The McDonnell F2H Banshee (company designation McDonnell Model 24) is a single-seat carrier-based jet fighter aircraft designed and produced by the American aircraft manufacturer McDonnell Aircraft.

The F2H was one of the highest-flying combat aircraft of its time with a ceiling of some 48,500 feet. The Banshee could carry 1,000 pounds of bombs and rockets, and 200-gallon wingtip tanks were provided.

The McDonnell F2H Banshee was a multimission: used as a day fighter, as a night fighter and for photoreconnaissance with one variant that was specially strengthened to carry nuclear weapons. It went into combat in 1951 and served as one of the principal fighters with the US Navy's Seventh Fleet for the duration of the Korean War .

On January 11, 1947, the prototype for the McDonnell F2H Banshee made its first flight. A larger development of the FH Phantom, the Banshee would go on to see service during the Korean War as an escort fighter and reconnaissance aircraft.

Jan 22, 2009 · The F2H Banshee and the F9F Panther were among the US Navy's first jet fighters. They fought concurrently in the Korean War, but neither saw much service in the air-to-air fighter role, because as first generation straight-winged jets, they gave up …

Aug 31, 2021 · McDonnell’s F2H Banshee was a development of the company’s first jet-powered fighter aircraft, the FH-1 Phantom. In fact the Banshee was being developed before McDonnell began building Phantoms for the US Navy.

The McDonnell F2H Banshee was a single-seat carrier-based jet fighter aircraft flown by the United States Navy and Marine Corps from 1948 to 1961 and was one of the primary American fighters used during the Korean War.

the Grumman F9F Panther, which had been in combat since the July 1950 US response to the 25 June North Korean invasion of South Korea. The arrival of the Banshee invited inevitable comparisons to the Panther.

Sep 30, 2023 · Introduced in late 1948, the Banshee, with its straight wing configuration, was nearly 100 mph slower than the latest land-based fighters. However, several variants emerged, including the F2H-2N, the U.S. Navy’s first jet-powered night fighter, and the F2H-2P, its first jet-powered reconnaissance aircraft.

The F2H-2 variant had increased fuel, 200 gallon wing tanks, and the more powerful Westinghouse J-34-WE-34 turbojet engine than the F2H-1. A total of 89 of the recon types were built with the first flight on 12 October, 1950.