, - Naval History and Heritage Command · Demon, completed its maiden hop. Test pilot Bill Bridgeman set a speed record over Muroc, Calif., when he flew the D-558-2 Skyrocket

surgeon jumped up to the cockpitimmediately and managed to stop theflow of blood. Then, for the first time,Jackson saw the flight deck.

Seven days later, Jackson waslaunched on a test flight in his repairedplane and was back in action.

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The Navy’s flight demonstration team,the Blue Angels, had been flying theexhibition circuit since 1946 but it wasnow time for the more serious businessof aerial warfare. The team flew its lastexhibition at NAS Dallas on July 30,1950, in Panthers, after which the pilotswere sent to ComAirPac for furtherassignment. The tradition would beresurrected after the war but, even in thefour-year span since its inception, it wasestimated that 14,000,000 spectatorshad marveled at the skills of the BlueAngels.

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In November, the carrier forces weretasked w i th cu t t i ng o f f Ch ineseCommunist re in fo rcemen ts f romM a n c h u r i a b y d e s t r o y i n g t h einternational bridges across the YaluRiver. On November 9, during initialstrikes against the bridges at Sinuiju,Soviet-built MiG-15s rose to opposeNavy planes. This assured the firstencounter of Navy jets against MiGs. VF-111’s C.O., Lieutenant Commander E. T.Amen, flying a Panther, scored one killand became the first Navy pilot in historyto shoot down a jet aircraft.

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Back home in January 1951, in amilestone development, the DouglasXF4D-1 delta-wing fighter flew for thefirst time.

On April 2, 1951, two Panthers fromVF-191, each loaded with four 250 andtwo 100-pound bombs, were catapultedfrom USS Princeton for an attack on arailroad bridge near Songjin. This markedthe first Navy use of a jet fighter as abomber.

Meanwhile, on the home front, a newdimension in jet aircraft was manifestedin the innovative design of a twin-enginebomber, the A3D Skywarrior, by theDouglas Company. It had a gross weightof 60,000 pounds, making the Skywarriorthe largest and heaviest ever projectedfor carrier use. In August 1951 anothershipboard fighter, McDonnell’s XF3H-1

Demon, completed its maiden hop. Testpilot Bill Bridgeman set a speed recordover Muroc, Calif., when he flew the D-558-2 Skyrocket at 1,238 mph. That wason August 7. On the 15th, Bridgemanclimbed to 79,494 feet, the highestaltitude achieved by man that date.

The jets had long s ince proventhemse lves and , a long w i th thevenerable piston-powered planes, wouldflourish in the years ahead.

get back into the cockpit. He made severalattempts to man the steed, but the planewas moving too fast and he had to let go.

The fighter accelerated to 150 knots.After traveling 6,000 feet, the nosewheel struck a slight rise in the runwaysurface and took off, climbing rapidly to700 feet, thus becoming the first pilotlessPanther. Sure enough, the F9F stalledand crashed into the bay off the end of therunway. Scratch one $543,000 aircraft.”

Still, Grampaw Pettibone was notreluctant to zero in on jet mishaps. Liketheir trusted predecessors, the jetsprovided fertile ground for GrampawPettibone’s Naval Aviation News column.A sample of a jet accident follows:

“The pilot of an F9F made a normalstart, completed his ground check andproceeded to the end of the duty runway.When his pretakeoff check of theemergency fuel system producedflameout symptoms, the pilot’s wingmaninformed him that the Panther was onfire and that he ought to get out. As hestood there in wonderment, he suddenlyheard the Panther’s engine wind up. Theplane weathercocked in the wind,heading down the runway.

The pilot ran to the aircraft andattempted to board it, but the accessladder was stowed and he was unable to

Marine ingenuity paid dividends atMCAS Cherry Point, N.C., in 1952 whencold weather formed sheaths of ice onV M F - 1 2 2 ’ s F 2 H B a n s h e e . F i r s tLieutenant C. B. Lafayette, flight lineofficer, came up with a common senseidea. He had a jet taxi into a position sothat its exhaust was aimed at a pointbetween the tail and wing section of asecond ice-bound plane. The heat of theexhaust whisked the ice from the aircraftwithout doing any damage. The processwas repeated on the other side of theBanshee. The squadron was thus able toput an eight-plane formation flight ofF2Hs in the air within a half hour of apossible scramble call.

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VF-61’s Lieutenant Junior Grade John

An F11F Tiger is towed off the deck elevator of USS Forrestal (CVA-59) in 1956.

P. Eells made history of sorts when hesuccessfully landed his F9F-2 on USSFranklin D. Roosevelt with only the nosewheel and right main landing gear. Whenthe port main gear failed to extend, Eellsburned off his Panther’s excess fuel,made the approach and got his cut. ThePanther caught a wire and rolled forwardon the nose and right main gear untilforward motion was lost. The aircraftthen settled onto its left wing tip tank,causing only minor damage.

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In April 1952, following tests of theBri t ish-developed steam catapul tconducted during the first three monthsof the year at Philadelphia, Norfolk, and atsea, the Navy announced that thecatapult would be adopted for use onAmerican carriers. First installation wasslated for USS Hancock.

