The McDonnell F2H Banshee (company designation McDonnell Model 24) is an American single-seat carrier-based jet fighter aircraft deployed by the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps from 1948 to 1961. A development of the FH Phantom, it was one of the primary American fighters used during the Korean War, and was the only jet-powered fighter deployed by the Royal Canadian Navy. The aircraft's name is derived from the banshee of Irish mythology. The Banshee was a development of the FH Phantom, and planning started before the Phantom entered production. McDonnell engineers intended the aircraft to be a modified Phantom that shared many parts with the earlier aircraft, but it soon became clear that the need for heavier armament, greater internal fuel capacity, and other improvements would make the idea infeasible. The new aircraft would use much larger and more powerful engines, a pair of newly developed Westinghouse J34 turbojets, nearly doubling the total thrust from 3,200 to 6,000 lbf (14,000 to 27,000 N) compared to the Phantom but since the larger engines still had to fit within the wing roots, this required a larger and thicker wing. The more powerful engines used more fuel, so the fuselage had to be enlarged and strengthened to increase the fuel capacity. The Navy was replacing the obsolete World War II .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns with 20 mm (0.79 in) cannon, four of which were mounted under the nose where pilots would not be blinded by muzzle flash when firing at night, a problem with the Phantom. The Banshee incorporated an ejection seat, which the Phantom lacked, and a large number of improvements to other aircraft systems. The cockpit was pressurized and air-conditioned, and the flaps, landing gear, folding wings, canopy, and air brakes were electrically rather than pneumatically operated. The front of the windscreen was bulletproof glass that was electrically heated to prevent frost. The Banshee had a "kneeling" nose landing gear with of a pair of small wheels forward of the regular nosewheel. The regular nosewheel would be retracted so the aircraft rested on the smaller wheels. It could taxi with its nose down, redirecting the hot jet blast up to enhance safety, and to allow parked aircraft to be tucked under each other to save space. This was usually removed from later variants as it was found to be of little use and caused deck handling problems. For more details of development and design, operational history, and variants, click here.
