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57-625: The McDonnell FH Phantom is a twinjet , straight-wing , carrier-based fighter aircraft designed and first flown during late World War II for the United States Navy . As a first-generation jet fighter , the Phantom was the first purely jet-powered aircraft to land on an American aircraft carrier and the first jet deployed by the United States Marine Corps . Although only 62 FH-1s were built it helped prove

114-649: A great circle route. Hence, in case of an engine failure in a twinjet (like Boeing 777 ), the twin-jet could make emergency landings in fields in Canada , Alaska , eastern Russia , Greenland , Iceland , or the British Isles . The Boeing 777 has also been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration for flights between North America and Hawaii , which is the world's longest regular airline route with no diversion airports along

171-518: A podded engine usually mounted beneath, or occasionally above or within, each wing. Most notable examples of such a configuration are the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 . The second has one engine mounted on each side of the rear fuselage, close to its empennage , used by many business jets , although some airliners like the Fokker 70 , Douglas DC-9 and COMAC ARJ21 utilise such a design as well. In

228-609: A September air show in Cleveland, Ohio , nearly caused a head-on low-altitude collision with a large formation of other aircraft; their Phantoms were turned over to test squadron VX-3 . The VMF-122 Phantoms were later used for air show demonstrations until they were taken out of service in 1949, with the team being known alternately as the Marine Phantoms or the Flying Leathernecks . The Phantom's service as

285-467: A certain aircraft as it approaches while taxiing into or out of parking spots or elsewhere around an airfield. Each Navy and Marine Corps aircraft normally has its Bureau Number plus the type designation marked in small letters on the rear fuselage. Sometimes the last four digits of the serial are painted on the fuselage or vertical stabilizer fin. Sometimes the last three digits are used as the side codes also known as nose numbers or MODEXs (most commonly in

342-500: A frontline fighter would be short-lived. Its limited range and light armament – notably, its inability to carry bombs  – made it best suited for duty as a point-defence interceptor aircraft . However, its speed and rate of climb were only slightly better than existing propeller-powered fighters and fell short of other contemporary jets, such as the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star , prompting concerns that

399-450: A minimum of four digits to five digits and in 1957 all serials were limited to five digits (for example KC-135R 58-0001 is marked as 80001 ). The system is still in use. An aircraft in the first 10 units purchased in the fiscal year is often referred to as "Balls-(number)" – for example, NASA's B-52B, the oldest B-52 in service until its retirement, was known as Balls 8 . Aircraft that use the tactical style of marking (for example AF80 020 to

456-429: A number of engine combinations, varying from eight 9.5 in (24 cm) diameter engines down to two engines of 19 inches (48 cm) diameter. The final design used the two 19 in (48 cm) engines after it was found to be the lightest and simplest configuration. The engines were buried in the wing root to keep intake and exhaust ducts short, offering greater aerodynamic efficiency than underwing nacelles , and

513-435: A prefix or nearby. Whatever the serial presentation on the fin, the full fiscal serial is always presented in a technical data block, which is normally on the port (left) side near the cockpit. Often a portion of the aircraft serial number is also painted on the aircraft nose (as is done with helicopters) or on the nose landing gear door (as is done on fighters and bombers) to help ground and aircrew personnel speedily identify

570-586: A production contract was awarded on 7 March 1945 for 100 FD-1 aircraft. With the end of the war, the Phantom production contract was reduced to 30 aircraft, but was soon increased back to 60. The first prototype was lost in a fatal crash on 1 November 1945, but the second and final Phantom prototype ( serial number 48236 ) was completed early the next year and became the first purely jet-powered aircraft to operate from an American aircraft carrier , completing four successful takeoffs and landings on 21 July 1946, from Franklin D. Roosevelt near Norfolk, Virginia . At

627-465: A short time, but in 1917 they were replaced with the single letter A for an aeroplane . The numbers were official designating numbers , but became known as Bureau Numbers (BuNos) due to their assignment by the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics . In 1930, the service ceased using the A prefix; the last such serial was A-9204. In 1935, when the sequence reached 9999, the sequence was restarted at 0001. At

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684-408: A specified distance from an available diversion airport. Overwater flights near diversion airports need not be ETOPS/LROPS-compliant. Since the 1990s, airlines have increasingly turned from four-engine or three-engine airliners to twin-engine airliners to operate transatlantic and transpacific flight routes. On a nonstop flight from America to Asia or Europe, the long-range aircraft usually follows

