num_pages: 276
description: When World War II came to a close, piston-powered fighter aircraft were at their zenith and Navy fighters, such as the Grumman F6F Hellcat and Vought Corsair dominated the skies over the Pacific. As these fighter designs reached their peak, a new propulsion technology was being developed that held great promise. When introduced, the first jet aircraft were underpowered, and in many ways inferior to propeller-driven aircraft of the time. Naval Air Superiority examines the Navy's internal struggle to adapt the jet engine to its style of warfare as well as the development and evolution of carrier-borne fighters, their airframes and engines, from the closing days of World War II through Vietnam.To operate a fighter from the pitching deck of an aircraft carrier requires a number of significant design considerations including requirements for catapult launching, arrested landings, payload, and weaponry. For the first time, Naval Air Superiority profiles the turbulent design and development stage of the Navy's carrier-based jet fighter program and discusses the evolution and development of aircraft with a flight envelope ranging from slow-carrier approaches to supersonic intercepts. This book looks at successful designs, such as the Fury, Banshee, Crusader, and Phantom II, to the also-rans, like the Fireball, Demon, Pirate, and Cutlass - aircraft developed when the Navy's needs were measured against contractor and political demands and against the limits of the evolving engine and aerodynamic technologies of the day.This book includes engine cut-aways, aircraft comparison diagrams, and details the safety improvements made to aircraft carriers to enable higher speed and highgross weight jet operations.
language: English
title: U.S. Naval Air Superiority: Development of Shipborne Jet Fighters 1943-1962
publisher: Specialty Press