After WWII, the US Navy wanted to develop an aircraft that would combine turboprop and turbojet propulsion. Ryan Aeronautical, which had already developed a mixed-power fighter called the Ryan FR Fireball during WWII, proposed an enhanced version, the Ryan XF2R Dark Shark. Ryan Aeronautical developed the XF2R Dark Shark from the FR Fireball, but the company replaced the Fireball’s piston engine with a General Electric T31 turboprop engine that drove a 4-bladed Hamilton Standard propeller. The new engine improved performance compared to the Fireball. Ryan also proposed the XF2R-2, which would use a Westinghouse J34 turbojet instead of the General Electric J31 auxiliary turbojet found in the XF2R-1. The XF2R-2 featured a squared-off vertical stabilizer and moved the jet intakes to the sides of the front fuselage, using NACA ducts instead of the wing leading-edge inlets used in the XF2R-1. The Ryan XF2R Dark Shark first flew in November 1946.
Design and Cancellation of Ryan XF2R Dark Shark
The single-crewed Ryan XF2R Dark Shark was 36 feet long, 14 feet high, with a wingspan of 42 feet and a wing area of 305 square feet. Its gross weight was 11,000 pounds, and the maximum speed was envisioned at 497 mph at sea level. The service ceiling was 39,100 feet, and the rate of climb was 4,850 feet per minute. The aircraft could be armed with four .50-inch M2 Browning machine guns. The Ryan XF2R Dark Shark proved capable in testing, but it never moved past the prototype stage. The XF2R-2 was also canceled before it was built because the Navy decided to abandon the idea of a combined fighter. Instead, the service began focusing on all-jet fighters, which they believed were better. In the Grounded Dreams series, the Ryan XF2R Dark Shark was a good aircraft that arrived too late, as the jet engines, sluggish at first, became much more mature by the time the aircraft was ready. Read more Grounded Dreams articles HERE.
