Subject: Number Eighty-Nine in the Series--Northrop F-89 Scorpion

From: [email-masked]
Date: 27 Sep 93 16:11:45 GMT

>From [email-masked]

The F-89E was to have been an F-89D reengined with a pair of 9700 
lb.st. Allison J71 non-afterburning turbojets.  The J71 engines 
would, it was hoped, give the Scorpion greater power and better fuel 
consumption, which would result in a much longer range.  One F-89C 
(50-762) was modified as a testbed under the designation XF-89E, and 
fitted with a pair of 9500 lb.st. YJ71-A-3 engines.  However, the 
F-89E project was abandoned before anything could reach production.  
The XF-89E prototype continued to be used as a flying testbed.  

The designation F-89E was also applied to a proposed single-seat 
escort fighter version of the Scorpion.  The proposed F-89E was to be 
powered by a pair of 9100 lb.st. afterburning General Electric 
J47-GE-21 engines.  The wings were enlarged and were fitted with a 
swept leading edge.  The armament consisted of 108 FFARs mounted in a 
pair of large pods mounted at mid-span on the wings.  The main landing 
gear was stowed inside the pods.  The nose was to be altered to carry 
armament--alternative arrangements of ten 0.50-inch machine guns, six 
20-mm cannon, or six MX-904 rockets were considered.  The escort 
fighter F-89E was projected to have a maximum speed of 688 mph and a 
combat radius of 1010 miles.  The project never got past the design 
study stage.  
 
  United States Military Aircraft Since 1909, Gordon Swanborough
  and Peter M. Bowers, Smithsonian, 1989.
  
  F-89 Scorpion in Action, Aircraft Number 104, Larry Davis and 
  Dave Menard, Squadron/Signal Publications, 1990.

  Fighters of the United States Air Force, Robert F. Dorr and David 
  Donald, Temple Press Aerospace, 1990.

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

  American Combat Planes, Third Enlarged Edition, Ray Wagner,
  Doubleday, 1982.

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