741-541: A trijet aircraft) and Boeing worked on new widebody twinjet designs that would become the Airbus A330 and Boeing 777 , respectively. The MD-11's long range advantage was brief as it was soon nullified by the Airbus A330-300 and the extended-range Boeing 767-300ER and Boeing 777-200ER. The Airbus A320 twinjet stands out as the most produced jet airliner. The Boeing 777X is the world's largest twinjet, and

798-474: Is not an issue, as one of the engines is more than powerful enough to keep the aircraft aloft (see below). Mostly, ETOPS certification involves maintenance and design requirements ensuring that a failure of one engine cannot make the other one fail also. The engines and related systems need to be independent and (in essence) independently maintained. ETOPS/LROPS is often incorrectly thought to apply only to long overwater flights, but it applies to any flight more than

855-518: The 777X in November 2013, while then-CEO Fabrice Brégier preferred to focus on product improvement rather than all-new concepts for 10 years. It would have a 10-abreast economy like the 777; its 565 m (6,081 sq ft) wing, slightly more than the 747-8, would have an 80 m (262 ft) span, as wide as the A380 , for a 892,900 lb (405 t) MTOW compared to 775,000 lb (352 t) for

912-399: The Boeing 777 , Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 have matched or surpassed older quad-jet designs such as the Boeing 747 and Airbus A340 in these aspects, and twinjets have been more successful in terms of sales than quad-jets. In 2012, Airbus studied a 470-seat twinjet competitor for the Boeing 747-8 with lower operating costs expected between 2023 and 2030, revived after Boeing launched

969-501: The North American A-36 Apache usually had its serial showing on the fuselage instead — with the first digit of the fiscal year being omitted. The serial would not be allowed to be less than four digits (for example B-45 serial number 47-007 was marked 7007 ), but there was no upper limit (for example YP-59A 42-108783 was marked as 2108783 ). When the original fiscal year of a serial became ten years earlier than

1026-578: The United States , all military aircraft display a serial number to identify individual aircraft. These numbers are located on the aircraft tail, so they are sometimes referred to unofficially as "tail numbers". On the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit bomber, lacking a tail, the number appears on the nose gear door. Individual agencies have each evolved their own system of serial number identification. Aircraft serials are part of

1083-753: The 777-200LR variant has the world's second longest aircraft range (behind Airbus A350-900 ULR). Other Boeing twinjets include the 767 , 757 (With the latter having stopped production, but still in commercial service) and 787 . Competitor Airbus produces the A320 family , the A330 , and the A350 . Some modern commercial airplanes still use four engines ( quad-jets ) like the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8 , which are classified as very large aircraft (over 400 seats in mixed-class configurations). Four engines are still used on

1140-432: The 777X, with a composite structure for an operating empty weight of 467,400 lb (212 t), and a 8,150 nmi (15,090 km) range at Mach 0.85. When flying far from diversionary airports (so called ETOPS/LROPS flights), the aircraft must be able to reach an alternate on the remaining engine within a specified time in case of one engine failure. When aircraft are certified according to ETOPS standards, thrust

1197-660: The Aircraft Visual Identification System, which also includes the aircraft's tail code and Modex . In 1908, the United States government purchased its first heavier than air aircraft. The aircraft, a Wright Model A , was used by the aviation section of the United States Army Signal Corps and was issued with serial number 1. Subsequent aircraft were numbered in sequence. In 1918, the aviation section of

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1254-741: The Army Air Service became the United States Army Air Service (USAAS), but the sequence of numbers started in 1908 continued without change. In 1920, the USAAS became independent from the Signal Corps, and by 1921 the sequence had reached 68000. On 1 July 1921, a new serial system was introduced that was based on the United States Fiscal Year , which continues to the present day. For example,

1311-874: The Panther or Banshee. In June 1949, VF-171 (VF-17A) re-equipped with the Banshee, and their Phantoms were turned over to VF-172 ; this squadron, along with the NATC, VX-3, and VMF-122, turned over their Phantoms to the United States Naval Reserve by late 1949 after receiving F2H-1 Banshees. The FH-1 would see training duty with the USNR until being replaced by the F9F Panther in July 1954; none ever saw combat, having been retired from frontline service prior to

1368-461: The Phantom would be outmatched by future enemy jets it might soon face. Moreover, recent experience in World War II had demonstrated the value of naval fighters that could double as fighter-bombers , a capability the Phantom lacked. Finally, the aircraft exhibited some design deficiencies – its navigational avionics were poor, it could not accommodate newly developed ejection seats , and

