History
Design and Development
The US Navy had been stuck with the straight-wing designs mainly because of the problems with the swept-wing aircraft that had higher stalling speeds and risky low-level performance, making it unusable for carrier operations.
However, the war in Korea revealed that the Navy’s straight-winged Grumman F9F Panther and McDonnell F2H Banshee were 70 mph slower than the swept-wing MiG-15. The MiG-15 proved a formidable opponent that dominated the skies over Korea until the arrival of the USAF F-86 Sabres. The Navy had to proceed with a swept-wing carrier-based fighter as it hoped to be on par with land-based fighters. As the XP-86, the first of the Sabres of the US Air Force, with its maiden flight in 1947, the US Navy was interested in having its version of the Sabre.
The Naval Aviation board approached North American Aviation with a request for the development of a swept-wing design that is capable of carrier operations. The straight-wing FJ-1 Fury, developed by North American for the Navy in the late 1940s, had influenced the successful design of the F-86, so North American foresaw no need to significantly alter the F-86, which was only navalizing the F-86 Sabre.
On January 30, 1951, North American initiated the NA-181 project and introduced a design of the FJ-2 Fury. The design looked nothing like the FJ-1 Fury, but it strongly resembled the F-86 Sabre. The FJ-2 introduced a swept-wing configuration, folding wings, and a modified nose strut to meet the requirements of carrier operations. On February 10, 1951, the Navy issued a contract for 300 of the new FJ-2 Fury aircraft, with the order being later reduced to 200.
Prototypes
On March 8, 1951, the Navy ordered three XFJ-2 prototypes. They would be built in North American’s Los Angeles factory. The first two prototypes, 133754 and 133755, were rolled out and were essentially navalized F-86E-10 with the all-flying tail design. They featured a new arrestor gear, catapult hooks, and a lengthened nosewheel to raise the angle of attack during takeoff and landing. As of now, they did not have folding wings, and they were both unarmed. Both were designated XFJ-2. The third prototype (133756) was rolled out with four Colt Mk.12 cannons, and it was designated XFJ-2B, with the B standing for the armament. All aircraft were powered by the J47-GE-13.
On December 27, 1951, the XFJ-2B (133756) was the first of the three prototypes to make its maiden flight to Inyokern, California, for armament tests. The first unarmed XFJ-2 followed on February 14, 1952. The three prototypes were accepted by the Navy in June, July, and December of 1952. In December, both XFJ-2s were subjected to carrier qualification trials aboard the fleet carrier USS Coral Sea. The trials would last from October to December 1952. However, the trials showed rather concerning results: the XFJ-2s were unsuitable as a carrier aircraft due to the weak landing gear and poor low-speed handling during approaches and landings.
Production
The Navy had to begin production of the FJ-2 despite all the problems still presented, identified from the carrier qualification results. The FJ-2 was powered by a 6,000 lbf J47-GE-2 engine, which brought the FJ-2 up to F-86F standards. The Navy ordered the FJ-2 to be introduced with critical design modifications for the carrier operations, such as widening the main landing gear’s wheel track by 8 inches, strengthening the landing gear, fitting catapult hooks and arrestor gear, and modifying the windscreen to improve cockpit visibility during approaches. The tail was replaced by a flat horizontal tail, and the stalled wing of the early F-86F Sabre was used.
The first production FJ-2 (131927) flew on November 22, 1952, and the FJ-2 was fitted with folding wings and armed with cannons. However, due to the Korean War, North American was almost at full capacity building and delivering Sabres for the US Air Force, so the production of the FJ-2 Fury was slowed down. Only 7 FJ-2 Furies had been delivered by the time of the ceasefire in July 1953.
Operational Service
The production order was reduced to 200 FJ-2s, and the entire order was transferred to the hands of the US Marine Corps to operate from land bases. This was because the FJ-2 Fury had challenges with the steam catapult system, which required further modifications. The Navy went with the F9F Cougar in its service for its superior slow-speed handling suitable for carriers, although it was slower than the FJ-2 Fury.
USMC squadron VMF-122 received its first FJ-2s at Cherry Point, North Carolina, in January 1954. The squadron spent most of its time in land-based operations, and it went to sea aboard the USS Coral Sea in 1955. On the Pacific Coast, VMF-235 received FJ-2s to replace their aging F4U-4 Corsairs. The squadron used its FJ-2s in steam catapult tests aboard the fleet carrier, USS Hancock. They retrofitted and flew FJ-2s with stronger tail hook bumpers and modified nose gear struts in an unsuccessful attempt to solve their persistent problems.
The USMC had been attempting to address the FJ-2’s operational deficiencies with efforts. However, these FJ-2s never fully passed the carrier operation standards. Consequently, the FJ-2s were withdrawn from frontline service. By 1957, all were retired from reserve units as well. Before the end of service, the FJ-2s had served with the VMF-122, -232, and 312 of the Atlantic Fleet Marines and with VMF-235, -224, and -451 of the Pacific Fleet Marines.
The North American initiated the development of a new model of the FJ-3 Fury, powered by an uprated turbojet, and this iteration introduced significant aerodynamic improvements that addressed the FJ-2’s shortcomings, which made it more capable at carrier operations. The FJ-3 was intended to replace its predecessor, which would be introduced to the Navy service in September 1954.
