Tailspin Turtle

For what it's worth: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2013/12/photo-gator.html Weinel on F-8 radomes: https://superheatmemorial.blogspot.com/2018/12/f-8-radome-comparisons.html

There was in fact a small ramp at the bottom of the windscreen. The ram on the nose gear torque link was for nose gear steering; that small tube that goes down the exterior of the strut actually extends down between the wheels to provide the air to spin the nose wheels up to speed prior to landing. Also see https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2015/08/its-not-that-easy-to-get-it-right.html and

In a look at some VF-194 pictures I didn't see any side number or tail code on the lower surfaces either but they didn't show the complete underside. They are pretty consistently present on F4Us and F9Fs in the air group. More like guidelines, really...

There was likely a small "B" and "417" on the lower surface of the wings...

Also see https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235015791-emhar-fj-4-fury-172/

But wait, there's more!: http://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com/2022/05/mcdonnell-f3h-demon-roll-control.html

Forgive me if I've posted this before, but there was no center pylon on the AD-4N. The rack was embedded in the belly and only the hooks (14 inches apart) and the ejector foot extended below the fuselage. The sway braces were stuck into holes in the bottom of the fuselage. In some cases (depending on the lug configuration), the 2,000-lb bomb was hung using an a strap-on adapter with 14-inch lugs. Scroll down to the last picture here: https://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com/2015/07/douglas-ad-1-skyraider-pylons.html

Jerry Wells did a deep dive into F3H flight and maintenance manuals to provide more insight into the roll-control spoiler function. First, the switch over between aileron and spoiler roll control was at indicated airspeed, not a Mach number. As the Demon accelerated through 560 +/-7 knots, roll control was switched from the ailerons to the spoilers. As speed decreased through 545 +/- 7 knots, roll control switched back. Second, and most interesting to me, is that the push rods of the lateral control system went from the ailerons to the spoilers, i.e. crossed back across the fold joint. As a result of the kinematics of the rods and bell cranks, when the wings were folded, both spoilers were receiving an extend signal (presumably, when there was no hydraulic power to the spoilers, they closed like flaps, gear doors, speed brakes, etc. drooped after engine shutdown). With respect to a control check on the ground, the pilot could select Emergency Spoilers, which resulted in them responding to lateral stick.

Jerry Wells did a deep dive into F3H flight and maintenance manuals to provide more insight into the roll-control spoiler function. First, the switch over between aileron and spoiler roll control was at indicated airspeed, not a Mach number. As the Demon accelerated through 560 +/-7 knots, roll control was switched from the ailerons to the spoilers. As speed decreased through 545 +/- 7 knots, roll control switched back. Second, and most interesting to me, is that the push rods of the lateral control system went from the ailerons to the spoilers, i.e. crossed back across the fold joint. As a result of the kinematics of the rods and bell cranks, when the wings were folded, both spoilers were receiving an extend signal (presumably, when there was no hydraulic power to the spoilers, they closed like flaps, gear doors, speed brakes, etc. drooped after engine shutdown). With respect to a control check on the ground, the pilot could select Emergency Spoilers, which resulted in them responding to lateral stick.

Oops - I just noticed that the North American drawing of the flight deck and "ladder" is misleading. There is no vertical panel along the side of the flight deck aft of the stairwell. There is a short vertical athwart-ship panel to the left of the stairwell, which does appear to be slightly tapered in width because its inboard side is slightly angled to the right from top to bottom. In other words that short vertical panel which is part of the support of the flight deck is not a rectangle.

The stairway is a constant width. It's only the flight deck and the partial wall between the bottom of the stairway and the opening to the equipment bay under the flight deck that are angled.

Minor detail - aft of the bottom of the stairs leading up to the flight deck, the opening in the flight deck floor actually widens on a straight line from that point to the aft cockpit bulkhead. The right side of the third crewman's instrument/switch panel (left side from the aft-facing crewman's standpoint, is actually out over the opening; the flight deck floor is just wide enough for the third crewman's feet. See the cockpit link that you posted above.

