The F3D Skyknight, built by Douglas, was one of the first jets produced as a dedicated all weather aircraft specialized for fighting at night. It served with the U.S.N. and U.S.M.C.
The F3D Skynight was a stout weapons platform, with room for sufficient fuel for long missions, plus a heavy radar system. The pilot and radar operator sat in the cockpit side by side.
The F3D Skyknight served admirably during the Korean War. They were primarily assigned as night time attack aircraft and for escorting heavy bombers.
Night attacks generally consisted of sorties against heavily fortified enemy armor positions.
For convoying bombing formations, the F3D Skyknight, in addition to flying with the bombers, would take up positions in advance of their flight path to intercept potential interceptors. A dozen or more F3D Skyknight aircraft would typically escort a bombing formation on its mission.
Enemy jets would usually attack in groups of up to half a dozen aircraft. Not being equipped with on-board radar, the jets would be guided by ground radar stations. The North Koreans would send a single aircraft up to try to lure the slower, less maneuverable F3D Skyknight into going after it.
While the F3D Skyknight was so occupied, the remaining enemy aircraft would try to attack the F3D Skyknight from above and behind. The brilliant exhaust of the twin F3D Skyknight engines was visible from the rear of the aircraft at up to eight miles on a cloudless night.
The F3D Skyknight relied on a rear warning radar to detect closing enemy aircraft. They would quickly dive as an evasive maneuver, trying to get the fast flying enemy jets to overshoot them. Then they would use their on board radar to regain the offensive on the enemy aircraft which was flying blind at night.
The F3D Skyknight piloted by Marines claimed six victories over enemy aircraft, with a loss of two of their own aircraft during the Korean War.
A small number of F3D Skyknight aircraft saw action again during the early Vietnam War through 1969. This time the aircraft were for ECM (Electronic Counter Measures).
During their missions the F3D Skyknight spotted hostile radar installations, often using their electronic equipment to render them defenseless, while attack aircraft knocked them out. The F3D Skyknight was said to be extremely capable in its mission.
A total of 265 F3D Skyknight aircraft of all types were produced.
They continued to serve with the U.S.M.C. through 1970. A small number of the aircraft flew as test aircraft for military contractors into 1980.
Kyosho airplane.
If you've been looking at the pictures and thinking, "Those aren't F3D Skyknight airplanes.", you are correct. We haven't been able to find a single rc F3D Skyknight.
However, if you use your imagination and stand way back and squint, all the pictures of the rc T-33's could look a little like the F3D Skyknight. We call them SBSS (stand back and squint scale).
Although not much can be done about the shape of the fuselage, or the position of the engines, it is possible to square off the wings, add the wider cockpit, shorting the landing gear struts, and change the tail feathers to make the models more closely resemble a F3D Skyknight.
Add the correct color scheme with graphics and you can tell the folks at your flying field that you have a F3D Skyknight. We would think that, at first glance, not many people could tell the difference.
Many straight wing jets of the F3D Skyknight era had similar looks.
Pictured above and first below are Kyosho airplanes. Wingspan is 46", length is 35" and weight is around 40 oz. ready to fly. The ARF kits have AP29L motors and EDF units included.
The middle picture below is of a slope soarer for sale from MM Glider Tech. It has a 48" wingspan and is built from EPP foam.
The next picture is of a rc airplane from a BVM kit. It has a wingspan of 79" with a length of 69" and is made for turbine power. Weight is about 17 lbs.
The bottom picture on this page is of the 1/48 scale F3D Skynight plastic model from a Czech Model kit built by Rich Filteau. The kit is high quality and contains 80 pieces. It appears to have been discontinued, but may be found on eBay.
If you know of any F3D Skyknight airplanes or have any suggestions for kit bashing a particular model into a rc F3D Skynight, please email us.
Douglas F3D Skyknight
