![]() Three prototypes were ordered on 30 August 1943 and the designation XFD-1 was assigned. McDonnell was invited by the navy to cooperate in the development of a shipboard jet fighter, using an engine from the turbojets under development by Westinghouse Electric Corporation. In early 1943, aviation officials at the United States Navy were impressed with McDonnell's audacious XP-67 Bat project. The FH Phantom was originally designated the FD Phantom, but this was changed as the aircraft entered production. McDonnell chose to bring the name back with the Mach 2–class McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, the most versatile and widely used western combat aircraft of the Vietnam War era. As McDonnell's first successful fighter, it led to the development of the follow-on F2H Banshee, which was one of the two most important naval jet fighters of the Korean War combined, the two established McDonnell as an important supplier of navy aircraft. Although only 62 FH-1s were built it helped prove the viability of carrier-based jet fighters. The Phantom was the first purely jet-powered aircraft to land on an American aircraft carrier and the first jet deployed by the United States Marine Corps.
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