“In the mid 1960’s, the McDonnell Aircraft Company devoted some internal funds and effort to the F-4(FVS). This would have removed the wing from the F-4 Phantom II and replaced it with an all-new shoulder-mounted swing wing. The target of this enterprise was primarily the US Navy; MAC assured them that the F-4(FVS) would be a superior carrier plane to the standard F-4 due to better low-speed handling characteristics. However, while the design seems to have been pretty sound, by this point the Navy wanted a capability the Phantom couldn’t provide: Phoenix missiles. In the end, the Navy largely ignored the F-4(FVS) and went with the F-14. But even then, McDonnell-Douglas proposed a design for the F-14 contest, the Model 225A, that was in part derived from the F-4(FVS) studies.” Article written by Scott Lowther. From Aerospace Projects Review issue V3N4
Download here or here or here or here (33.8 Megs)
2 comments:
I worked with the guys who worked on this program. They felt that the F-14 was built with money from the Shaw of Iran. If he didn't buy the aircraft, they felt it would never could have built the F-14. They showed me several documents, maybe you have them to post. What I saw in 1979 was not classified.
Sorry, I posted as received! Attributed now!
Post a Comment