F3D/F-10 Skyknight

[dy031101]

That discussion about a boosted Active Skyflash at the Phoenix missile thread was brought up right about the same time when I was wondering if F3D Skyknight has potential for a weapon of that nature......

I'm wondering if variants other than the basic nightfighter version has provision for a fire control radar- does, say, the EF-10 electronic warfare version also retain its fire control radar or at least provision for it?

[Daryl J.]

There is also the swept wing proposal to consider.   

[jcf]

The F3D-2M (MF-10B) carried four AIM-7 Sparrow, the guns were removed.

The F3D-2Q (EF-10B) retained its guns and related fire control radar, which was actually
a gun-aiming radar and would be of no use for missile control.

The proposed swept-wing F3D-3 was to have interchangeable mission noses.

[dy031101]

That "present basic night fighter airplane" term...... is it a reference to the F3D-2 or the F3D-3?

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Was thinking of the possibility of an ELINT aircraft that can either defend itself or be employed as an interceptor in a pinch like the F-4G.

[kitnut617]

Jon, was there any problem with gun gas ingestion with the Skyknight ? (or even the F-89 come to think of it, same sort of intake arrangement)

[GTX_Admin]

I wonder...ground attack variant?

[Cliffy B]

I wonder...ground attack variant?

Always though the straight wing version looked like a primitive A-6 

[elmayerle]

That discussion about a boosted Active Skyflash at the Phoenix missile thread was brought up right about the same time when I was wondering if F3D Skyknight has potential for a weapon of that nature......

I'm wondering if variants other than the basic nightfighter version has provision for a fire control radar- does, say, the EF-10 electronic warfare version also retain its fire control radar or at least provision for it?

I'm thinking that a boosted Active Skyflash or boosted AMRAAM would work with a Skyknight but a boosted Phoenix is getting close to the Eagle carried by it's big brother, the F6D.

Too, weren't there some test birds with some interestingly different radomes?

[Daryl J.]

There might be some who remember the article in Fine Scale Modeler on one of Monogram's designers.  Most of the 1:48 scratchbuilds have now been tooled by the mainstream.  Does that mean hope for a Skyknight?

[dy031101]

I'm thinking that a boosted Active Skyflash or boosted AMRAAM would work with a Skyknight but a boosted Phoenix is getting close to the Eagle carried by it's big brother, the F6D.

Could a boosted Active Skyflash be cheaper than a Phoenix round?

[Rickshaw]

I'm thinking that a boosted Active Skyflash or boosted AMRAAM would work with a Skyknight but a boosted Phoenix is getting close to the Eagle carried by it's big brother, the F6D.

Could a boosted Active Skyflash be cheaper than a Phoenix round?

Significantly.  If indigenous manufacture is undertaken under license, then foreign exchange is also saved.  The US was never willing to allow license manufacture of Phoenix whereas Europe would have been willing, more than likely to allow license manufacture of Skyflash or its derivatives. 

[jcf]

Robert: no mention of indigestion problems in the Ginter monograph. 

dy: the reference is to the F3D-3 proposals.

Ground attack was included in the F3D-3 proposals, both in the form of 5" underwing rockets
and 2.75" rocket pods, and guns, bombs and rockets in High Speed external stores.

[dy031101]

I suppose all we would have needed for the F3D-3 to happen would be the J54 a.k.a. American Avon turbojet......

[elmayerle]

I suppose all we would have needed for the F3D-3 to happen would be the J54 a.k.a. American Avon turbojet......

Or the americanized Sapphire, the J65 which saw rather more service in the US.

regarding Active Skyflash or AMRAAM, both finally do what the Sparrow II attempted back in the 1950's and didn't do, fit an active radar into a Sparrow-sized airframe.  It only took two decades of intense progress in electronics to finally get there.  I could definitely see those, or boosted versions thereof, being used by several countries upgrading their F3Ds.

[dy031101]

Or the americanized Sapphire, the J65 which saw rather more service in the US.

If the J65 could have succeeded where the J46 failed for the Cutlass as well as the swept-wing Skyknight......

[elmayerle]

Ah, but I don't know if Vought ever tried it.  By the time it was available, they were already moving beyond the Cutlass.

[finsrin]

F3D-3 profile is saying "please kitbash me into a model."

[dy031101]

By the time it was available, they were already moving beyond the Cutlass.

By "it", do you mean J54 or J65 (...... or both)?

[elmayerle]

By the time it was available, they were already moving beyond the Cutlass.

By "it", do you mean J54 or J65 (...... or both)?

Well, both.   ISTR that neither was available until the early fifties, by which time the USN had moved beyond the Cutlass.

OTOH, either would do most excellently for a F3D upgrade.  J65 was already being used in a Douglas product (Skyhawk), so I could see it getting the nod.