Germaine, where he was incarcerated, and his descriptions of future jet-powered flying wing interceptors he had designed fascinated the Americans. Among the papers were the studies of Alexander Lippisch,ĭesigner of the tailles Me-163 rocket fighter and early proponent of delta wing designs. dried in the attic of the Technical Mission Headquarters, and microfilmed for future inspection. These documents had been retrieved from the bottom of a well. Root and Smith soon founel an amazing cache of German wind tunnel data and reports. Arriving In Paris within a week of VE-Day. Their assignment was simple: to bring back any aeronautical information from captured German documents or personnel. Smith, to travel to Paris as part of the U.S. the German defeat in Europe enabled two Douglas aerodynamicists, Gene Root and his assistant AM.a.
Heinemann as Chief Engineer, but did not produce any significant results as the division was busily producing a successful series of more conventional designs. After Northrop's departure in 1938, these studies had continued under Edward H. as a result of studies begun by Jack Northrop when the plant had been known as the Northrop Division of Douglas Aircraft. had been investigating tailless aircraft since the late 1930's. The EI Segundo Division of Douglas Aircraft Co. The answer lies partly in the influence of two early "flying Wing" proponents: America's Jack Northrop and Germany's Alexander Lippisch. ever designed such a radical looking interceptor.
Others wondered aloud why a company like Douglas EI '3egundo, long famous for producing straightforward attack and light bomber aircraft. Although the F4D-1 seemed to have some of the characteristics of a delta" and a "flying wing: it was neither. When the graceful, compact features of the Skyray were first unveiled to the public, early in February, i951, many observers were at a loss to describe the airplane. Jim Stegman, Paul Stevens, Robert Stolofr, Arnold Swanberg. Jim Mulquin, Mark Nankivil, COL Jacques Naviaux, USMC. Hal Andrews, Marshall Beebe, Roger Besecker, Ken Buchanan. Smith, Configuration Engineer on the F4D-l project, depicted this intermediate stage of its development, the D571-4. 1754 Warfield All rights reserved No part Q My Job as the editor is to tie together these (t II III 1 and to add many new photos, company dr.ndll. It lbll h d numerous articles on th kyray in the AAlI rn. itor for the Ameriearl Aviation HI torical Society.M t the material and the text for thi bool w dev 1 pI from some fifteen years of re ar h by Ni k William. The Skyray w one of tho e weird ,n wonderful aircraft that enabled th U Navy to malnl" i worldwide mobile pressenc and to d v lop the alit If of today. The F4D, commonly called the "For 1", had unusual flying qualities and ontrols whi h weI' unusual that the Ford was used t th Navy T t hool until 1969 so that students uld know how Pilot an ur,' t ble aircraft flies. The record breaking Skyray was sometimes referred to a a uBat Out Of Hell" because of its tremendou rate of cll b, a feature which would inUst the Skyray into the Air FOI e Air Defense Command in both San Diego, California d Key West Florida. aused the F4D to enter fleet service years later than planned. The Skyray was re-engined with the J-57, but this switch. a engine that did not pan out and virtually ruined the Demon program and did the Skyray no favors either. The Demon and the Skyray were both designed around the Westinghouse J-40 turbojet. Another common occurrence during this period was that of airframe completion before the designated powerplant was available, as happened with the F3D SkyKnight, F7U Cutlass and the F3H Demon. This was a common occurrence during this timeframe as manufacturers were pushing technology beyond its established limits. The Skyray fell into this catagory too, as many of its design parameters fell into the range of the unknown. At the same time these aircraft often would have some very unforgiving or dangerous flying characteristics which never were fully overcome. Some of these aircraft were to have very po iUv b nefits from the innovative designs and new systems tried. d veloped, te ted and forced urln h turbulent early 1950's when it seemed p I I to uild any type of combat aircraft from the weird to th wonderful.Umb r Thlrt n i th Y i anoth r one of thm,~