It served in the Korean war and was the only jet fighter that served with the Royal Canadian Navy, where it served from 1955 until 1962.
The Banshee was a development of the previous FH-1 Phantom and its origins can be traced back to April 1945 when a mock-up, originally designated XF2D-1 was completed but it wasn't until late 1946 that the first three prototypes were completed. It made its maiden flight under the designation of XF2H-1 on 11th January 1947 in Lambert Field, St. Louis, Missouri.
As the first version, named F2H-1 was similar enough to the FH-1 Phantom, they were completed in August 1948, just three months after the last FH-1 Phantom rolled out from the factory. It differed from the prototype from being longer and from having bigger fuel capacity. It had different redesigned empennage with reduced vertical tailplane fairing and without dihedral from the horizontal stabilizers. WIngs and tail-thickness ratio were also reduced to increase the critical mach number and it was retrofitted with 3150lbf (14Kn) Westinghouse J34 turbojet engines as they were available.
The F2H-1 wasn't used in combat.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_F2H_Banshee
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
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