Product Description

As 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 and their airframes and engines, from the closing days of World War II through Vietnam.
For the first time, U.S. Naval Air Superiority profiles the turbulent design and development stage of the Navy's carrier-based jet fighter program. From the successful designs, such as the Fury, Banshee, Crusader, and Phantom II, to the also-rans, like the Fireball, Demon, Pirate, and Cutlass, the Navy's needs are measured against contractor and political demands and 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 high-gross-weight jet operations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #234727 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 276 pages

Review
For fans of naval aviation and anyone else who is seriously interested in post-World War II fighter development, U.S. Naval Air Superiority is a must buy. -----Aviation History, reviewed by E.R. Johnson, September 2008

I know I've said it before, but Specialty Press has a knack of producing the finest books on the subject that I've ever read and this one add to that list. If you buy only one book on early USN jets in your lifetime, this is the one to get. It is that good. ----Modeling Madness, reviewed by Scott Van Aken, February 2008

This is an outstanding, one of a kind account of the trials, tribulations, and ultimate successes that distinguished the development of U.S. Navy Jet Fighters. -----Proceedings, U.S. Naval Institute, August 2008

About the Author
Tommy H. Thomason has worked as a flight test engineer, manager, and executive in the aerospace industry for almost 40 years, including two years as a flight test engineer on the
F-4 Phantom. He has flown more than 3,000 hours in 60 different airplanes, helicopters, and sailplanes.

Customer Reviews

Superior Book on Developing Superiority
This is an excellent must read book for anyone interested in the Navy's jet fighter development from its start thru about 1960. The book is not about statistics as Mr. Thomason says. The book is describing an era and pretty much all that it encompassed for its subject. He goes into detail on how each program came about, how the contracts were awarded, the development of each type to service or cancellation. There is a tremendous amount of information that leads one to understanding of the times and how quickly things were developing. I would not consider the chapters dealing with armament and carrier development with the adoption of the British steam catapult, "canted" deck, and mirror landing system as side trips as each had a direct effect on carrier aircraft design.

There are only three chapters out of fifteen that deal with a specific aircraft and it's understandable that the planes are the F7U, F4D, and F3H as the sum up the problems of defining a mission and manufacturing that the Navy was encountering at the time. The Panthers, Banshees, Cougars, Furies, Tigers, and Crusaders are explained in detail too. One interesting nugget of information concerns the F7U Cutlass. The Cutlass was known for breaking its long nose strut in service and being a hard aircraft to land on a carrier. Mr. Thomason points out the last cruises the Cutlass went on didn't have the accident rate on landing that its reputation making first cruises did. This corresponded to being on carriers with an angled deck so a pilot had a clear deck in front of him and with no need to slam down on the deck to land. Besides its Westinghouse engines the plane was a victim of timing. The book is filled with uncommon information like that. The only things that I noticed that seemed missed were the J79 in connection with the F5D and the development of the Sidewinder 1C beam rider that helped the F8U-2NE play interceptor to replace the F3H on the Essex-class carriers. My impression based on the rest of the book is that it was most likely there but edited out to get the page count right.

This is an impressive book using some of the best resources on the subject such as George Spangenberg. The last naval aviation book that read where I thought the author really described the subject really well was Michael O'Connor's"Mig Killers of Yankee Station" this book is similarly as detailed in its subject. Mr. Thomason you've written the "A Number 1" book on Navy fighter development 1943-1962, thank you.

Navy Jets: The Good, The Not So Bad, The Sort of Ugly
When ground forces in Iraq run into trouble, they have on-call air support -- Navy F18s in orbit -- ready to come into action. Although these fighters are based on aircraft carriers far out to sea, they are able to remain on patrol in Iraq all day by repeatedly refueling from aerial tankers.

In his new book, Tommy H. Thomason skillfully describes a time when the Navy struggled to find ways to keep its fuel-hungry jets in the air for minutes -- not hours. In those days, an aircraft's endurance was key to naval air operations. Early carrier operations depended on carefully cycling thirsty aircraft on and off the ship.

