- Nov 27, 2003
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In the aircraft annals there are a lot of manufacturers' names which are associated with one legendary plane and the rest they've made is apparently something to be dismissed.
The best example of that is the Supermarine Spitfire, ask anybody about another plane which came from the Supermarine plant and they wouldn't be able to name one.
Whereas any sailor or downed pilot from the World war two era would say "The Walrus" as the Supermarine Walrus was the plane which saved so many sailor's life.
One of those great unsung heroes of its day.
But let's talk about those times where a manufacturer came up with a plane which became the template for the plane which put the manufacturer on the map.
Such as the McDonnell F3H Demon. Meant as a carrier operated interceptor, the Demon was plagued with a troublesome engine which never gave enough thrust to actually make it go supersonic and the unfavorable power-to-weight ratio gave the plane the nickname "Lead Sled". In service from 1958 to 1964, the Demon would have been a mere footnote if it weren't for the fact that it had some favorable traits too.
The wide surface area of the wings made it that the Demon was the first navy jet fighter to have Sparrow missiles as standard armament and its high situated cockpit which gave excellent all round visibility gave it the nickname "the chair" and pilots were respectfully known as "Demon drivers"
So the R&D team of McDonnell KNEW they hadn't screwed up everything, so for their next fighter jet, they knew that using the Demon as a starting point wasn't a bad idea and come on, look at the Demon, you can see where things were headed, the family resemblance is uncanny...
The F4H (later just "F-4") Phantom II is basically a refined version of the Demon, it kept all the good parts and improved on the bad parts
Now, almost sixty years after it first flew, the Phantom is still going strong but without the demon, it never would have been there in the first place.
When Italian helicopter manufactor Agusta hooked up with Bell Aviation to start designing and building helicopters together they took the Bell 37, AKA the MASH helicopter...
...and designed a new streamlined fuselage for it, a fuselage which every helicopter enthusiasts will instantly recognize.
Impossible to overlook the family resemblance, the resulting AB-102 was the direct forefather of the famous UH-1 "Huey"
The Biggest difference being that the AB-102 was powered by a Pratt and Whitney R-1340 Wasp radial engine as opposed to the turbine engine which powered the Huey.
Which is also why only two were made, since the turbine engine rendered it obsolete right away.
One of the two AB-102's as it survives today, derelict and incomplete in a museum diorama where it is placed to look like a crash site.
And the other is in little better state
But all the same, both aircraft survive and deserve a proper restoration.
The best example of that is the Supermarine Spitfire, ask anybody about another plane which came from the Supermarine plant and they wouldn't be able to name one.
Whereas any sailor or downed pilot from the World war two era would say "The Walrus" as the Supermarine Walrus was the plane which saved so many sailor's life.
One of those great unsung heroes of its day.
But let's talk about those times where a manufacturer came up with a plane which became the template for the plane which put the manufacturer on the map.
Such as the McDonnell F3H Demon. Meant as a carrier operated interceptor, the Demon was plagued with a troublesome engine which never gave enough thrust to actually make it go supersonic and the unfavorable power-to-weight ratio gave the plane the nickname "Lead Sled". In service from 1958 to 1964, the Demon would have been a mere footnote if it weren't for the fact that it had some favorable traits too.
The wide surface area of the wings made it that the Demon was the first navy jet fighter to have Sparrow missiles as standard armament and its high situated cockpit which gave excellent all round visibility gave it the nickname "the chair" and pilots were respectfully known as "Demon drivers"
So the R&D team of McDonnell KNEW they hadn't screwed up everything, so for their next fighter jet, they knew that using the Demon as a starting point wasn't a bad idea and come on, look at the Demon, you can see where things were headed, the family resemblance is uncanny...
The F4H (later just "F-4") Phantom II is basically a refined version of the Demon, it kept all the good parts and improved on the bad parts
Now, almost sixty years after it first flew, the Phantom is still going strong but without the demon, it never would have been there in the first place.
When Italian helicopter manufactor Agusta hooked up with Bell Aviation to start designing and building helicopters together they took the Bell 37, AKA the MASH helicopter...
...and designed a new streamlined fuselage for it, a fuselage which every helicopter enthusiasts will instantly recognize.
Impossible to overlook the family resemblance, the resulting AB-102 was the direct forefather of the famous UH-1 "Huey"
The Biggest difference being that the AB-102 was powered by a Pratt and Whitney R-1340 Wasp radial engine as opposed to the turbine engine which powered the Huey.
Which is also why only two were made, since the turbine engine rendered it obsolete right away.
One of the two AB-102's as it survives today, derelict and incomplete in a museum diorama where it is placed to look like a crash site.
And the other is in little better state
But all the same, both aircraft survive and deserve a proper restoration.
