This video is exactly what makes CZcams special. Where else could you find 25 year old “podcasts” full of absolutely fascinating yet super specialized people. I get very frustrated with the perils of the internet but things like this make it all worth it.
I grew up in Pensacola and got to see the Blues often. One weekend they let many of us get into the Panthers they were using at that time. I was so impressed with the life and times of the Blues that I became a Marine fighter pilot. I then got to fly the Cougar and f-11 both of which the Blues flew. I also got time in the TV2 that was mentioned in the interview and that was like flying a Piper Cub it was so easy and predictable to fly. Then I went to an F-4B squadron also a plane that the Blues flew. Of all of them, the F-11 was my favorite and the easiest to fly formation with. I also think it was one of the prettiest of them all.
Rudy, I'm not a pilot but an aviation geek. Do you agree with some experts that the F-11 could have been the "Phantom" of it's era had been equipped with a much better engine?
@@s.marcus3669 Yes, especially the F-11F-1F Super Tiger, which was superior to the Lockheed F-104 (widowmaker), but Lockheed had more corrupt marketing.
I was born in 1964 and fell in love with the F7U from a very early age, specifically upon my first visit to Travel Town, a transportation (mainly railroad) themed outdoor museum in Los Angeles' Griffith Park. There, they had a white F7U, a blue Panther, a white P2V Neptune and a blue Loon in individually chain-linked enclosures. Sometime in the 1990s when the park was remodeled the planes were either sold off or donated to various museums. I have photos of them which I cherish!
Cool to see my dads ship at the 7:45 mark. My dad served aboard the U.S.S. Princeton during the Korean War. I remember looking in his cruise book and seeing that very picture. If I remember right, they had a memorial write up about LCDR Magda in the book. RIP dad.
I built the Lindberg Line F7U-1 Cutlass model kit when I was a kid and then Hobby Craft made a 1/48 scale F7U-3M that was the Sparrow missile equipped version wirh a belly rocket pack.
I grew up looking at the model of this odd duck, along with the other models of my Dads. He was WWII Navy fighter pilot, who after the war became a test pilot, then went civvie and became a TP for McDonnell Douglas here in St Louis.
I agree and there was at lest one engine available at the time with more thrust the RR Avon had 6500lb dry in 1950 compared to the Westinghouse which only had 6000lb in after burner
The Blue Angels got there start 15 June 1946 at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida. I retired about 20 miles away near the Mayport Naval Station at the beaches. We have a great weekend each year when the Blue Angels team along with my other groups to preform. Our family has rented a place on the beach a number of times for that week to enjoy all of the air shows. If you ever get the chance go enjoy the Blue Angels show. Thank you for putting this up. It is a pleasure to watch your show. Shalom
Really? I too was born in 1952, son of a Senior Chief Petty officer. The first F7U, I saw was on display in a transportation museum in LA, called "Travel Town." The aircraft had what looked like a stupidly long nose landing gear strut. Dad called it the "Gutless" and said it was a failure. Circa 1985, while serving in the Navy myself, was assigned to an A-7B Corsair II squadron. The attached civilian "Tech Rep" an employee of Ling Temco Vought, LTV, admitted the last batch of Cutlass fighters went directly from the factory to the boneyard.
Amazin video! The Cutlass part caught my eye. I used to watch them land at NAS Alameda. My dad was in FASRON 8 as a Chief Metal Smith working on Corsairs. He was probably overseas on the Boxer at the time, as we were across the street from the base in federal housing. There was runway parallel to the estuary between Alameda and Oakland. And I could watch planes land there without going on the base. I think Todd shipyard was at the south end of that runway. I hadm''t seen a lot of jets at the time, and was amazed by the serious nose up attitude and the long nose gear when they were landing. After Corsairs my dad did Demons, and I still have the Demon Doctor patch he gave me back then. I think it was around the time of the Demons that they changed his rating designation to Structural Mechanic. I think the serious swept back wings and dual engines of the Cutlass caught my fancy as well.