1425-471: The Treasury were assigned their own sequence beginning with 1 . The early Army aircraft had large black serials marked on the fin or rudder, and in 1917 it was usual to prefix the serial with SC for signal corps, or later AS for aerial service. Later, the prefixes were not always marked and were eventually dropped. From 1942, the serial number was applied to the fin (or boom if a helicopter) — alternatively,

1482-400: The current fiscal year, the tail number was often prefixed with a zero, for example, 0-16717 instead of 16717 for UH-1H fiscal serial 66-16717. This was for disambiguation purposes, to avoid confusion with tail numbers for later fiscal years. The practice was generally abandoned in the 1980s. The notion that it was O for Obsolete is a widespread myth. In 1956, the fin serials were changed from

1539-502: The engine exhaust path and reducing the risk that the hot blast would damage the aircraft carrier deck. The construction methods and aerodynamic design of the Phantom were fairly conventional for the time; the aircraft had unswept wings, a conventional empennage , and an aluminum monocoque structure with flush riveted aluminum skin. Folding wings were used to reduce the width of the aircraft in storage configuration. Provisions for four .50-caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns were made in

1596-410: The engines were angled slightly outwards to protect the fuselage from the hot exhaust blast. Placement of the engines in the middle of the airframe allowed the cockpit with its bubble-style canopy to be placed ahead of the wing, granting the pilot excellent visibility in all directions. This engine location also freed up space under the nose, allowing designers to use tricycle gear , thereby elevating

1653-620: The first USMC combat squadron to deploy jets. VF-17A became the USN's first fully operational jet carrier squadron when it deployed aboard USS  Saipan on 5 May 1948. The Phantom was one of the first jets used by the U.S. military for exhibition flying. Three Phantoms used by the Naval Air Test Center were used by a unique demonstration team called the Gray Angels , whose members consisted entirely of naval aviators holding

1710-545: The first XFD-1, serial number 48235 , was completed in January 1945, only one Westinghouse 19XB-2B engine was available for installation. Ground runs and taxi tests were conducted with the single engine, and such was the confidence in the aircraft that the first flight on 26 January 1945 was made with only the one turbojet engine. During flight tests, the Phantom became the first U.S. Navy aircraft to exceed 500 mph (434 kn, 805 km/h). With successful completion of tests,

1767-656: The first aircraft to be procured with the fiscal year 1960 funds was a Boeing B-52H serialized 60-001 . In 1926, when the USAAS became the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC), the sequence continued unchanged. In late June 1941 , when the USAAC became the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), the sequence continued unchanged, and the displayed number, normally shown on the fixed vertical stabilizer's sides, usually omitted

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1824-675: The first digit of the year of the contract issuance. In 1947, when the USAAF became the United States Air Force (USAF), the sequence continued unchanged. Although USAF was independent of the Army, Army aircraft continued to be allocated in the same numeric sequence until 1967. In 1967, the United States Army continued to use the fiscal year serials, but the numeric element was started at 15000 for each year. In 1971,

1881-530: The introduction of ETOPS rules that allowed twin-engine jets to fly long-distance routes that were previously off-limits to them, Airbus was able to further develop the A300 as a medium- to long-range airliner to increased sales; Boeing launched its widebody twinjet, the Boeing 767 , in response. In the 1980s the Boeing 727 was discontinued, as its central engine bay would require a prohibitively expensive redesign to accommodate quieter high-bypass turbofans, and it

1938-449: The largest cargo aircraft capable of transporting outsize cargo , including strategic airlifters . Twin-jets tend to be more fuel-efficient than trijet (three engine) and quad-jet (four engine) aircraft. As fuel efficiency in airliners is a high priority, many airlines have been increasingly retiring trijet and quad-jet designs in favor of twinjets in the twenty-first century. The trijet designs were phased out first, in particular due to

1995-424: The left and below the wing tail code) are also referred to as 'balls'. This is a combination of the two consecutive zeros, one from the last digit in the build year and the other from the first digit in the aircraft number. In 1969, camouflaged tactical aircraft were marked with a modified presentation with the fiscal year followed by the last three digits of the serial number. Also, the letters AF were often added as

