skyray

The XFD-1 was a prototype aircraft for the McDonnell FH Phantom. If you read the picture tag it not even a XF4D it is a F4D Douglas.

This actually is one of two Douglas XF4D-1 Skyray prototypes, BuNo 124587. This particular aircraft set a world speed record of 725.9 mph over a 3 km closed-course on 3 October 1953. 3 October 1953: Lieutenant Commander James B. Verdin, United States Navy, flew the second prototype of the Douglas Aircraft Company’s XF4D-1 Skyray, Bu. No. 124587, over a three kilometer course at the Salton Sea, California. Commander Verdin made four passes, two in each direction. He set a new Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Speed over a 3-kilometer course, averaging 1,211.75 kilometers per hour (752.95 miles per hour). This aircraft would go on to serve as a flying testbed for the General Electric J79 jet engine (and its civil CJ805 derivative). See: www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/douglas-xf4d-1-skyray/ This aircraft is still extant, albeit in the need of at least a new coat of paint. Here is a more recent photo of BuNo 124587 at the China Lake Museum of Armament and Technology, China Lake, CA, by Flickr user G. Verver:

El Centro NAF down there.

DMS Great Picture. Do you have any idea what the small,black bomb-like object that appears to be behind and below the tail of the Skyray is?

Doug Schlagel It must be a bomb. The image was taken at an Air Weapons Show.

Delmar Dart tow target, used for air-to-air gunnery at NAF El Centro... VF-102 was an Atlantic Coast unit.

bigredlancer Thanks for the information. There are several photos at SDASM of the F4D with the tow target. Unique images.

Very interesting to see the planform view of the A-4 Skyhawk relative to its cousin the F4D Skyray! I had no idea that the Skyray's wing was so much larger.