Built by McDonnell Aircraft at St. Louis, Missouri and delivered to the U.S. Navy on October 12, 1951.
October 1951 To Bureau of Aeronautics Representative, Research & Development, St. Louis, Missouri.
June 1952 To Naval Air Test Center, Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland.
March 1953 To Composite Squadron 61 (VC-61), Naval Air Station Miramar, California.
March 1954 To Overhaul & Repair, San Diego, California.
April 1954 To Overhaul & Repair, Jacksonville, Florida.
October 1954 To Composite Squadron 62 (VC-62) Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida. Deployed on USS Bennington, USS Intrepid, and USS Forrestal.
September 1956 To Overhaul & Repair, Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina.
April 1957 To Reconnaissance Squadron 61 (VFP-61), Naval Air Station Alameda, California.
December 1957 To Fleet Aircraft Service Squadron 3 (FASRON-3) Naval Air Station Alameda, California.
February 1958 To Marine Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron 1 (VMJ-1), Marione Corps Air Station Atsugi, Japan.
June 1958 To Naval Air Facility Advanced Base at Oppama, Japan.
October 1958 To Fleet Aircraft Service Squadron 4 (FASRON 4), Naval Air Station North Island, California.
October 1958 To Storage at Litchfield Park, Arizona.
1958-2012 Displayed at St. Louis, Missouri; Cherry Point, North Carolina; and Wings of Eagles Museum, New York. At some point the aircraft’s original photoreconnaissance nose was replaced with the gun equipped nose of a standard Banshee fighter.
2012 Loaned to the Pima Air and Space Museum by the National Museum of the Marine Corps.