The North American FJ-1 Fury was the first operational jet aircraft in United States Navy service and was developed by North American Aviation as the NA-135.
The FJ-1 was an early transitional jet of limited success which carried over similar tail surfaces, wing, and canopy derived from the piston-engine P-51D Mustang.
The evolution of the design to incorporate swept wings would become the basis for the land-based XP-86 prototype itself originally designed with a very similar straight-wing platform to the FJ-1 airframe of the United States Air Force’s enormously influential F-86 Sabre, which in turn formed the basis for the Navy’s carrier-based North American FJ-2/-3 Fury.
Variants
XFJ-1
Prototype aircraft, powered by a 3,820 lbf (17 kN) General Electric J35-GE-2 turbojet engine, three built.
FJ-1 Fury
Single-seat fighter aircraft, powered by a 4,000 lbf (17.8 kN) Allison J35-A-2 turbojet engine, armed with six 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns, 30 built a further 70 were cancelled.
FJ-2 & FJ-3
The North American FJ-2 and FJ-3 Fury are a series of swept-wing carrier-capable fighters for the United States Navy and Marine Corps.
The FJ-2 resulted from an effort to make a carrier suitable version.
These aircraft feature folding wings, and a longer nose landing strut designed to increase angle of attack upon launch and to accommodate a longer oleo to absorb the shock of hard landings on an aircraft carrier deck.
Although sharing a U.S. Navy designation with its distant predecessor, the straight-winged North American FJ-1 Fury, the FJ-2/-3 were completely different aircraft.
(The later FJ-4 was again, a complete structural redesign of the FJ-3).
The FJ-2 was one of the aircraft used to evaluate the first steam catapult on a US Navy aircraft-carrier.
FJ-4
The North American FJ-4 Fury is a swept-wing carrier-capable fighter-bomber for the United States Navy and Marine Corps.
The final development in a lineage that included the Air Force’s F-86 Sabre, the FJ-4 shared its general layout and engine with the earlier FJ-3 but featured an entirely new wing design and was a vastly different design in its final embodiment.
Specifications
FJ-1
Crew
1
Length
34 ft 5 in (10.48 m)
Wingspan
38 ft 2 in (11.63 m)
Height
14 ft 10 in (4.52 m)
Wing area
221 sq ft (20.5 m2)
Empty weight
8,843 lb (4,010 kg)
Gross weight
15,118 lb (6,854 kg)
Fuel provisions Internal fuel load
465 gal (1,743 l),
Wing Tip Tanks
2 × 170 gal (644 l)
Powerplant
1 × Allison J35-A-2 turbojet,
4,000 lbf (18 kN) thrust
Performance
Maximum speed
547 mph (880 km/h, 475 kn) at 9,000 ft (880 km/h at 2,743 m)
Range
1,496 mi (2,407 km, 1,300 nmi) with external tanks
Service ceiling
32,000 ft (9,753 m)
Rate of climb
3,300 ft/min (17 m/s) at sea level
Thrust/weight
0.38
Stalling speed
(Power off)
121 mph (106 kn, 194 km/h)
Armament
Guns
6 × 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns (1,500 rounds in total).
