The McDonnell FH Phantom was the first jet fighter to be operated by the US Navy, all the more remarkable considering the company had only been established in 1939 and yet beat out similar designs by Grumman and North American, two companies with considerably longer histories in the aviation industry. The Phantom was a conventional straight winged fighter whose trials on board the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt were the first operations by US jet fighters from an aircraft carrier. An initial order for 100 of these fighters was later cut when World War II ended but subsequently increased enabling the Phantom to serve with the USN's VF-17A (later VF-171) squadron in mid-1947, the world's first carrier based jet fighter squadron to be deployed (other USMC squadrons would also use it). Although it saw no combat and was retired in 1950, it flew for a few more years in the Naval Reserve mostly as trainers until finally replaced in 1953.

First flight of the XFD-1 took place on 2 January 1945, remarkably with only one engine! The Phantom was ordered as the FD-1 but this was later changed to FH-1 to avoid confusion with Douglas. This was the only variant of the Phantom to be built.