McDonnell F2H Banshee
The McDonnell F2H Banshee was a single-seat, twin-jet carrier fighter designed and produced by McDonnell Aircraft Corporation in St. Louis. A larger development of the FH Phantom, the Navy's first carrier jet, it first flew on 11 January 1947 and entered service in 1948. Production ended in September 1953 after 895 aircraft: the F2H-1 and the widely used F2H-2 — including the nuclear-capable F2H-2B, the F2H-2N night fighter and the F2H-2P photo-reconnaissance version — then the lengthened, radar-equipped F2H-3 and F2H-4. With the F9F Panther it was one of the U.S. Navy's primary fighters in the Korean War, flying escort, close air support, interdiction and reconnaissance. The Royal Canadian Navy flew 39 second-hand F2H-3s from 1955 to 1962, its only jet fighters. Ten Banshees survive on museum display.
Why It Mattered
The Banshee was a larger development of McDonnell's FH Phantom, and it entered United States Navy service in 1948 as that service's second carrier jet fighter. Together with the Grumman F9F Panther, it was one of the U.S. Navy's primary jet fighters during the Korean War. Its straight wing left it slower than the swept-wing fighters then appearing, but its specialised variants included the U.S. Navy's first carrier-based jet night fighter and its first jet-powered carrier reconnaissance aircraft. A strengthened sub-variant, the F2H-2B, was built to carry an early nuclear bomb, giving the carrier fleet an atomic strike capability. It was also the only jet fighter ever operated by the Royal Canadian Navy, which flew it from 1955 to 1962.
Design Notes
The Banshee kept the Phantom's basic arrangement — a single seat and two turbojets buried in the wing roots — but its Westinghouse J34s produced double the Phantom's thrust, and the roots were enlarged to house them in a larger, thicker wing. Armament changed from the Phantom's four .50-calibre machine guns to four 20 mm cannon, mounted under the nose so muzzle flash would not blind the pilot when firing at night. Production aircraft added a pressurised, air-conditioned cockpit and an ejection seat, a fitting the Phantom lacked. The prototype's most unusual fitting was a "kneeling" nose gear: the nosewheel retracted so the aircraft rested on small forward wheels, letting it tuck under parked aircraft to save deck space; the feature was removed from most later variants. The F2H-2 was developed into nuclear-armed, night-fighter and photo-reconnaissance sub-variants, and the later F2H-3 and F2H-4 were all-weather fleet-defence fighters with nose radar, the F2H-3's fuselage lengthened by eight feet to carry over 50 percent more fuel.
Operational History
The prototype made its first flight on 11 January 1947 at Lambert Field, St. Louis, with McDonnell test pilot Robert Edholm at the controls. The first production F2H-1 was completed in August 1948, and production ended on 24 September 1953, after 895 aircraft had been delivered. The run comprised three XF2H-1 prototypes, 56 F2H-1s and 308 F2H-2s — including 25 nuclear-capable F2H-2Bs, 14 F2H-2N night fighters and 89 F2H-2P photo-reconnaissance aircraft — followed by 250 F2H-3s and 150 F2H-4s. When the Korean War broke out, the Banshee and the Panther were the Navy's primary jet fighters, flown from carriers and by Marine aviators from shore bases in Korea. The Banshee was up to 100 mph slower than the swept-wing MiG-15, so Banshees and Panthers flew mainly close air support for ground troops and interdiction against North Korean supply lines. Banshees escorted long-range bombers over Korea, and the reconnaissance variants were critical in photographing Communist military installations. In 1955, Marine F2H-2Ps flew 27 overflights of possible Chinese staging areas during the Taiwan Strait crisis. Canada acquired 39 second-hand F2H-3s between 1955 and 1958; based at Shearwater, Nova Scotia, they operated from the carrier HMCS Bonaventure and from shore as NORAD interceptors. Swept-wing fighters took over front-line American duties, and the last U.S. Naval Reserve Banshees were retired by 1961; Canada withdrew its last Banshees, without replacement, in September 1962.
Afterlife
Of the 895 Banshees built, only ten survive on static display in museums, three in Canada and seven in the United States. The displayed aircraft include an F2H-2P at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona, and an F2H-4 at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida. Ottawa's Canada Aviation and Space Museum holds F2H-3 126464, which served at naval stations in Florida and Virginia and on three aircraft carriers before the Royal Canadian Navy acquired it in August 1957. It flew with the RCN's Grey Ghosts aerobatic team; retired in 1962, it was kept outside at HMCS Shearwater. Donated in 1965, it was restored by No. 400 Air Reserve Squadron between 1975 and 1986 and is now in the museum's Reserve Hangar. Most other Canadian Banshees did not survive retirement: they were cut up for scrap or burned in firefighting exercises.