- Yes
- No
Hello everyone, I’d like to suggest the Ryan FR-1 Fireball be put into the US aircraft tech tree as the researchable one. The FR-1 Fireball was an American piston and jet-powered designed for the US Navy during World War II. Armed with only four 50 caliber machine guns, it was the Navy’s first mixed-propulsion fighter with a functional jet engine. A total of 66 aircraft were built before the end of the Pacific War in August 1945. Historically, only one naval squadron was equipped with the FR-1 Fireballs before August 1945; however, they had never seen combat. Due to the lack of structural strength required for operations aboard aircraft carriers, the FR-1 Fireballs were withdrawn in mid-1947.
Key Characteristics
- Mixed-propulsion naval fighter
- Hybrid propulsion of a piston engine and a turbojet engine
- 4 x .50-cal. M2 Browning machine guns
- Four rockets and two bombs for close air support
- Arrestor gear for carrier operations
History
Design and DevelopmentDesign of the FR-1 began in 1942-1943 when Admiral John S. McCain Sr. requested a new mixed-power fighter. He and the Navy had specifically needed a mixed-propulsion fighter with a standard radial engine and a small jet powerplant since the early jet engines were insufficient for carrier operations.
Nine aircraft manufacturer competitors submitted design proposals for a mixed-propulsion fighter from late 1942 to January 1943. One of the designs was submitted by Ryan Company, best known for designing and building Charles Lindberg’s Spirit of St. Louis. Despite having never built a combat aircraft, Ryan’s proposal was accepted by the Navy. On February 11, 1943, Ryan received a contract for three XFR-1 prototypes and one static test airframe.
The XFR-1 was a single-seat, low-wing monoplane with a tricycle landing gear. A 1,350-hp Wright R-1820-72W Cyclone radial engine was mounted in the aircraft’s nose to provide a good low-altitude and low-speed performance, and a 1,600 lbf General Electric J-31 turbojet was mounted in the rear fuselage to provide extra thrust. The turbojet would be fed with air by going through ducts in each wing root of the aircraft. The wings had to be built thick to accommodate the ducts and landing gear, and this aircraft was the first carrier-based aircraft to have a laminar flow airfoil. The cockpit was positioned forward of the leading edge of the wing and was installed with a bubble canopy to provide the pilot with excellent visibility. Armor plates were installed in front and behind the pilot seat and the oil cooler.
The aircraft was armed with four .50-cal. M2 Browning machine guns with 300 rounds per gun. They were mounted in the center section of the wing outboard of ducts for the turbojet. The aircraft could carry four 5-inch rockets and had two hardpoints for 1,000 lb bombs or drop tanks.
Prototype TestingThe first two prototypes were completed and delivered in 14 months, by April 1944, and an order of 100 FR-1 Fireballs was placed on December 2, 1943. The prototype flew on June 25, 1944, without its jet engine, but it had decent general characteristics and was installed shortly afterward. The second prototype first flew on September 20, 1944, with its jet engine. A new tail with enlarged vertical and horizontal stabilizers had to be designed and retrofitted to the prototypes after the test flights confirmed wind tunnel tests that revealed a longitudinal instability and miscalculated center of gravity. The Douglas double-slotted flaps were dropped and replaced with a single-slotted flap.
The operational testing on land for the carrier acceptability tests by the Naval Air Test Center revealed three main issues: overheating problems with the piston engine, awkward position of the catapult hooks, and weak nosewheel oleo shock strut. These were resolved with electrically operated cowl flaps installed for the piston engine, relocation of the catapult hooks, and an increase in the length of the nosewheel oleo shock strut by 3 inches.
At last, the carrier trials began in January 1945 on the escort carrier USS Charger in early January. The aircraft conducted five successful catapult takeoffs using the piston engine, including three more takeoffs using both engines. The aircraft passed the trials, and no problems were reported when landing aboard the carrier. This marked the first time a naval aircraft with a jet engine operated aboard an aircraft carrier.
However, all prototypes tragically ended in crashes. The prototype was lost in a crash at NAS China Lake on October 13, 1944. It was concluded that the wing structure was not strong enough to resist compressibility effects. The number of rivets in the outer wing panels had to be dubbed to withstand the effects. The second prototype crashed on March 25, 1945, when it failed to recover from a dive from 35,000 feet, likely because of compressibility effects. The third prototype also crashed on April 5, 1945, when the canopy blew off during a high-speed pass over Lindbergh Field.
Operational ServiceVF-66 was established on January 1, 1945, at NAS San Diego, California, and equipped with the first batch of production FR-1 Fireballs in March 1945. It was scheduled to see overseas in the Pacific, but they had to conduct the carrier qualifications and other tests with three FR-1s aboard the fleet aircraft carrier USS Ranger. This was the first time an aircraft with a jet engine operated from an aircraft carrier while assigned to an operational Navy squadron. Although some aircraft ended up damaged while landing, all pilots were qualified in June 1945 and certified for redeployment in the Pacific, starting before August 15, 1945. However, the war ended before VF-66 could be deployed to the combat area in the Pacific. Consequently, production of the FR-1 was also terminated after only sixty-six aircraft had been completed, and the VF-66 was effectively deactivated on October 18, 1945.
