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Northrop F-89 Scorpion by Marty J Isham & David R McLaren A Photo Chronicle SC
Northrop F-89 Scorpion by Marty J Isham & David R McLaren A Photo Chronicle
Northrop F-89 Scorpion
Marty J Isham & David R McLaren
Soft Cover
124 Pages
Copyright 1996
Contents
Introduction 5
Chapter One: 7
In the Beginning
Chapter Two: 21
The Air Defense Command
Chapter Three: 39
In the Northern Climes
Chapter Four: 49
The Air Naitonal Guard
Chapter Five: 81
Air Training Command
Chapter Six: 85
Test Missions
Chapter Seven: 91
F-89 Proposals
F-89 Survivors 95
Cockpit Photos 115
F-89 Air Defense Squadron Assignments 117
Specifics 120
Serial Numbers 121
Bibliography & Acknowledgements 122
Requiem for a Scorpion 124
Introduction
As was the case with many historical aircraft, whom you discussed the aircraft with and what their personal opinion of the machine was, provided you with the information to determine whether or not it was a good aircraft. While technical information provides the solid facts, it carries its own antiseptic lack of objectivity. Some Scorpion crews considered the F-89 to be the Cadillac of fighters during its era, while others compared it to a sluggish truck. It was as large as a World War II medium bomber, and compared with its diminutive predecessors or its contemporaries, it was just too big to be a fighter. In fact, although it bore a fighter's designation, it was not, nor had it ever been intended to be, a fighter per se. The F-89 was designed to be an interceptor of enemy bombers, and not a dog-fighter among enemy fighters. It was a smooth and rock-stable aircraft with a roomy cockpit, but it was slow to accelerate and climb. Regardless, it was definitely an aircraft whose reputation proceeded it with some trepidation. As one ex-Air Force pilot stated, "The vacume (sic) cleaner was not a good portion of my career."
The Scorpion entered the Air Force's inventory with several shortcomings and a propensity for engine failures brought on by fledgling technology and the ingestion of foreign objects into its engines, due to the low slung intake's ability to suck up any and everything that might be laying loose on the ramps and runways. Early engine life was a bare twenty hours between major overhauls.
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