F4D Skyray

[Dave Downs]

'tailspin turtle' - THANKS!!!!!!

[Aeronut]

That's it, I knew I'd seen something like it before.
According to my references the 'bomb' is a Del Mar target. It was tested here in the UK but only the winch system found favour.

[Mark Allen M]

A real pretty shot of Skyray's and Fury's in different schemes (VF's). Looks to have been a gathering of squadrons.

[Randy Wilson]

Found this image of an F4D with a different style towed target here.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F4D-1_with_towed_target_at_Andrews_AFB_1960.jpg

Randy

[Randy Wilson]

I have a suspicion that the bomb shaped object is a towed target and what looks like a building bewtween it and the aircraft is the support tube from the outer wing pylon.
Off to find the book on target towing aircraft to confirm it - unless someone beats me to it.

I found that image with the following caption:

A U.S. Navy North American FJ-4 Fury aircraft from Utility Squadron VU-7 with a dual Del Mar rig (TDU-10/B "Dart" gunnery aerial tow target) attached to the wings in flight near San Diego, California (USA).

Date 24 February 1960
Source U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. 1996.253.7225.006

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FJ-4_VU-7_with_towed_aerial_targets_1960.jpg

Randy

[Nathan]

A real pretty shot of Skyray's and Fury's in different schemes (VF's). Looks to have been a gathering of squadrons.

can I barrow this picture for the cold war sunday on the wix facebook page?

[Mark Allen M]

Of course Nathan, here's where it came from.

https://www.facebook.com/NavalAviationM ... =3&theater

[Rajay]

In regard to the question of whether or not you'll ever see an F4D restored and flying again, I believe that I have seen a similar discussion before and there were two major obstacles. The first of course was the dearth of extant airframes, but just as problematic was the nature of its construction in the first place. It is not so much standard aluminum sheet metal and semi-monoque frame construction as is typical of most airplanes. Apparently Douglas utilized a lot of bonded honeycomb which is very difficult to repair or reproduce. At least that's what I have heard....

Shame though because it is one of my favorite early generation Navy jet fighters - probably second to the Grumman Panther and just ahead of the Vought F-8 Crusader - and on the Air Force side, the F-104 Starfighter (just for the record.)

[Mark Allen M]

Another nice shot here Nathan, could be the same place as the first one I posted.
https://www.facebook.com/NavalAviationM ... =3&theater


F4D-1 Skyrays lined up at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Yuma, Arizona, during a concentration of squadrons participating in the Naval Air Weapons Meet on December 3, 1959

[Cutlass]

........bonded honeycomb which is very difficult to repair or reproduce. At least that's what I have heard....

Tell me about it....... Geez..... Metallites' even worse..... But, you do what you gotta do.....

[bdk]

Apparently Douglas utilized a lot of bonded honeycomb which is very difficult to repair or reproduce.

737 spoilers are (or were on earlier models?) made that way and a lot of suppliers repaired them. Easy to repair, but one-off tooling would make it cost prohibitive if there were many to do. Anyone have a Skyray structural repair manual?

[Chris Brame]

A real pretty shot of Skyray's and Fury's in different schemes (VF's). Looks to have been a gathering of squadrons.

F4D-1 (F-6A) 134774
*FAGU as "TR-24".
*1963: NARTU Olathe, KS as "7K-xx".
*1/6/1963: Crashed after take-off from NAS Olathe, KS. Pilot was killed.