Subject: Number Eighty-Six in the Series--North American F-86 Sabre (20 of 23)

From: [email-masked]
Date: 6 Sep 93 15:11:30 GMT

>From [email-masked]

The design of a new Fury version, the NA-194, began in March of 1952.  
The engine was to be the Wright J65-W-2, a license-built version of 
the British-designed Armstrong-Siddeley Sapphire turbojet engine.  The 
thrust of the J65 was 7800 pounds, as against the 6000 pounds offered 
by the J47-GE-2 of the FJ-2.  The higher thrust provided by the J65 
offered the Navy the possibility of markedly enhanced performance, and 
a contract for 289 examples of the NA-194 was given to the Columbus 
plant on April 18, 1952.  The designation FJ-3 was assigned by the 
Navy.  Serials were BuNos 135774 through 136162.  

In order to serve as a testbed for the FJ-3, the fifth FJ-2 (BuNo 
131931) was fitted with a J65-W-2 engine.  The NAA designation NA-196 
was assigned to this project, and the modified FJ-2 flew for the first 
time on July 3, 1953.  

The modified FJ-2 (131931) had retained the original nose intake of 
the stock FJ-2, but it was discovered during flight tests that the 
increased power offered by the J65 required that the nose air intake 
be made somewhat larger.  Consequently, the production FJ-3 had a 
larger nose intake than that of the FJ-2.  However, the slatted wings 
and the hydraulic power-operated horizontal tail and ailerons of the 
FJ-2 were retained.  Four 20-mm cannon were provided, with 648 rounds 
of ammunition.  Cockpit armor included a 52-pound back plate and an 
88-pound plate in front of the instrument panel.  

The first production FJ-3 (BuNo 135774) rolled out of the Columbus 
factory and flew for the first time on December 11, 1953.  William 
Ingram was the pilot.  The engine was the 7650 lb.st. J65-W-4.  

By July of 1954, twenty-four FJ-3s had been delivered, and the 
aircraft began its Fleet Introduction Program at the Naval Air Testing 
Center (NATC) at Patuxent, Maryland.  The flavor of the test flying 
environment at Patuxent during the mid-1950s was described very well 
by Tom Wolfe in his book *The Right Stuff*.  Most of the early Navy 
jets had lots of quirks and were often quite dangerous to fly, and 
there were numerous accidents.  I lived just across the Chesapeake Bay 
from Patuxent at that time, and scarcely a month would go by without 
at least one crash of a jet fighter being tested there.  However, by 
the standards of the day, the FJ-3 went through its test program with 
relatively few problems being uncovered, although 135785 did manage to 
explode in midair and crash because of the ingestion of a foreign 
object, and the pilot of 135786 got himself lost, ran out of fuel, and 
had to ditch in the Patuxent River.  

Navy Squadron VF-173 based at Jacksonville, Florida was first to 
receive the FJ-3, becoming active with the fighter in September of 
1954.  The FJ-3 made its first carrier landings aboard the USS 
*Bennington* (CVA-20) on May 8, 1955.  On January 4, 1956, an FJ-3 
flown by Cdr. Ralph L. Werner of VF-21 became the first aircraft to 
land aboard the USS *Forrestal*, the first of the new class of 
post-war giant carriers.  

During the mid 1950s, the US Navy developed a mirror system to replace 
(at least partially) the paddle-waving LSO in guiding a pilot's 
approach to a carrier landing.  The first mirror landing was made by 
Cdr. Robert D. Dose on August 22, 1955, when he landed his FJ-3 
aboard the USS *Bennington*.  

On July 1, 1955, the Navy abandoned the deep blue color scheme that 
had been used throughout the Korean War, and adopted a color scheme in 
which the upper surfaces were dull grey and the undersurfaces were 
white.  

The early FJ-3s had wing slats.  On later FJ-3s, the wing slats were 
abandoned in favor of extended wing leading edges with a leading edge 
fence on each wing.  The wing area went from 287.9 to 302.3 square 
feet.  Space in these wing leading edges was used to accommodate 124 
gallons of additional fuel, and many earlier FJ-3s were retrofitted 
with this extended wing leading edge.  

Beginning with 136118, four additional store stations were added 
underneath the wings.  The inboard stations could carry 500-pound 
bombs or rocket packs, whereas the intermediate stations could carry 
1000-pound bombs or launching rails for AAM-N-7 (AIM-9) Sidewinder 
missiles.  In 1956, Furies equipped to carry Sidewinders had their 
designation changed to FJ-3M.  The first Sidewinder equipped Furies 
entered service in 1956, and approximately 80 FJ-3s were modified to 
FJ-3M standards.  

The last aircraft on the original FJ-3 contract was finished in 
February 1956.  A total of 389 were built, covering serials 135774 to 
136162.  A second order for FJ-3s had been given to North American on 
March 15, 1954 under the company designation of NA-215.  This called 
for 214 aircraft, but was later but back to 69, but 80 more were added 
on November 2, bringing the final total to 149.  The serials for this 
batch were BuNos 139210/139178 and 141364/141443.  The first of these 
aircraft was delivered in December of 1955, and the last (an FJ-3M) 
rolled out of the factory in August of 1956.  

