U.S. Naval Air Superiority: Delevelopment of Shipborne Jet Fighters - 1943-1962

My opinion of this work improves upon every re-reading. It is a truly superb history of U.S. Navy fighters during the period of the early jets.

Furthermore, it is a good read not only for the student of Naval aviation or jet fighters, but also for the reader who does not have much background on the subject.

I own (gulp!) hundreds of books on the subject of Navy air and consider this book by Thomason the best of that considerable library.

This is probably the best book out there covering the beginning of the US Navy's jet age and all of the changes and transformations that it required.

Happiness is getting this book for your anniversary. Honestly, I loved this book. It gives you your money's worth. Example, this book not only gives you a run down on every major jet fighter produced from 1943 until 1962, but it gives additional information on carriers, landing development, and weapons systems.

I was pleased with how the book starts with the F1H Phamtom's story and concludes it with the development of the F4H Phantom II (F4B). Also, this book gave an honest history of the much maligned F3N-3 Demon. The J-71 was not a great engine. Indeed, it would have been interesting to see how the F3 Demon would have developed had it been given the much more dependable J-57. But after the Wright engine fiasco the McDonnell engineers came up with a very good all weather fighter. Indeed, the book says that the F3 Demon went on over 57 deployments with the Navy and gave good service from 1957 until 1962. That is over five years of service and many hundreds of flights from a carrier. Indeed, when a person looks at the F3N it's fairly clear that in the modern USN the aircraft would have been given a new engine (the J-57) and an avionics upgrade. The F3N could have served as long as the F4N. But the point is the F4N was a jet in a class by itself and the only reason it was phased from service in the mid-1990s was because of cold war draw downs. That is amazing for a design started in mid-1950s.

I liked all of the chapters of the book. What was weird is reading how Grumman really blew it with the F10F Jaguar. That jet and the Westinghouse engine debacle nearly killed the company. Grumman first get design, the F9F Panther, was not as good as the better McDonnell F2N Banshee. Indeed, the book gives a proposed swept wing F2N-5 design that McDonnell proposes but by that time they were far along on the design on the F3N Demon, an advanced design by any standard. The F9F is a tubby design and is a full 60 miles per hour slower than the F2N. Grumman comes out with the modified F9F-6/8 by the mid-1950s. McDonnell is getting the may kinks out of the Demon but the fact is McDonnell is one generation ahead of Grumman at this point. Then in the late 1950s Grumman produces the F11F, a good fighter but not as good as the F8U Crusader. And by this point it's hopeless because the F11F is in a design fly off against the McDonnell F4N and that jet is in a class by itself. Then the author runs quotes of a Grumman engineer bad mouthing the F2 Fury saying it's not as good on station as the Cougar. Well, the Furys were holding the line against a MiG threat when Grumman was trying to get the lead out of their designs.

Vought had as many problems with their designs as the rest. They made the mild failure, the F6U Pirate, a get with half the thrust of the F2N. Then Vought made the dreadful F7U Cutlass, perhaps one of the worst operational jets in the USN. Vought did a great job with the F8U Crusader, one of the best "gunfighter" jets ever made by any nation.

All in all I found this book from Amazon to be quite enjoyable. I got my money's worth. Now, I have one quibble with the book: there was no break down on jet engines nor much information. That was not a big deal for me because I used to work on F-4C, F-4E, F-100, and the F-105 aircraft. So, I know the engines (J-79, J-57, and J-75 respectively). But if you're an aircraft buff that means you'll be scratching your head on keeping all the engines correct. There is one saying in this book that's true, "You can fly a Pratt & Whitney farther than you can ship an Allison". That goes for Westinghouse.

This book is great and I now remember why I used to love aircraft when a kid.

An outstanding review of post-WWII US Navy fighters. This is a fairly technical book, discussing not just the history of the aircraft but also giving a good view of US jet engine development during the forties and fifties, aircraft systems and an interesting take of how successful each type was based on numbers of squadrons and number of deployments made.

This book is a worthwhile investment not only of your money but also your time in reading it. This book isn't exactly for the novice reader of naval air material. It presupposes that you bring something to the table in terms of basic knowledge and perhaps some aerodynamics. But that shouldn't preclude an absolute beginner from picking up this book. Just looking at the photos (which are excellent) and reading the captions will provide a decent grounding in naval air for the period covered. If that novice should delve into the text, so much the better for there is a wealth of detail that true aeroaficionados will love. The only disappointing aspect of this book is its illustrations (not the photographs). The drawings of aircraft profiles are amateurist, misleading, and definitely not in keeping with the tenor of this book, which is high-class and informative. But that pales in comparison to what is otherwise available between the covers. You will enjoy this book.