In late May 1952, the feasibility of theangled-deck concept was demonstratedin tests conducted on a simulated angleddeck, aboard USS Midway, by test pilotsflying both jet and prop aircraft.

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In June, combined elements of the AirForce, Navy and Marine Corps virtuallydestroyed the electric power potential ofNorth Korea with attacks on primemilitary targets which had been bypassedfor nearly two years of the war. The two-day attack, which involved more than1,200 sorties, was the largest single aireffort since the close of WW II. It was alsothe first to employ planes from all of theU.S. services fighting in Korea.

Then, on July 11 and 12, in one of themajor coordinated air efforts of the war,Navy, Marine, Air Force, Austrailian andBritish air elements launched a round-the-clock attack on the railroad yards andindustrial facilities at Pyongyang.

Two days later, on the other side of theglobe in Newport News, Va., the keel ofthe 59,000- ton supercarr ier , USSForrestal, was laid. It was the first of itsclass.

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Struck by canopy fragments when hisPanther took a hit near Wonsan, EnsignFloryan Soberski demonstrated a blindcarrier landing with the help of hiswingman, Lieutenant Francis J. Murphy,and a pair of LSOs, Lieutenant LawrenceA. Dewing and Lieutenant Junior Grade

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George A. Parker. Soberski could seeslightly from his right eye but needed theradio guidance of Murphy and the LSOsto trap aboard the carrier, USS Princeton.

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In February 1952, CNO approved amodification of the Project 27A carrierconversion program which provided anincrease in the capacity of deck operatingequipment. Changes included use ofmore powerful arresting gear, higherp e r f o r m a n c e c a t a p u l t s a n d areplacement of the number threecenterline elevator with a deck-edge typeof greater capacity. Conversion of threeEssex -class carriers incorporating thesechanges was completed in 1954 underProject 27C.

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On August 29, the new UN philosophyof mass air attack was demonstratedonce more by a record-breaking, around-the-clock raid on Pyongyang. The entirecarrier air force of Task Force 77 teamedwith the Fifth Air Force and the British tos p r e a d d e s t r u c t i o n o n s u p p l yconcentrations in and around the city.

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In January of the new year, duringtests aboard USS Antietam, the Navy’sfirst angled-deck carrier, Captain S. G.Mitchell, the ship’s C.O., landed in anSNJ. During the next four days, sixaircraft models made landings, touch andgoes, night landings and takeoffs inwinds of varying force and direction.

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Major John F. Bolt, USMC, downed hisfifth and sixth MiGs while operating withthe Fifth Air Force in Korea on July 11. Hebecame the first Naval Aviator to attainfive victories in jet aerial combat. The warwas to end two days later.

On that final day, Task Force 77 wentafter t ransportat ion faci l i t ies withairfields as a secondary target. Theattacks destroyed or damaged 23 railroadcars, 11 railroad bridges, one railroadtunnel, nine highway bridges andnumerous buildings.

Uni ted Nat ions and communistrepresentatives signed an armistice atPanmunjom, bringing hostilities to a halt,on July 27, 1952.

Lt.Col. Marion Carl, USMC, piloted theSkyrocket experimental aircraft to83,235 feet, a new altitude mark, onAugust 21, 1-952. On September 2, aconversion plan for Midway -c l asscarr iers, t i t l e d P r o j e c t 1 1 , w a spromulgated. Changes were similar tothose for the angled-deck version ofProject 27C but with the addition of amodified C-11 steam catapult in theangled-deck area.

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Lieutenant Commander James F.Verdin set a world speed record of752.943 mph over a three-kilometercourse in an F4D Skyray. This was a firstfor a carrier aircraft in its normal combatconfiguration. On September 16,Douglas test pilot Bob Rahn broke the100-kilometer closed-course record inthe Skyray with a 728.114-mph mark. OnDecember 3, the first successful test ofsuper circulation (boundary layer control)on a high-speed airplane, an F9F-4Panther, took place at Grumman’sBethpage, Long Island, facility. JohnAttinello, BuAer engineer, was creditedwith developing this practical applicationof a long-known aerodynamic principle.

II. Tactical Jet Missions

In spite of the Korean truce, peace inthe world remained on unsteady footingin the last half of the 1950s. There werecrises in the Far East, the Middle East,a n d a g e n e r a l d e t e r i o r a t i o n i ninternational relations. At the same time,a new importance was rendered to thetraditional practice of deploying navalforces to trouble spots of the world.

T h e r e w e r e a l s o s i g n i f i c a n ttechological advances. In fact, NavalAviation experienced changes that wereas great as any in its history during thistime. These improvements enhanced thespeed, firepower, versatility and mobilityof sea and air forces. Guided missilesbegan replacing guns, the capability todeliver nuclear weapons was increased,aircraft speeds jumped from sub tosupersonic, the adaptation of nuclearpower t o a i r c r a f t w a s underinvest igat ion, a n d a n increasedknowledge of space gave evidence of itsfuture effect on surface operations.

A new class of flattops was built andthe carrier modernization program wascompleted. Carrier forces were thusstrengthened and a new family of high-performance aircraft operated with them.