McDonnell FH-1 Phantom by Special Hobby

1/72 scale
Kit No. 72332
Cost: $30.00
Decals: Four versions – all U.S. Navy
Comments: Engraved panel lines, detailed cockpit, injection molded canopy, photo etch details

History

Long before the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II contested the skies over Southeast Asia, there was another Phantom, ordered into production during World War II. It was a small, straight-winged single-seater, built for the Navy when jet propulsion was still relatively new. It was anything but supersonic, with a top speed in level flight of 479 mph, and entered service with the U.S. Navy in the summer of 1947, just a few months before Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1. It had four .50 caliber machine guns as its main armament and pre-dated the appearance of reliable air-to-air missiles. The first Phantom, ancestor of its more well-known namesake of the Vietnam era, was the U.S. Navy’s very first jet fighter and it too was built by McDonnell Aircraft. Its maiden flight occurred just three months before the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In August 1943 the U.S. Navy tasked the relatively new McDonnell Aircraft Corporation with designing a carrier-based jet fighter. At the time, McDonnell was only four years old and had mainly built components of aircraft for other manufacturers, but it was a logical choice in that the manufacturing operations of other major companies like Boeing, North American, and Grumman were straining to meet the demand for their aircraft due to the war effort. The result not only gave the Navy its first jet fighter, but it set the stage for McDonnell to become one of the world’s leading combat aircraft manufacturers.

Early designs were radical for the time, some featuring three small Westinghouse turbojets in each wing, but the final configuration had two Westinghouse WE19XB-2B turbojets in the wing roots, part of a conventional straight-winged, flush-riveted airframe that was finalized by December 1943. Two prototypes were ordered under the designation XFD-1 and were later named Phantom — due largely to company president James McDonnell’s interest in the supernatural.

The first prototype was ready for its maiden flight by January 1945, but only one engine was available. The maiden flight was performed with just the one engine installed on January 2nd, and the first proper flight with both engines on January 26th. An order for 100 XFD-1’s was placed in March 1945, cut to 30 when the war ended in August, and eventually increased to 60. Meanwhile, the second XFD-1 prototype had flown in June 1945. Initial carrier trials were conducted aboard the U.S.S. Franklin D. Roosevelt in July 1946 — the first time an American-designed jet fighter had flown from an aircraft carrier. Production aircraft were delivered with the designation FH-1, due to the U.S. Navy’s designation for the McDonnell Company changing from “D” to “H,” owing to “D” already being taken by Douglas Aircraft (hence the designation SBD for its famous Dauntless dive bomber).

The first production FH-1 flew on October 28, 1946. Deliveries to U.S. Navy Squadron VF-17A (VF-171 as of August 11, 1948) began in July 1947. VF-17A, which did not fully complete its transition out of its F8F Bearcats and into the FH-1 until 1949 due to the need to have pilots undergo conversion training at the Naval Air Test Center, became the world’s first operational carrier-based jet fighter squadron and the sole Navy front line unit to fly the Phantom, from the carrier U.S.S. Saipan, deploying operationally during the Saipan’s May 1948 cruise. Two Marine Corps Squadrons (VMF-122 and VMF-311) also flew the FH-1. The Marines briefly operated one of the world’s first jet air show teams (the Flying Leathernecks) while flying the Phantom.

The FH-1 was in front-line service for only three years, due partly to its conventional airframe design, imposed on McDonnell due to the wartime need for speedy production. It had no ejection seat, something not seen on U.S. Navy fighters until the F2H Banshee entered service. The Phantom could be challenging to maintain due to the location of the engines in the wing roots, which made access difficult. And firing its nose-mounted guns at night could temporarily blind the pilots.

McDonnell built a total of 62 FH-1 Phantoms, with the last one delivered in May 1948. Due to the rapid development of jet technology, the FH-1 was soon superseded by newer types. The Navy began phasing out the Phantom when delivery of McDonnell’s F2H-1 Banshee began in March 1949. The last Phantoms were withdrawn from front-line service in July 1950 in favor of the Grumman F9F-2 Panther. The Phantom was subsequently employed for jet pilot indoctrination training by seven Naval Reserve units before being retired in July 1953.

