A prototype F5D achieved first flight on April 21st, 1956 and its design proved sound with good handling characteristics. However, by this time the USN's interest in the Douglas fighter was waning for its attention had fallen on a competing submission from Chance-Vought - the models evolving to become the famous F8U "Crusader" fighter line. This move left the F5D with no requirement to fulfill, leading the USN to terminate its commitment to the F5D in March of 1957. Just four of the expected nine test aircraft were realized before the end. These aircraft were then passed on to NASA for various aeronautical experiments during the 1960s. The last flight of a Skylancer occurred in 1968.
As completed, the F5D design physically mimicked some of what made the earlier F4D Skyray an iconic 1950s-era American fighter. It featured a short, though pointed, nose cone with good downward visibility, triangular wing root-mounted intakes, swept-back wing mainplanes with rounded tips, and a single vertical tail fin. The aircraft exhibited an overall length of 16.4 meters with a wingspan of 10.2 meters and height of 4.5 meters. The undercarriage included three retractable, wheeled legs (two main and one nose). The single engine configuration was nestled within the airframe and exhausted through a large circular port under the tail fin.
While originally intended to carry a Westinghouse J40 turbojet engine, the aircraft was eventually revised to take on the more powerful Pratt & Whitney J57-P-8 turbojet engine (16,000 lbf with afterburner). It was further expected that production-quality aircraft would eventually graduate to use the Pratt & Whitney J57-P-14 engine with future consideration given to mounting the General Electric J79 engine. The PW J57-P-8 fitted offered a maximum speed of 990 mph (Mach 1.48) with a range out to 1,335 miles. Its service ceiling reached 57,500 feet with a rate-of-climb nearing 20,730 feet per minute.
Beyond a standard armament of 4 x 20mm internal cannons there was to be support for up to 72 x 2" (51mm) HVARs as well as provision for the carrying and launching of AIM-9 "Sidewinder" and AIM-7 "Sparrow" AAMs. The F5D would have carried four of the former or two of the latter.
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