American postwar aircraft

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Douglas F4D (F-6) Skyray

Douglas F4D Skyray

Delta-winged jet fighter, based on German wartime research. The original Westinghouse J40 engine had to be abandoned because of continuing problems, and this delayed service entry. With the J57 engine, performance was entirely satisfactory. But the F4D was phased out rather quickly in favour of even more advanced designs, also because it was a too highly specialized interceptor. The F4D-2N became the F5D.
421 built.

General characteristics
Primary function	Fighter
Power plant	One Pratt & Whitney J57-P-8, 8A, or 8B turbofan
Thrust	normal	10,200 lb	4627 kg
Thrust	with afterburner	16,000 lb	7258 kg
Speed	maximum	722 mph	1162 km/h
	cruising	520 mph	837 km/h
	landing	134 mph	216 km/h
Initial climb rate	18,300 ft/min		5578 m/min
Ceiling	55,000 ft		16 764 m
Range	normal	700 miles	1127 km
Range	maximum	1,200 miles	1931 km
Weight	empty	16,024 lb	7268 kg
Weight	max. takeoff	27,116 lb	12 300 kg
Wingspan	33 ft 6 in		10,2 m
Length	45 ft 3 in		14,5 m
Height	13 ft		4 m
Wingarea	557 sq ft		51,8 sq m
Armament	Four 20mm cannons in wings; on 7 external pods up to 4000 lb (1815 kg) - 6x 7 2.75 in rockets or 4x 19 rockets + two 2,000 lb (900 kg) bombs or + two AIM-9 Sidewinder.

Douglas F4D-1, VFAW-3, NAS North Island, San Diego

Douglas F4D-1, landing on USS Hornet (CV-12)

Jirka Wagner

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Last updated 01.10.2008