Soviet pilots harried U.N. forces using MiG-15 jets based across the Yalu River in China.
Here s What You Need to Know: The Navy and Marines knew their fighters were outclassed by Soviet MiGs.
After World War II, the U.S. Navy scrambled to field its own jet fighters but designing a warplane that could fly dramatically faster while still landing on a short carrier deck proved a challenge. The Navy’s first operational jet, the underpowered FH Phantom, was retired after only two years of service.
Naval aircraft manufacture Grumman received funding in 1946 to develop a four-turbojet G-75 prototype based on the twin piston engine F7F Tigercat. However, the concept proved so unpromising the firm used creative accounting to use the funds for a single-engine project called the G-79. This XF9F prototype first flew in November 1947 from the production facility in Bethpage, New York.