All pilots and aircraft were transferred to VF-41 aboard the escort carrier USS Wake Island by November 1945, and the squadron was attempting to qualify its pilots for carrier operations during this time. Only 14 of its 22 pilots made the six required takeoffs and landings, and several accidents happened when the nose gear failed on landing after slamming the nose gear onto the deck while landing on the main gear.
The squadron also qualified pilots on USS Bairoko in March 1946, and another number of accidents occurred with persisting nose gear problems. To remedy this, Ryan engineers installed a steel fork for the nosewheel and retrofitted it on all aircraft. The engineers and inspectors discovered the partial wing failures. It was declared the aircraft was limited to maneuvers not exceeding 5 Gs. During this period of qualification, VF-41 had three accidents that killed the pilots in 1946.
After November 15, 1946, the squadron was redesignated as VF-1E and conducted a final carrier qualification with the FR-1 Fireballs in March 1947 aboard the escort carrier USS Badoeng Strait. Eight pilots successfully qualified. The last deployment was made in June 1947 aboard another escort carrier, USS Rendova, and this was where the one FR-1 had broken in two during a hard landing. Although they were capable of takeoff and landing on the small escort carriers, the small airframe of FR-1s proved again that they were too fragile for sustained carrier operations. Effectively, all the FR-1s were withdrawn from service on August 1, 1947.
Specifications
Ryan FR-1 FireballGeneral Characteristics
- Crew: 1 (Pilot)
- Length: 32 ft 4 in (10.46 m)
- Height: 13 ft 11 in (4.24 m)
- Wingspan: 40 ft (12.19 m)
- Wing area: 275 sq ft (25.55 sq m)
- Propeller Type: 3-bladed constant-speed propeller
- Propeller Diameter: 10 ft (3.05 m)
- Powerplants:
- Wright R-1820-72W Cyclone 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine
→ 1,350 hp (993 kW)- General Electric J31-GE-3 centrifugal-flow turbojet engine
→ 1,600 lbf (7.11 kN) thrust- Empty Weight: 7,689 lb (3,488 kg)
- Gross Weight: 9,958 lb (4,517 kg)
- Internal Fuel: 180 US gal. (681 L)
- Oil Tankage: 12 US gal. (45.4 L)
Performance
- Sea Level Speed: 378 mph (608 km/h)
- Critical Altitude Speed: 404 mph @ 17,800 ft (650 km/h @ 5,425 m)
- Stall Speed Gross Weight: 90.9 mph (146.3 km/h)
- Stall Speed Without Fuel: 85.8 mph (138.1 km/h)
- Wing loading: 36.2 lb/sq ft (176.7 kg/sq m)
- Takeoff Distance - Calm: 945 ft (288 m)
- Rate of Climb at seal level: 4,650 fpm (23.6 m)
- Time to Climb:
- 2.5 minutes to 10,000 ft (3,048 m)
- 5.7 minutes to 20,000 ft (6,096 m)
- Service Ceiling: 43,100 ft (13,137 m)
- Maximum Range: 930 - 1,320 miles (1,496 - 2,124 km)
Engine Ratings
Takeoff:
→ 2,100 BHP @ 2,900 RPM @ sea level
Normal:
→ 1,800 BHP @ 2,600 RPM @ sea level
→ 1,450 BHP @ 2,600 RPM @ 21,000 feet (6,401 m)Military:
→ 2,120 BHP @ 2,800 RPM @ sea level
→ 1,600 BHP @ 2,800 RPM @ 20,000 feet (6,096 m)Combat:
→ 2,360 BHP @ 2,800 RPM @ sea level - 6,500 feet (1,981 m)
→ 1,950 BHP @ 2,800 RPM @ sea level - 21,000 feet (6,401 m)Jet Unit Ratings
Normal:
→ 1,800-lb thrust @ 16,500 RPM @ sea level
Military:
→ 2,120-lb thrust @ 16,000 RPM @ sea level
Armament
- Guns:
- 4 x .50-cal. M2 Browning machine guns (300 rpg; 1,200 rounds)
- Bombs:
- 2 x 1,000-lb bombs
- 2 x 500-lb bombs
- 2 x 250-lb bombs
- 6 x 100-lb bombs
- Rockets:
- 4 x 5-inch (127-mm) HVAR rockets
- Drop Tanks:
- 2 x 100-gal drop tanks
Supplemental Data
Diagrams
Cockpit
FR-1 Livery Examples --- Illustrations
Images
Conclusion | Why it should be in the game
The Ryan FR-1 Fireball was a revolutionary design of the mixed-propulsion fighter, though its fragile structural airframe ended its service shortly. However, it was the reason that it instigated the Navy to fully commit to developing modern and pure jet fighters for its carrier air wings. I feel the FR-1 Fireball is a very unique and essential aircraft that saw full-scale production and service. It should be added as a researchable aircraft for the USA with that reasoning. It would be a perfect opportunity for us to play and fly this aircraft with its mixed propulsion.
See Also
- FR-1 Fireball Airplane Characteristics & Performance (1 February 1946)
- FR-1 Fireball - Detail and Scale
- Ryan FR Fireball Mixed-Power Fighter Aircraft
- Ryan Fireball (1945)
- Ryan FR Fireball - Wikipedia
Thank you for taking the time to read my suggestion! 😃