Killer Rays: Story of the Douglas F4D Skyray & F5D Skylancer

by Mark Frankel

Killer Rays is the definitive work on the history of the U.S. Navy's only operational delta-wing aircraft, the revolutionary Douglas F4D Skyray and its more advanced variant, the F5D Skylancer. Author Mark Frankel unlocks secrets of delta-wing design and covers the intense rivalry between the Navy's F4D Skyray and Air Force's F-102 Delta Dagger in the 1950s. This book chronicles the development of the Skyray from concept to first prototype, flight testing, carrier qualifications, and operational history. It also explains how initial engine problems nearly caused the failure of the F4D, and how it was ultimately saved. The author accessed a wealth of Douglas Aircraft photos, models, artwork, engineering drawings, and related material including transcripts of conversations with Chief Designer, Ed Heinemann and Configuration Engineer, R.G. Smith. As a result, Killer Rays covers, in vivid detail, all aspects of F4D production, flight testing, world speed and time-to-climb records, plus new, never-before-seen aspects of NASA F5D operations, giving the reader the inside story on two significant Cold War U.S. Navy interceptor designs.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published August 15, 2010

Reviews

[Shrike58 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the Specialty Press hasn't been closed for a year yet, this is the sort of work that makes me regret its demise, as no one else in the United States is now really producing this combination of research, imagery, and technical detail when it comes to aircraft and aerospace topics (with apologies to Steve Ginter). As for the delta-wing interceptors that Douglas produced for the U.S. Navy, you can say that their issues as flying machines had a great deal to do with problems generated by ambitious performance demands, a tentative grasp of the aerodynamics of trans-sonic flight, and the vagaries of second-generation jet engines. The amazing thing is that the Skyray worked as well as it did, particularly when it was used as a general-purpose fighter, rather than as the specialized point-defense interceptor that the Navy's initial requirement called for.

Besides covering the Skyray, and direct follow-on developments, Frankel also provides the reader with a side-ways glance at the U.S. Air Forces adventures in delta-wing fighters, which makes for an interesting contrast.

Considering that it's unlikely that this work is going to be reprinted, it's rapidly turning into an expensive collector's item. If you're interested in 1950s combat aircraft, and find a copy at your price point, by all means make the purchase.

[Steven Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very specialized volume. But for those interested in the development of military aircraft, this is a nice work. First, there are many slick color photos, so one gets a really good sense of what the F4D Skyray and F5D Skylancer looked like. The latter was never really deployed, but the former put in service. Mark Frankel, the author, begins by laying things out for the reader (Page 7): "My purpose in writing this book was to provide the reader with an explanation of how and why the Skyray came to be, to examine the technological problems that it overcame, to analyze its service history, to recreate how it was flown, to study its stillborn successor, the Skylancer, and to explore its place in Naval Aviation history with the advantage of 50 years of hindsight."

The book explores the development of this plane, the extraordinary demands placed on the engineers, how Douglas Aircraft attempted to answer the challenges, its service, and its legacy. A nice work for those interested in this aircraft. . . .