The North American FJ Fury was the company's first foray into jet fighters and the direct precursor to the legendary F-86 Sabre. The original Fury variant was a conventional straight wing design similar to the contemporary Phantom and Panther with the main difference being a nose intake with straight through airflow to the engine in the rear fuselage. Only a few were built before development began on a navalized version of the Sabre which was given the same name and designation (mostly due to political reasons) despite being a completely new aircraft. Differences with their land-based brethen included folding wings, an all flying tailplane, more powerful engines, and cannons in place of the guns (some could also be equipped with Sidewinder air-to-air missiles). Final variants were true multi-role platforms capable of carrying Bullpup air-to-surface missiles but were slowly phased out of service by the early 1960s without having ever seen combat.

The FJ Fury series basically comprised three distinct aircrat. The first began with the XFJ-1 which had its maiden flight in 27 November 1946 and entered service as the FJ-1. It was a small, conventionally designed fighter which was only used by one squadron (VF-5A, later VF-51) for slightly over a year before being sent to Reserve units. The series continued with the XFJ-2 which had been converted from F-86E airframes and first flew on 27 December 1951 and was operational as the FJ-2. These were followed by the FJ-3 with Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire engines end ended up equipping 20 USN and 6 USMC squadrons (some were modified to carry Sidewinder missiles and known as the FJ-3M). Finally, the FJ-4 represented yet another redesign, this time with a recontoured fuselage, new wing, taller fin, drooped leading edges, and increased fuel capacity. Strike capability was added in the FJ-4B with two additional hardpoints which could carry the Bullpup missile or even a tactical nuclear weapon. Post-1962 designations were: F-1C (FJ-3/3M), F-1E (-4), and AF-1E (-4B).