2052-554: The location of the machine guns in the upper nose caused pilots to be dazzled by muzzle flash . The F2H Banshee and Grumman F9F Panther , both of which began flight tests around the time of the Phantom's entry into service, better satisfied the navy's desire for a versatile, long-range, high-performance jet. Consequently, the FH-1 saw little weapons training, and was primarily used for carrier qualifications to transition pilots from propeller-powered fighters to jets in preparation for flying

2109-410: The more complicated design and maintenance issues of the middle engine mounted on the stabilizer. Early twinjets were not permitted by ETOPS restrictions to fly long-haul trans-oceanic routes, as it was thought that they were unsafe in the event of failure of one engine, so quad-jets were used. Quad-jets also had higher carrying capacity than comparable earlier twinjets. However, later twinjets such as

2166-629: The most versatile and widely used Western combat aircraft of the Vietnam War era. The FH Phantom was originally designated the FD Phantom , but this was changed as the aircraft entered production. In early 1943, aviation officials at the United States Navy were impressed with McDonnell's audacious XP-67 Bat project. McDonnell was invited by the navy to cooperate in the development of a shipboard jet fighter, using an engine from

2223-611: The nose, while racks for eight 5 in (130 mm) High Velocity Aircraft Rockets could be fitted under the wings, although these were seldom used in service. Adapting a jet to carrier use was a much greater challenge than producing a land-based fighter because of slower landing and takeoff speeds required on a small carrier deck. The Phantom used split flaps on both the folding and fixed wing sections to enhance low-speed landing performance, but no other high-lift devices were used. Provisions were also made for Rocket Assisted Take Off (RATO) bottles to improve takeoff performance. When

2280-493: The original aircraft was still under development – a proposal that would lead to the design of the Phantom's replacement, the F2H Banshee . Although the new aircraft was originally envisioned as a modified Phantom, the need for heavier armament, greater internal fuel capacity, and other improvements eventually led to a substantially heavier and bulkier aircraft that shared few parts with its agile predecessor. Despite this,

2337-829: The outbreak of the Korean War . In 1964, Progressive Aero, Incorporated of Fort Lauderdale, Florida purchased three surplus Phantoms, intending to use them to teach civilians how to fly jets. A pair were stripped of military equipment and restored to flying condition, but the venture was unsuccessful, and the aircraft were soon retired once again. Data from Naval Fighters #3 : McDonnell FH-1 Phantom, and McDonnell Douglas Aircraft since 1920 General characteristics Performance Armament Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Twinjet There are three common configurations of twinjet aircraft. The first, common on large aircraft such as airliners, has

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2394-461: The production run, the navy reassigned the designation letter "D" back to Douglas, with the Phantom being redesignated FH-1. Including the two prototypes, a total of 62 Phantoms were finally produced, with the last FH-1 rolling off the assembly line in May 1948. Realizing that the production of more powerful jet engines was imminent, McDonnell engineers proposed a more powerful variant of the Phantom while

2451-399: The rank of rear admiral ( Daniel V. Gallery , Apollo Soucek and Edgar A. Cruise .) The team's name was an obvious play on the name of the recently formed U.S. Navy Blue Angels , who were still flying propeller-powered Grumman F8F Bearcats at the time. The "Grays" flew in various air shows during the summer of 1947, but the team was abruptly disbanded after their poorly timed arrival at

2508-676: The requirement that an aircraft be able to continue a takeoff if an engine fails after the takeoff decision speed is reached. Thus, with all engines operating, trijets must be able to produce at least 150% of the minimum thrust required to climb and quad-jets 133%. Conversely, since a twinjet will lose half of its total thrust if an engine fails, they are required to produce 200% of the minimum thrust required to climb when both engines are operating. Because of this, twinjets typically have higher thrust-to-weight ratios than aircraft with more engines, and are thus able to accelerate and climb faster. United States military aircraft serials In

2565-476: The sequence was started at 20000 and was not restarted with each fiscal year. In 1911, the United States Navy (USN) purchased its first aircraft, a Curtiss Triad pusher floatplane. The Navy allocated a prefix for each manufacturer, and the first aircraft was serialized A-1 , with A allocated to Curtiss. Different letters were also allocated to the same manufacturer, but for different types of aircraft, for example, Curtiss amphibians were allocated E. In early 1914,

2622-566: The start of the 1940s, so many aircraft were purchased that surviving aircraft from the first sequence could be confused with second-series aircraft, and the sequence was stopped at 7303. In 1940, the third sequence was started at 00001 (with five digits). When the third sequence reached 99999, it continued with six digits which continues to date. In 1926, the United States Coast Guard purchased its own aircraft, and they were assigned one or two-digit serial numbers. In 1934,

