Vought | ||||||||||||
F7U Cutlass
|
||||||||||||
Photo: Robert Deering 4/18/2015 National Museum of Naval Aviation NAS Pensacola (NPA) Pensacola, Florida |
||||||||||||
Boasting a unique "tailless" design, the F7U
Cutlass incorporated a number of new and
advanced features for its time. Designed by
Rex Beisel, who also designed the
unconventional looking F4U Corsair, the F7U
was ahead of its time and the capabilities
of available power plants, resulting in its
nickname the "Gutless Cutlass." Structural
shortcomings and its underpowered engines
plagued it, resulting in several deaths and
the loss of over a quarter of all F7Us built
to operational accidents.
With a history of producing unconventional
aircraft, Chance Vought began work on a
tailless, swept-wing jet in June 1945. The
F7U was the final aircraft designed by Rex
Beisel, who also designed the TS-1, the
Navy's first aircraft built specifically for
carrier operations, and the famed F4U
Corsair. Designated the XF7U-1 Cutlass, the
prototype made its first flight in September
1948, but experienced immediate
difficulties. All three XF7U-1 prototypes
crashed, as did two of the first fourteen
production aircraft eventually ordered by
the Navy. Subsequently, a 1949 order for 88
F7U-2s was canceled in favor of the F7U-3,
which incorporated many improvements. It was
still underpowered, however, and had a
potentially deadly nose-wheel design. The
former trait produced the aircraft's
unofficial moniker "Gutless Cutlass." All
told, over a quarter of all F7Us built were
destroyed in accidents.
Variants of the Cutlass equipped a number of
Navy squadrons, among them the F7U-3M, which
was flown by Attack Squadron (VA) 83 in
March 1956, when it went aboard the carrier
USS
Intrepid (CVA-11), becoming the
first Navy squadron to deploy overseas with
missiles.
Accepted in June 1954, the F7U-3M Cutlass
(Bureau Number 129655) on display in the
Museum was stricken from the Navy inventory
in 1957. Displayed for many years in
Griffith Park in Los Angeles, the aircraft
was restored during the early 1990s and
arrived at the Museum in |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
1959 DOD Aircraft Recognition Page |