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The McDonnell F3H Demon was a subsonic swept-wing United States Navy carrier-based jet fighter aircraft. After severe problems with Westinghouse J40 engine that was ultimately abandoned, the successor to the F2H Banshee served starting in 1956 redesigned with the J71 engine.[1] Though it lacked sufficient power for supersonic performance, it complemented daylight dogfighters such as the F8U Crusader and F11F Tiger as an all-weather, missile-armed interceptor[2] until 1964. It was withdrawn before it could serve in the Vietnam when it, and ultimately also the Crusader, was replaced by the extremely successful F4 Phantom. McDonnell's Phantom, which was equally capable against ground, fighter and bomber targets, bears a strong family resemblance as it was itself conceived as an advanced development of the Demon. The supersonic USAF F-101 Voodoo also retained much of the Demon's layout.

The best alternative was the Allison J71 engine which was also used in the B-66 Destroyer. Subsequent F3Hs with this engine were designated the F3H-2N. Use of this engine required an enlarged wing and redesigned fuselage. In service, the J71 proved problematic, providing insufficient power for an aircraft of the Demon's size. The engine also suffered from frequent flameouts and compressor stalls. The first Demon with a J71 flew in October 1954. Another significant problem was the reliability of the ejection seats: initial versions were found to be unreliable and were eventually replaced with Martin-Baker ejection seats that were becoming the standard Navy seat of choice due to their higher performance at low altitude and better reliability.

Despite the problems, the Navy ordered 239 F3H-2s, and the first were deployed in March 1956. 519 Demons were built up to the end of production in November 1959. It was not the Navy's first all-weather interceptor with radar (the AN/APG-51 air interception set was used first on the F2H-4 Banshee). The F3H-2 Demon had the AN/APG-51A, later upgraded to the 51-B version with a tunable magnetron then on to 51-C with better counter-measures in the receiver.

A reconnaissance version, the F3H-2P, was proposed, but never built. It remained the Navy's front-line fighter until 1962, when it was succeeded by the F-4 Phantom II (which was a development of a proposed Super Demon , a larger and much heavier version of the F3H). Developed during the Korean War to counter the MiG-15, it did not claim any aerial victories with missiles or dogfights, although it flew over Lebanon and Quemoy in 1958.