The FJ-3 Fury was retrofitted in service with a long probe under the 
port wing for midair refuelling.  Furies usually refueled from North 
American AJ-2 Savage tankers.  However, they could also "buddy refuel" 
from other tactical jets such as the Douglas A4D-2 Skyhawk.  The 
midair-refuelling option extended the combat radius from 645 to 1237 
miles.  

A few FJ-3s were modified in 1957-60 to serve as drone directors.  
Those modified to handle the direction of surplus Vought Regulus 
missiles were redesignated FJ-3D, whereas those modified to handle 
controlled F9F-6K drones and KDA targets were redesignated FJ-3D2.  

The FJ-3 had engine problems which did not fully manifest themselves 
until the type was well into service.  The J65 had some severe 
lubrication problems which could cause the engine to seize up during a 
catapult launch, forcing the aircraft to drop into the ocean.  Don't 
you just hate it when this happens? :-) :-).  The FJ-3 was also prone to 
engine flameouts, but probably not much more so than many other jet 
fighters of its day.  The J65 also suffered from occasional 
catastrophic turbine blade failures, which would cause the engine to 
shed its turbine blades and send them flying out the sides of the 
fuselage.  New types of blades were fitted during service to help 
correct this problem.  

The FJ-3 served with the following squadrons: 

Atlantic Fleet: 

	FJ-3: VF-3, VF-33, VMF-122, VMF-313 

	FJ-3M: VA-172, VF-12, VF-62, VF-73, VF-84, VF-173, VMF-334 

Pacific Fleet: 

	FJ-3: VF-24, VF-91, VF-154, VF-191, VF-211 

	FJ-3M: VF-21, VF-51, VF-121, VF-142, VF-143, VF-211, VMF-235.  

Despite their engine problems, the FJ-3s were fairly popular with 
their pilots.  Commander J. J. Boydston of VF-154 spoke well of the 
aircraft.  Captain James Powell of VF-142, who had also flown F9F-6s, 
felt that the FJ-3 got off the ground a lot faster than did the 
Cougar.  He felt that his FJ-3 could outfight any aircraft in service 
during those times, with the sole exception of the F-86H.  

I don't think that the FJ-3 ever fired its weapons in anger, although 
it did fly support during the American intervention in Lebanon during 
1958.  

On October 1, 1962, the FJ-3 was redesignated F-1C in the new 
Tri-Service designation scheme.  The Fury was given the honor of the 
first slot in the new system, although by this time most FJ-3s had 
been retired from service.  The FJ-3D was assigned the designation 
MF-3C, and the drone directors FJ-3D and FJ-3D2 were redesignated 
DF-1C and DF-1D respectively.  It seems that the FJ-1 and FJ-2 were 
not redesignated, since by this time they were no longer in service, 
even with reserve units.  However, it is an odd fact that the 
designations F-1A and F-1B were never assigned.  Perhaps these 
designations were reserved for the FJ-1 and the FJ-2, although I am 
only guessing.  

Specification of the FJ-3: 

One Wright J65-W-4B, 7650 lb.st.  Dimensions: wingspan 37 feet 1 inch, 
wing area 302.3 square feet, length 37 feet 7 inches, height 13 feet 8 
inches.  Weights were 12,205 pounds empty, 15,669-17,926 pounds combat 
weight, 21,024 pounds gross.  Distance to clear a 50-foot obstacle was 
2750 feet.  Initial climb rate: 8450 feet /minute (7100 ft/min with 
two Sidewinders).  Climb to 30,000 feet in 5.2 minutes Ferry range: 
1784 miles.  Combat range (clean), 990 miles.  Combat radius 370 miles 
(clean), 645 miles with 2 200-gallon drop tanks.  Maximum speed: 681 
mph at sea level, 623 mph at 35,000 feet (clean) 670 mph at sea level, 
612 mph at 35,000 feet (two Sidewinders).  Armament consisted of four 
20-mm cannon in nose plus two AA-N-7 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles (on 
the FJ-3M version).  

Sources:

  F-86 Sabre in Action, Larry Davis, Squadron/Signal Publications, 1992.

  The North American Sabre, Ray Wagner, MacDonald, 1963.

  The American Fighter, Enzo Angelucci and Peter Bowers, Orion, 1987.

  The World Guide to Combat Planes, William Green, MacDonald, 1966.

  The World's Fighting Planes, William Green, Doubleday, 1964.

  Flash of the Sabre, Jack Dean, Wings Vol 22, No 5, 1992.

  F-86 Sabre--History of the Sabre and FJ Fury, Robert F. Dorr, Motorbooks
  International, 1993.

  Fury-The Navy's Sabre, Robert F. Dorr, Air International vol 44 No. 1

Joe Baugher		AT&T Bell Laboratories   	
2000 North Naperville Road      Naperville, Illinois 60566-7033