The 10 Worst US Navy Aircraft

Vast and powerful, the United States Navy has a reputation for operating the best naval aircraft of all time from its fleet of vast aircraft carriers, and we recently celebrated these online.

But what it is less keen to dwell on, is the fact it has also operated the very worst combat aircraft ever put to sea. To be fair creating aircraft that can operate from aircraft carriers, or in some cases the sea itself, is extremely difficult but you will still be baffled by some of the machines in the following article.

Let’s take a look at this inglorious pack of dangerous, ineffective and sometimes extremely alarming aeroplanes, as we meet the 10 worst US Navy aircraft – as we also salute the brave pilots who flew them:

10: North American A-5C Vigilante

The finest long-range reconnaissance aircraft operated by any navy it is unfortunate that the A-5B only fell into this role by default after proving unsuitable as a nuclear bomber. The Vigilante successfully incorporated many then cutting-edge technologies such as fly-by-wire controls (pilot’s controls going via an electronic interface), an all-moving vertical tail, and boundary layer control (increasing the lift by blowing extra air over the surface).

One innovation that didn’t work as intended was the rather eccentric bomb bay. Although situated logically between the two engines, rather than dropping bombs through the underside of the aircraft they exited to the rear between the two exhausts. The intent was for the tail-cone to be released, followed by disposable fuel tanks, and then the Mk 28 nuclear device.

Unfortunately, rather than then falling towards its target in a neat ballistic arc the Mk 28 would get caught in the Vigilante’s wake, potentially being dragged behind the aircraft (think of a lizard failing to detach its tail). Even with a nuclear weapon, this didn’t allow the accuracy required.

However, rather than adopt a conventional bombing role using its external pylons the USN decided to use their 137 RA-5C as pure reconnaissance platforms. Although this proved highly useful for post-strike assessments in the Vietnam War it was an expensive way of achieving the mission, while also using up a lot of deck space.

9: McDonnell F3H Demon

Originally ordered as a fallback option in case the sleek Douglas F4D Skyray failed, the Demon was McDonnell’s first swept-wing aircraft. With the emergence of the Soviet MiG-15 in Korea, however the type was ordered into mass production in 1951 with 150 being ordered. Unfortunately, the first F3H-1N were so bad the USN didn’t fly most of them, shipping them off to be used as ground instructional trainers.

This was almost entirely due to the Westinghouse J40 engine which only produced half the thrust promised while also being prone to compressor stalls. Only 35 N1 models were built but eight were involved in accidents, writing off six, and killing four pilots.

To fit a more powerful engine the wings and fuselage had to be redesigned, almost leading to the Demon’s cancellation, however, the F3H-2 eventually entered service in 1956 powered by the Allison J71. This provided more power than the J40, although still not enough, and was also prone to compressor stalls, potentially due to the Demon’s air intake design.

The F3H-2 was not as bad as the earlier model, however, it still performed poorly being known as the ‘Lead Sled’ due to its low power-to-weight ratio and from 1962 it was replaced by the F4H Phantom II.

8: Ryan Fireball

The Ryan Fireball was an attempt to use the rapid reaction of a piston engine to compensate for the sluggish response of the early jets. This was considered the safest way to operate jet aircraft from carriers in 1944. A 1350hp Wright Cyclone drove a propeller in the nose while a 1600lb thrust General Electric J31 turbojet was mounted in the rear fuselage with intakes in the wing roots.

First flying in September 1944 tests revealed a lack of longitudinal stability that had to be rectified with an enlarged tail plane. More worryingly the first three prototypes would be lost, apparently due to structural weakness.

The first squadron to operate the Fireball was VF-66 which was preparing to deploy to the Western Pacific when the war ended. This was probably for the best as the fragility of the Fireball was becoming more apparent with the nose gear regularly breaking during carrier landings.

Attempts to rectify this with a steel fork were at least partially successful. However, it was also found the wings were in danger of coming away leading to a 5G limit being imposed, despite this on at least one occasion a Fireball broke in two on landing. The type was withdrawn from service on 1947 after only two years of operations.

7: McDonnell Phantom

Not to be confused with the later (and brilliant) Phantom II, the USN’s first all-jet aircraft was the innocuous-looking Phantom. McDonnell’s engineers went through various potential engine configurations, before settling on placing a Westinghouse J30 jet engine in each wing root.

Unfortunately, one engine was available by January 1945 when the first prototype was ready for flight. Despite this taxi trials and a first hop were carried out before the second engine was fitted. The end of the war would slow development, with the second prototype only being completed in 1946, a few months after the first was lost in a fatal crash.

Although the USN’s fastest aircraft when it entered service, its speed and rate of climb were not much better than in-service piston engines types. It was also outperformed by contemporary jets, and suffered from a pathetic weapon load, being unable to carry bombs.

As such, the small number of Phantoms produced would mainly serve in a training role to introduce pilots to the skills needed to operate the early jets from aircraft carriers. By 1949 the remaining aircraft, of 62 produced, were transferred to the US Navy Reserve who themselves gladly retired them five years later.

6: Curtiss Helldiver

The SB2C Helldiver was conceived as a replacement for the Douglas Dauntlessin the dive-bombing role. However, meeting the challenging requirement while keeping the aircraft small enough to operate from an aircraft carrier caused many problems. Stability was a continual issue due to the short length of the fuselage and despite the enlargement of the vertical stabiliser, was never fully solved.

Structural weakness, meanwhile, led to the prototype breaking up during diving tests, the extra weight added to resolve this merely fuelling complaints that the Helldiver was underpowered. The various modifications required by the USN led to a shocking 42% weight increase.

The Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm, through necessity, became adept at operating unsuitable aircraft from its carriers. The fragile Supermarine Seafire and tricksy Vought Corsair both filled its flight decks despite poor landing characteristics. Indeed, the Royal Navy flew Corsairs from carriers operationally before the USN and sent Vought a list of modifications to make it manageable.

Despite this and a lack of a modern dive-bomber, the RN rejected the Helldiver. After equipping one squadron, 1820 Naval Air Squadron, trials indicated its handling around the flight deck was so bad the Royal Navy decided it just wouldn’t operate dive bombers.

5: Vought Pirate

Vought’s first attempt at a jet fighter the F6U Pirate was produced in response to a 1944 requirement for an aircraft powered by a Westinghouse J34 turbojet. This resulted in a stubby straight-winged monoplane which featured a novel composite structure comprising balsa wood sandwiched between thin sheets of aluminium. Unfortunately, test flights revealed significant aerodynamic issues mainly caused by the wing design.

The low output of the engine was also an issue and by the third prototype, an afterburner (a device which burns extra fuel at the rear of the engine for additional thrust) was added increasing output to 4224lb from 3000lb, although this would still not be enough.

The first production Pirate flew in June of 1949, and 20 aircraft were delivered to VX-3 for evaluation which was complete by the following October. It had not gone well Vought being told ‘The F6U-1 had proven so sub-marginal in performance that combat utilization is not feasible’.

Only 33 were built before the programme was terminated some airframes being used to test arrestor gear and barriers, it not being considered a great loss if they were damaged beyond repair. Some aircraft logged as little as six hours flying time which would barely count for the delivery mileage from the factory.

4: Vought Cutlass

The Vought Cutlass still looks like it came from the future today with tailless cropped delta (triangular) wing and two fins mounted midway along each wing. Lack of thrust would though be a problem, with even the final F7U-3 only having 60% of the thrust it was designed for.

To make matters worse the hydraulic system was prone to failure, in the F7U-1 this could leave the pilot with no control for 11 seconds until manual control to be taken. Another weak point was the fragile nose gear which was liable to collapse on landing, or worse punching up through the cockpit floor into the ejection seat causing it to launch…

As a carrier aircraft its greatest weakness was the 23-degree nose-high attitude on approach which made it impossible to see the ship. The low thrust meanwhile meant afterburner was often necessary just to maintain the glide slope. Consequently, Cutlass squadrons spent almost as much time off their parent carriers as on, with VA-66, VF-83, VA-84, VF-124, and VA-212 banished from theirs between 1955 and 1956.

The Cutlass was withdrawn from fleet operations by October 1957, three and a half years after entering service. 78 of 320 Cutlasses were lost in accidents in only 55,000 flying hours making it the most dangerous US Navy jet of all time.

3: Douglas TBD Devastator

First flying in 1935, the Devastator was a torpedo bomber that suffered from two main problems. The first was the rate of advance in aircraft development before it saw combat and the second was its primary weapon the Mk 13 torpedo. The Devastator was the first all-metal naval aircraft, and first with a fully enclosed cockpit, however, the 850hp Twin Wasp engine would limit performance.

Aware of this the USN was working on its replacement, the Avenger, however it would not be ready when war broke out. Although the TBD would have some success at the Battle of the Coral Sea, sinking the Sh­oho, at Midway a few months later it would be decimated.

3: Douglas Devastator

Without cover the Devastator was vulnerable to the Japanese fighters, especially during its attack run which involved a long straight approach at 115mph to allow the torpedo to survive the drop. Only four of 41 aircraft made it back with no hits made on the Japanese carriers by the Devastators, and the poor performance of the Mk13 torpedo playing a large part.

At this time the weapon was considered highly unreliable, with tests showing only 31% performed as expected. Ironically it would later be found that the low and slow dropping conditions that had been mandated contributed to the poor performance, however this was too late for the Devastator which was withdrawn from the front line after Midway.

2: Brewster Buffalo

The Brewster was selected over the Grumman XF4F-1 to become the US Navy’s first monoplane fighter. Light and reasonably agile, the Navy asked for modifications for the production aircraft, including two 0.50 calibre Browning machine guns in the wings, in addition to the two in the fuselage. Unfortunately, this made the Buffalo less light and agile, instantly knocking 150 ft/min from the rate of climb.

Further modifications led to the F2A-2 which could now climb at 2,500 ft/min, another 100 ft/min slower. With lessons being learnt from the war in Europe, in 1941 the F2A-3 was ordered which added armour for the pilot and self-sealing fuel tanks further impacting performance.

The extra weight of the -3 also led to an increase in landing accidents, the undercarriage no longer being up to the job. Buffalos of VMF-221 took part in the Battle of Midway where 13 out of 20 were lost, although not without some success against the Val dive-bombers of the Japanese.

Shortly after the Buffalo was retired from front-line use and replaced by the Grumman Wildcat which had been developed by converting the XF4F biplane into a monoplane. Brewster meanwhile so annoyed the Navy with its inability to produce aircraft on schedule that they became one of the few arms manufacturers to go out of business during a war.

1: Curtiss Seamew

A relatively innocuous scout floatplane, the Curtiss Seamew came with a range of problems some of which it wasn’t possible to fix in wartime. Stability was initially an issue which was partially solved by the distinctive upturned wingtips. However, the enlarged tail fin need to resolve directional stability was partially attached to the observer’s cockpit and if they opened it in flight, a frequent requirement in a spotter aircraft, the problem would re-emerge.

To compound issues the air-cooled inverted V-12 Ranger V-770 engine tended to overheat, something that was never solved and indeed it would be the only American aircraft engine produced with that configuration.