"U.S. Naval Air Superiority: Development of Shipboard Jet Fighters 1943-1962" is a comprehensively researched volume is stuffed with engrossing photographs, first-rate 3D Drawings, and very helpful charts and tables.

The author has meticulously gathered information on Navy aircraft starting with the modest McDonnell FH Phantom I, through the all-world McDonnell F4U Phantom II.

I found Mr. Thomason's coverage of several lesser-known designs to be very interesting.

Very early in the Korean War, Grumman touted its bulbous Grumman XF10F Jaguar to be the Navy's first general purpose fighter. Based on a Nazi inspired variable sweep wing design, its poorly designed control system made it dangerously unpredictable in flight tests. After lengthly delays and substantial modifications, its overall performance was mixed -- the complicated Jaguar was just too heavy. Grumman's overambitious XF10F proved so troublesome only one test pilot ever agreed to fly it.

Consider the FJ-1 Fury, which was an updated version of the famous U.S. Air Force F-86 fighter that adapted surprisingly well to the aircraft carrier -- it was loved by its Marine pilots.

What Navy fighter had great success against the Migs in Korea? The harmless-looking 2-man F3D Skyknight night fighter bagged 7 Migs against only one loss.

His book comprises 15 chapters arranged in chronological order. The Navy jets have been marshaled into chapters chronicling first designs, second-generation jets, Korean War fighters, supersonic jets, and mach 2 fighters.

The author has dedicated a full chapter each to the innovative Vought F7U Cutlass -- the "Ensign Eliminator"; the well-mannered Douglas F4D Skyray -- a very fast climbing, radar equipped all-weather fighter; and the standard setting McDonnell F3H Demon -- the only all-weather, radar-missile-armed fighter in the fleet before the F4 Phantom II.

The Navy had three jets operational in the Korean War. The F2H-2 Banshee, F9F-2 Panther, and F3D-2 Skyknight. Most of the Navy missions were flak suppression and cutting communist supply lines. Air battles were rare because Migs did not often go into the areas of Navy jet operations.

Due to problems with Westinghouse jet engines the Navy could not deploy swept wing jet fighters that were more of a match for Mig-15s. The Korean War proved that refinements to Navy carriers were needed including better catapult systems, lighting, navigation and instrument approach aids for night and all-weather landing operations.

In analysis, Mr. Thomason reveals that carrier based aircraft by nature have more difficult design requirements than land based aircraft. He suggests that this contributed to lower speed and range performance in early Navy aircraft.

In retrospect, Mr. Thomason, also the author of Strike from the Sea: U.S. Navy Attack Aircraft from Skyraider to Super Hornet, 1948-present, explains, "The Navy's approach to creating a world-class fighter was straightforward. It simply funded successive aircraft programs with five different manufacturers until experience and competition generated one." The Navy did not give up on its traditional suppliers even after successive failures.

In many cases, Navy fighters suffered most from inadequate power. Mr. Thomason argues, "As engine companies were challenged to produce more thrust with less fuel and at a lower weight, engine durability and reliability occasionally suffered."

Looking back on this period, the author explains, "As it turned out, straight-wing jets were relatively easy to operate from aircraft carriers with minimal changes to the carrier itself. Swept wing aircraft took considerably longer to put into service, partly because the Navy was too ambitious with the mission requirements in the late 1940s and partly because Westinghouse could not repeat its early engine success."

Ironically, the Navy fighter's highest priority of defending the fleet from attacks by supersonic bombers was never put to the test.

Looks like the first in a series of great aviation history books
This book is certainly much more than I expected. I would have been happy with a few color photos covering the jets of the fifties and sixties. .Looking through some of the many photos I did discover a few from other older books in my library, but they were few and far between and didn't distract from the work. The interesting thing about the book is the many different chapters the book goes over. It's not just chapter after chapter following one plane after another, but takes side trips to the whys and wherefores of some of the development and needs of the navy. One chapter covers the changing development of the carriers for example. I was disappointed to find no chapter covering the Grumman Cougar / Panthers. They were talked about in many of the other areas however. At any rate a beautiful work all the way up to the Phantom II. This isn't something you'll read through to fast. The ten by ten format is also nice.