The FH-1 Phantom had a brief career, as it represented cutting-edge technology that was nonetheless evolving ever more rapidly even as the Navy’s first jet fighter was coming off the drafting boards of McDonnell’s engineers. While it is all but forgotten today, it’s place in aviation history is secure. Within a decade of its retirement, the name Phantom would return in the form of another, superb McDonnell design that would completely overshadow its predecessor, and immortalize itself in aviation lore.

At least one FH-1 Phantom can be seen in its restored state at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Specifications

Wingspan: 40 ft. 9 in. / 12.2 m
Length: 37 ft. 3 in. / 11.35 m
Height: 14 ft. 2 in. / 4.32 m
Weight: 6,683 lbs. (3031 kg) empty; maximum take-off weight 12, 035 lbs. (5,459 kg)
Performance: Maximum speed 779 mph (771 km/h) at sea level, 505 mph (812 km/h) at 30,000 ft.; Cruising speed 248.5 mph (400 km/h); Initial climb rate 4,230 ft (1,289 m) per minute;
Service ceiling 34,500 ft.
Range: 604 nautical miles / 1118 km (this could be extended with a 295 gallon jettisonable belly tank)
Armament: Four nose-mounted Colt-Browning .50 caliber machine guns, with 325 rounds per gun; eight zero-length rocket launchers could also be fitted beneath each wing, firing 5-inch air-to-ground rockets identical to those employed in WWII
Powerplant: Two Westinghouse J30-WE-20 turbojets of 1,600 lbs. thrust (7.1kN)

The Kit

Special Hobby’s FH-1 Phantom is injection molded in grey plastic and consists of 87 parts, including seven clear parts for the two-part canopy and external lights. The airframe is crisply molded and offered engraved panel lines and recessed rivet detail. A photo-etched fret contains an additional 15 detail parts, including two diminutive parts representing rear view mirrors to be cemented to the rear interior lip of the windscreen. This is the first injection molded kit of the U.S. Navy’s first jet fighter to be released since MPM’s offering of 1992, and with its superior detail, is a definite improvement on what was a roughly accurate but in some ways crude kit.

The cockpit consists of 15 parts, including a main instrument panel with raised and recessed detail, a separate control yoke, and a two-part pilot’s seat with photo etched seat straps and side console controls. The kit features partial intake trunking with detailed injection molded intake faces and exhausts, as well as boxed in wheel well assemblies for the main landing gear with raised detail. Elongated, elliptical fairings representing the Phantom’s four-gun .50 caliber main armament are provided as separate parts and will have to be cemented to the nose of the fuselage with care. The landing gear are quite detailed with the nose gear alone consisting of five parts, unusual for this scale, and the main landing gear doors are enhanced by PE detail parts.

Markings

The kit includes decals for four versions, all of which are U.S. Navy aircraft, painted in overall Dark Sea Blue. The first, R 112 of VF-17A (Bureau No. 111778) aboard the U.S.S. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was flown my Lt. J.L. Fruin circa March 1949. The second, R 122 also of VF-17A (Bureau No. 111785) was aboard the U.S.S. Saipan as of May 1948 for carrier deck qualification trials. The third, R 101 of VF-17A (Bureau No. 111799), was flown by Capt. W.N. Leonard aboard the U.S.S. Coral Sea. Leonard was an experienced pilot with at least 6 kills to his credit who took part in the Coral Sea and Midway battles of WWII. He was also the first American pilot to fly a captured Japanese Zero. The fourth and final aircraft, R 109 also of VF-17A (Bureau No. 111786) was flown from the U.S.S. Franklin Delano Roosevelt by Lt. Cmdr. R.I. Clinke circa March 1949.

Arrestor hook down, a Phantom attempts a landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier during sea trials.

Conclusion

This is a nicely detailed kit of the U.S. Navy’s first operational jet fighter and, as the original Phantom after which the F-4 of Vietnam-era fame is named, an important piece of aviation history.

References

• Photo File: McDonnell FH-1 Phantom; published by International Masters Publishers, AB.
• Combat Aircraft Since 1945 by Stewart Wilson, Copyright 2000 by Aerospace Publications; Fyshwick, Australia.
• Naval Fighters Number Three: McDonnell FH-1 Phantom; Copyright 1981 by Steven J. Ginter
• Jet Deck: The Story of America’s First Carrier Jet; Copyright 1996 by Jet Pioneers
• FH/F2H Banshee in Action: Aircraft Number 182; Copyright Squadron Signal Publications, 2002.