They weren't quite perpendicular to the fuselage butt line; they also weren't evenly spaced... https://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com/2015/07/douglas-ad-1-skyraider-pylons.html

My guess right now is that the roll-control spoilers coming up together when the wings are folded after engine start (and therefore hydraulic pressure is present) and going down when the wings are extended is a feature, a positive flight control check. One of the checks required before launch is that the flight controls all function properly. Since these spoilers only begin to move in response to the stick in flight at high speed, this would satisfy the requirement to know before takeoff that they are functional. Somebody who seemed to have first-hand familiarity with the Demon once challenged my statement that only one was extended at a time; this would explain why he thought they could function in concert.

One surprise to me is that the roll-control spoilers appear to both be raised when the wings are folded and the airplane is taxiing out. I don't think that they are when the power is off. It's not unusual for ailerons to not be in trail, so to speak, because of the need to cross the fold joint with mechanical controls, but these are inboard of the fold joint and below about Mach .82, locked out. Plus when functioning in flight, only one will be up at a time...

The beginning of a series: http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2022/04/douglas-ad-4-skyraider-variants.html Note that of the AD-4 variants, only the AD-4B had an external centerline pylon and the AD-4N variants did not have any dive brakes.

As best I can tell from other walk-around pictures of the NNAM F3H, the big fingers are tapered from thickness of the spoiler itself to fairly sharp and also have rounded sides. The smaller fingers have a sharp bevel, like a chisel. That is a piano hinge at the front of the spoiler. The left and right forward corners of the spoiler are rounded when viewed from above its surface but I pretty sure that the sides are not.

There are some good walkarounds on the internet. I think the spoiler was basically a flat piece of metal. There was a "ramp" in front of its leading edge. Note that the two "fingers' extending aft actually covered the holes in the wing skin that the actuators poked out of. https://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraft/f3h/images/forttin_f3h_34.jpg https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2010/11/f3h-demon.html I'm pretty sure but not certain that the spoilers were not extended on the ground. They were also for roll control, not speed or total lift control so only one was extended at a time. At high speed (I have never seen a number for it), the spoilers automatically took over roll control from the ailerons. It was discovered at some point after deliveries began that roll control decreased unacceptably at higher speeds because the wing torsional stiffness was no longer adequate to keep the wing from twisting as aileron was applied, reducing its effectiveness.

Roughly speaking, an air group deployed for six months on a carrier and then was shore based (on the beach) for anywhere from a year to two years. There was no real need for the refueling probe when shore based. And it may be that early on, as in this case, pilots were more cavalier about the necessity for inflight-refueling capability when flying from the carrier. I also don't know how much work it took to remove and reinstall the Demon's probe. However, I do not remember seeing a picture of a Demon without the probe—dated for sure after the modification was introduced—certainly not one with any indication (discoloration around the edge of the fairing, unfaded surface where the fairing had been, blanking panel) that one had been removed. However, I would be very interested in being informed about exceptions. With respect to the slats, when the airplane was parked, they were usually up. With respect to the roll spoilers, they were an afterthought and literally scabbed onto the top of the wing surface. I don't know if photoetch is thin enough to be accurate enough in that regard.

The refueling probe was added very early on (see https://thanlont.blogspot.com/2013/10/texaco.html) and it was in fact "scabbed on". My impression was that it was rarely removed, particularly on a deployment.

It looks like it does: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/sword-sw-72025-p-80c-shooting-star--106685

https://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com/2012/02/lockheed-p-80-shooting-star.html https://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com/2017/06/lockheed-pf-80-shooting-star-tip-tanks.html

Yes or 23.4 cm

"leaning ladder": The stairway up to the flight deck was basically a slanted piece of sheet metal with recesses for steps. For bailout expediency, the crew members would slide down to the lower deck, get to their feet, and go out the hatch. The B/N's seat back was hinged so it flopped all the way back, making it easy for him to access the "chute" and get it out of the way of the pilot. The third crewman might have elected to take a short cut by just jumping down from the flight deck to the lower deck.

It's possible, even likely, that even though the artist got the drawing right, in the process of copying the original artwork to scale, laying out the page it was on, and printing the book, that it became slightly reduced in size.