2679-471: The system was changed to a three-digit number with the first digit indicating an aircraft type. In 1936, this was changed again, and all aircraft (including those withdrawn from use) were allocated serials starting with V101. In 1945, the V prefix was removed and replaced with digit 1 to make four-digit serial numbers, which continues to the present. Since 1969, executive aircraft operated for the Secretary of

2736-430: The system was changed to a two-letter type/sub-type system, with each having a sequence starting from 1. A was allocated for heavier-than-air types, for example, AB was a flying boat and AX was an amphibian. All surviving aircraft from the original system were resealed. In 1917, the individual number sequences were stopped, and a combined sequential numerical system was started at number 51. Prefix letters were retained for

2793-694: The third configuration both engines are within the fuselage, side-by-side, used by most fighters since the 1960s. Later fighters using this configuration include the Su-27 'Flanker', the F-15 Eagle , and the F-22 Raptor . The first twinjet to fly was the German fighter prototype Heinkel He 280 , flying in April 1941 with a pair of nacelled Heinkel HeS 8 axial-flow turbojets. The twinjet configuration

2850-504: The time, she was the largest carrier serving with the U.S. Navy, allowing the aircraft to take off without assistance from a catapult . The second prototype crashed on 26 August 1946. Production Phantoms incorporated a number of design improvements. These included provisions for a flush-fitting centerline drop tank , an improved gunsight, and the addition of speed brakes . Production models used Westinghouse J30 -WE-20 engines with 1,600 lbf (7.1 kN) of thrust per engine. The top of

2907-521: The turbojets under development by Westinghouse Electric Corporation . Three prototypes were ordered on 30 August 1943 and the designation XFD-1 was assigned. Under the 1922 United States Navy aircraft designation system , the letter "D" before the dash designated the aircraft's manufacturer. The Douglas Aircraft Company had previously been assigned this letter, but the USN elected to reassign it to McDonnell because Douglas had not provided any fighters for navy service in years. McDonnell engineers evaluated

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2964-533: The two aircraft were similar enough that McDonnell was able to complete its first F2H-1 in August 1948, a mere three months after the last FH-1 had rolled off the assembly line. The first Phantoms were delivered to USN fighter squadron VF-17A (later redesignated VF-171) in August 1947; the squadron received a full complement of 24 aircraft on 29 May 1948. Beginning in November 1947, Phantoms were delivered to United States Marine Corps squadron VMF-122 , making it

3021-418: The vertical tail had a more square shape than the rounder tail used on the prototypes, and a smaller rudder was used to resolve problems with control surface clearance discovered during test flights. The horizontal tail surfaces were shortened slightly, while the fuselage was stretched by 19 in (48 cm). The amount of framing in the windshield was reduced to enhance pilot visibility. Halfway through

3078-429: The viability of carrier-based jet fighters. As McDonnell's first successful fighter, it led to the development of the follow-on F2H Banshee , which was one of the two most important naval jet fighters of the Korean War ; combined, the two established McDonnell as an important supplier of navy aircraft. McDonnell chose to bring the name back with the third-generation, Mach 2-capable McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II ,

3135-450: The way. On large passenger jets, the cost of the engines makes up a significant proportion of the plane's final cost. Each engine also requires separate service, paperwork, and certificates. Having two larger engines as opposed to three or four smaller engines will typically significantly reduce both the purchase and maintenance costs of a plane. Regulations governing the required thrust levels for transport aircraft are typically based upon

3192-656: Was soon supplanted by twinjets for the narrow-body market; Airbus with the A320 , and Boeing with the 757 and updated "classic" variants of the 737 . During that decade only McDonnell Douglas continued development of the trijet design with an update to the DC-10 , the MD-11 , which initially had a range advantage over its closest medium wide-body competitors which were twinjets, the in-production Boeing 767 and Airbus A300/A310. In contrast to McDonnell Douglas sticking with their existing trijet configuration, Airbus (which never produced

3249-484: Was used for short-range narrow-bodied aircraft such as the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and Boeing 737 . The Airbus A300 was initially not successful when first produced as a short-range widebody, as airlines operating the A300 on short-haul routes had to reduce frequencies to try and fill the high-capacity aircraft, and lost passengers to airlines operating more frequent narrow-body flights. However, after

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