NORTH AMERICAN FJ-1 FURY

The North American FJ-1 Fury was an American-made onboard fighter from the Cold War period. The drive was provided by a single engine in the basic version Allison J-35-A-2 turbojet. The first flight of this machine took place in 1946. The machine entered the US Navy line in 1947 and was withdrawn from it six years later - in 1953. In total, including prototypes, 31 examples of this aircraft were built. The deck armament consisted of six 12.7 mm Browning M2 machine guns. The first work on the FJ-1 Fury began at the end of 1944, when the US Navy placed an order to develop a new jet-powered in-flight fighter - it was to be the first such aircraft in its history! The North American company used many components from the P-51D Mustang (for example, the cab fairing) in the new machine to reduce the time of research and development. It was also decided to use straight wings, not oblique ones, in order to put the machine into production as soon as possible. However, the high pace of work led to the fact that the FJ-1 Fury was not very successful - it was characterized by good performance at that time, but it was emergency and required a lot of run-up, which is difficult to find on board an aircraft carrier. These shortcomings meant that it quickly began to be used as a base for the creation of a new aircraft, designated FJ-2 Fury.