18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superior Book on Developing Superiority, March 22, 2008
This review is from: U.S. Naval Air Superiority: Delevelopment of Shipborne Jet Fighters - 1943-1962 (Hardcover)
This is an excellent must read book for anyone interested in the Navy's jet fighter development from its start thru about 1960. The book is not about statistics as Mr. Thomason says. The book is describing an era and pretty much all that it encompassed for its subject. He goes into detail on how each program came about, how the contracts were awarded, the development of each type to service or cancellation. There is a tremendous amount of information that leads one to understanding of the times and how quickly things were developing. I would not consider the chapters dealing with armament and carrier development with the adoption of the British steam catapult, "canted" deck, and mirror landing system as side trips as each had a direct effect on carrier aircraft design.
There are only three chapters out of fifteen that deal with a specific aircraft and it's understandable that the planes are the F7U, F4D, and F3H as the sum up the problems of defining a mission and manufacturing that the Navy was encountering at the time. The Panthers, Banshees, Cougars, Furies, Tigers, and Crusaders are explained in detail too. One interesting nugget of information concerns the F7U Cutlass. The Cutlass was known for breaking its long nose strut in service and being a hard aircraft to land on a carrier. Mr. Thomason points out the last cruises the Cutlass went on didn't have the accident rate on landing that its reputation making first cruises did. This corresponded to being on carriers with an angled deck so a pilot had a clear deck in front of him and with no need to slam down on the deck to land. Besides its Westinghouse engines the plane was a victim of timing. The book is filled with uncommon information like that. The only things that I noticed that seemed missed were the J79 in connection with the F5D and the development of the Sidewinder 1C beam rider that helped the F8U-2NE play interceptor to replace the F3H on the Essex-class carriers. My impression based on the rest of the book is that it was most likely there but edited out to get the page count right.
This is an impressive book using some of the best resources on the subject such as George Spangenberg. The last naval aviation book that read where I thought the author really described the subject really well was Michael O'Connor's"Mig Killers of Yankee Station" this book is similarly as detailed in its subject. Mr. Thomason you've written the "A Number 1" book on Navy fighter development 1943-1962, thank you.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Navy Jets: The Good, The Not So Bad, The Sort of Ugly, May 30, 2008
This review is from: U.S. Naval Air Superiority: Delevelopment of Shipborne Jet Fighters - 1943-1962 (Hardcover)
When ground forces in Iraq run into trouble, they have on-call air support -- Navy F18s in orbit -- ready to come into action. Although these fighters are based on aircraft carriers far out to sea, they are able to remain on patrol in Iraq all day by repeatedly refueling from aerial tankers.
In his new book, Tommy H. Thomason skillfully describes a time when the Navy struggled to find ways to keep its fuel-hungry jets in the air for minutes -- not hours. In those days, an aircraft's endurance was key to naval air operations. Early carrier operations depended on carefully cycling thirsty aircraft on and off the ship.
"U.S. Naval Air Superiority: Development of Shipboard Jet Fighters 1943-1962" is a comprehensively researched volume is stuffed with engrossing photographs, first-rate 3D Drawings, and very helpful charts and tables.
The author has meticulously gathered information on Navy aircraft starting with the modest McDonnell FH Phantom I, through the all-world McDonnell F4U Phantom II.
I found Mr. Thomason's coverage of several lesser-known designs to be very interesting.
Very early in the Korean War, Grumman touted its bulbous Grumman XF10F Jaguar to be the Navy's first general purpose fighter. Based on a Nazi inspired variable sweep wing design, its poorly designed control system made it dangerously unpredictable in flight tests. After lengthly delays and substantial modifications, its overall performance was mixed -- the complicated Jaguar was just too heavy. Grumman's overambitious XF10F proved so troublesome only one test pilot ever agreed to fly it.
Consider the FJ-1 Fury, which was an updated version of the famous U.S. Air Force F-86 fighter that adapted surprisingly well to the aircraft carrier -- it was loved by its Marine pilots.
What Navy fighter had great success against the Migs in Korea? The harmless-looking 2-man F3D Skyknight night fighter bagged 7 Migs against only one loss.
His book comprises 15 chapters arranged in chronological order. The Navy jets have been marshaled into chapters chronicling first designs, second-generation jets, Korean War fighters, supersonic jets, and mach 2 fighters.
The author has dedicated a full chapter each to the innovative Vought F7U Cutlass -- the "Ensign Eliminator"; the well-mannered Douglas F4D Skyray -- a very fast climbing, radar equipped all-weather fighter; and the standard setting McDonnell F3H Demon -- the only all-weather, radar-missile-armed fighter in the fleet before the F4 Phantom II.
The Navy had three jets operational in the Korean War. The F2H-2 Banshee, F9F-2 Panther, and F3D-2 Skyknight. Most of the Navy missions were flak suppression and cutting communist supply lines. Air battles were rare because Migs did not often go into the areas of Navy jet operations.
Due to problems with Westinghouse jet engines the Navy could not deploy swept wing jet fighters that were more of a match for Mig-15s. The Korean War proved that refinements to Navy carriers were needed including better catapult systems, lighting, navigation and instrument approach aids for night and all-weather landing operations.
In analysis, Mr. Thomason reveals that carrier based aircraft by nature have more difficult design requirements than land based aircraft. He suggests that this contributed to lower speed and range performance in early Navy aircraft.
In retrospect, Mr. Thomason, also the author of
Strike from the Sea: U.S. Navy Attack Aircraft from Skyraider to Super Hornet, 1948-present, explains, "The Navy's approach to creating a world-class fighter was straightforward. It simply funded successive aircraft programs with five different manufacturers until experience and competition generated one." The Navy did not give up on its traditional suppliers even after successive failures.
In many cases, Navy fighters suffered most from inadequate power. Mr. Thomason argues, "As engine companies were challenged to produce more thrust with less fuel and at a lower weight, engine durability and reliability occasionally suffered."
Looking back on this period, the author explains, "As it turned out, straight-wing jets were relatively easy to operate from aircraft carriers with minimal changes to the carrier itself. Swept wing aircraft took considerably longer to put into service, partly because the Navy was too ambitious with the mission requirements in the late 1940s and partly because Westinghouse could not repeat its early engine success."
Ironically, the Navy fighter's highest priority of defending the fleet from attacks by supersonic bombers was never put to the test.
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