@ Pueblo, CO
September 2019
Visited the Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum for the first time in 2019 and was please to see a Skyray in their collection. The Skyray was designed as a high-altitude interceptor, with a high rate and angle of climb. It set a new time-to-altitude record, flying from a standing start to 49,221 feet in 2 minutes and 36 seconds, all while flying at a 70° pitch angle. Although it was in service for a relatively short time (1956–1964) and never saw combat, it was the first carrier-launched aircraft to hold the world’s absolute speed record, at 752.943 mph and was the first United States Navy and United States Marine Corps fighter that could exceed Mach 1 in level flight. This would be the last fighter aircraft produced by the Douglas Aircraft Company. First flown in 1951, 419 would be produced and earned designer Ed Heinemann the Collier Trophy in recognition of his work. With implementation of a 1962 tri-service aircraft designation system, the F4D was redesignated as the F-6A Skyray. Fuji X-E2s w/18-135mm.