McDonnell F3H Demon

We have a double post today!
The McDonnell F3H Demon was liked by their pilots thanks to its docile handling, but, however, its endurance was marginal and it was underpowered. Usually two of the upper cannons were removed in order to make it lighter with the cannon parts faired over. Its service with the United States Navy was brief considering that combat aircraft designs were advancing really fast back then and the problems with the J40 engine delayed the Demon's introduction. By the early 1960s it had already been replaced by the Vought F-8 Crusader and the McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom II. The Phantom II was initially thought as a direct follow-up of the Demon, but even if the ancestry was apparent, the commonality was virtual. An F3H-2N was used as a testbed of the Phantom II's AN/APQ-50 radar.
It was formally withdrawn from service at the end of 1964 though some of them would be flown for testing purposes in the following years. It never served with any foreign air arm and it never saw any combat. Nowadays none of them remain airworthy.

Sources:
1. http://www.airvectors.net/avdemon.html
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_F3H_Demon
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

McDonnell F3H Demon

A photo reconnaissance version was proposed, under the name of F3H-2P but it was never materialized. The Demon remained as the Navy's main fighter until 1962 when it was retired from active service when the McDonnell Douglas Phantom II (which was a development of a "Super-Demon" concept) was accepted into service. It was developed during the Korean war to counter the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15, it didn't claim any aerial victories with missiles or dogfights even if it flew over Lebanon and Kinmen during the Lebanon Crisis and Second Taiwan strait crisis respectively in 1958.
In 1962 the F3H Demon was redesignated as the F-3, the F3H-2N as the F-3C, the F3H-2M as the MF-3B and the F3H-2 became the F-3B.
It remained in service with the VF-161 Squadron until september 1964.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_F3H_Demon
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

McDonnell F3H-2N Demon Part Two

Up to 519 Demons were built until the production ceased in November 1959. It was equipped with an AN/APG-51A radar which was later upgraded to the B version that had a tunable magnetron and later to the C version that featured better counter-measures in the receiver.
The standard armament was four 20mm Colt Mk.12 cannons, however in later years, the upper two ones were removed to save weight. The later production models, called F3H-2M, were prepared to be equipped and to fire the AAM-N-2 Sparrow missile and, then, later the Sidewinder air-to-air missile. Most of the times both types of missiles were fitted, the Sparrow in the inboard trails and the Sidewinder in outboard ones. The cannons weren't used in the carrier air defence role, but they were fitted and prepared when the situation (such like the Cuban Missile Crisis) required and where the aircraft might be deployed against ground targets.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_F3H_Demon
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Mcdonnell F3H-2 Demon

As the original Westinghouse J40 engine turned out to be disappointing, the subsequent Demons were powered by the Allison J71 engine which also powered the Douglas B-66 Destroyer and were named F3H-2N. However, the J71 engine proved to be troublesome too for an airplane of the Demon's size as it suffered from frequent flameouts and compressor stalls. The first F3H-2N flew for the first time in October 1954. There was another serious problem, the ejection seats weren't reliable enough and they had to be replaced by Martin-Baker ones, which had been becoming in the standard ones in the United States Navy due to their higher reliability, specially at low altittudes.
In spite of all those problems, the navy ordered 239 of them, which were deployed in March 1956.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_F3H_Demon
2. Salamander Books - The complete Book of fighters

McDonnell F3H Demon - Part One

The McDonnell F3H Demon was the first swept-wing single-seat fighter to fly designed to be a carrier-based one. It was conceived as a day fighter two prototypes being ordered with the designation of XF3H-1 on 30th September 1949. It was designed by a team leaded by Richard Deagen and the first prototype was flown on 7th August 1951, powered by a Westinghouse J40-WE-6 engine that rated 6500 lb st (2948kgp) on dry and 9200 lb st (4173 kgp) on afterburning. Meanwhile, the requirement was revised to call for a limited all-weather capability, with the production hurried up as the F3H-1N before the prototype was tested. The first mentioned prototype was flown on 24th December 1953 and was powered by a J40-WE-8 engine that delivered 7500 lb st (3402kgp) on dry and 10500 lb st (4763kgp) on afterburner and it was armed with four 20mm cannons. As the engine was really troublesome, it ceased production after only 58 airplanes were made, and the F3H-1N never entered service with the United States Navy.

Sources:
1. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_F3H_Demon