The WW2 Fighter with a Jet Stuffed in Its Tail - Ryan FR Fireball

See the last remaining Fireball at the Planes of Fame Air Museum: www.planesoffame.org
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The unconventional Ryan FR Fireball was the only fighter in operational service to be powered by both piston and jet engines: a true blend of old and new technologies. The fireball was also the first carrier aircraft designed with a laminar-flow airfoil and to have a fully flush-riveted exterior and metal skinned moveable control surfaces. A radial engine was fitted in the nose while a turbojet was fitted in the rear fuselage. In flight, it was able to fly with either engine or with both at the same time.

The Fireball made headlines when it became the first US aircraft to land under jet power on an aircraft carrier, the USS Wake Island. The end of the war made the US Navy lose interest with the result being that most contracts were cancelled and only one squadron flew until 1947 without ever seeing combat.

The last surviving aircraft example of this aircraft of only 71 built is on public display at the Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino, CA.

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The Ryan FR Fireball was simultaneously a ground-breaking development and a terrible failure. This fighter was the first effort by the U.S Navy to develop a jet-propelled aircraft during World War 2. Eventually, it became the first fighter powered by a jet engine to land on a carrier.

From the outside, the FR looked like nothing exceptional. But its looks betrayed its innovative technology, which combined piston and jet engines. This made the fighter more than capable of taking off from a carrier and chasing after Kamikaze aircraft.

The Fireball could fly, climb, and pull away with its radial engine shut down. It could also land in a carrier with nothing but its jet engine turned on. For other pilots, the new technology seemed like magic.

Despite its technological wonder, however, the Fireball was late to the war. A thousand of them were ordered, but Japan’s surrender after the atomic bomb limited production to only 66 fighters.

The aircraft also earned the infamous nickname of “The Widow Maker” after several fatal accidents while landing on carriers. Catastrophic structural failures eventually led to the Fireball being scrapped.

Although the marriage of piston and jet engines was innovative at the time, all-jet technology proved superior, and the Fireball’s career came to a quick end.

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