This Day in Aviation History
March 23rd, 1948
First flight of the Douglas F3D Skyknight.

The Douglas F3D Skyknight (later designated F-10 Skyknight) was a United States twin-engined, mid-wing jet fighter aircraft manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company in El Segundo, California. The F3D was designed as a carrier-based all-weather night fighter and saw service with the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. The mission of the F3D-2 was to search out and destroy enemy aircraft at night.

The F3D Skyknight was never produced in great numbers but it did achieve many firsts in its role as a night fighter over Korea. While it never achieved the fame of the North American F-86 Sabre, it did down several Soviet-built MiG-15s as a night fighter over Korea with only one air-to-air loss of its own against a Chinese MiG-15 on the night of 29 May 1953….

Source:
Wikipedia, Douglas F3D Skyknight:  http://gstv.us/1HmNYEy

YouTube, US F3D Skyknights lands on the deck of USS Hancock:
http://gstv.us/1CfeXCr

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