Back in the late 60s early 70s in Rockville Maryland there was a Park close in another town that had a Cutlass put there as a kids climb around toy. I think it was twinbrook Park in any case I want back in the 80s and it was gone
Have a video if a blue angel f-18 Taking out the chain link fence at NAF ElCentro & blasting the tops off a beet field before barely establishing climb & returning to land surrounded by emergency equipment. It was so close to a fuel spray disaster. We could have all been taken out. I'll post it as soon as I convert it from the 8mm hq vid tape it's on when I find somebody with a working player. I need to run it by the base first. The Blues have been a great part of my community forever. Permission would be nice.
I can remember Vought sparing no expense promoting the Cutlass to the general public that included a beautiful lithograph series I had plastered to my bedroom walls. Only found out relatively recently how dangerous this plane really was.
Thank you for this - fantastic to hear the whole Cutlass interview with "Whitey" Feightner 🙂 Regarding the unique two-position landing gear that the F7U had, on the background photo that shows the two Blues aircraft parked next to each other (example at 10.40), you can see that the main gear is in the different position on each aircraft ;-)
T38 had a roll rate of 720 degrees a second. After my lessons were complete, my instructor would take control and practice rolling twice at maximum rate without loosing or gaining altitude. After a few flights doing this and my head banging agains the canopy, I got even. Luckily for me, he was a real nice guy.
Sitting anchored in Lake Washington waiting for the 4th flight of this year's team..yesterday was a close to a perfect show as I have ever seen. Thanks again Ryan..great video.
I have copies of the flight logs of both of the Blue Angels F7U-1 pilots while assigned to the team. It confirms they never performed together in an airshow. MacKnight was a backup for a solo performance if needed. They did fly at Corpus Christi, but their logs state only one duel air show practice training flight versus flights for MacKnight to learn the aircraft and keep proficient.
When I was a kid,we went to Wheaton regional park near silver spring md. They had a cutlass you could climb up on. Pretty gutted but cool to climb into the cockpit and air intakes. Great looking airplane. Too bad it was so underpowered.
An interesting piece of Blue's history. The Insignia adopted by the Blue's, was designed and produced between a coordinated effort of Dusty Rhodes (Boss) and my mother who was the Staff Artist at NAS Corpus Christi.
Yeah the money was there to commit to production orders long before aircraft were proven. Everyone understood that not every program was going to be successful, hence multiple programs were simultaneously funded across competing manufacturers. That was the price the taxpayer (and many Test Pilots) paid for the incredibly rapid advances made in the ‘50s…
He was invited twice to present Part 1 and Part 2 of his NAS Jax History. He had a photo of 1 of the 3 that did the first show at KCRG in Jax taxiing out to takeoff@@BlueAngelPhantoms
@@mookie2637 I think you are correct, it was called O’Hare field n 1949, formerly Douglas Aircraft “Orchard Air Field” hence the “ORD” identifier….I just reviewed the Wikipedia article agreeing with you….I read an article years ago called “Run, it’s a Cutlass!” that mentioned a Cutlass making an emergency landing there and they claimed it was the first landing at O’Hare, knocking over peach baskets on the closed runway…..perhaps I remembered in error. Thanks for the correction.
The official inauguration of Chicago's O'Hare Field took place on October 29, 1955, and a spectacular airshow was planned for the event. But it turned out to be a rain-soaked day and the show itself was cancelled.@@mookie2637
Fascinating information from and about this demonstration team flown by gold winged Naval Aviators. Daddy graduated from Corpus NAS in June ‘42, and living in San Antonio later, he took me there for every air show and gathering possible. Cadets were still flying T28s in to the late 70s there. Wonderful memories all and this presentation keeps me rooted in the Naval tradition. Thanks to all Naval Aviators and the men who flew demonstration and still do so today.
Thanks for this. I had the great fortune to see one of these babies up close in Walter Soplata's back yard, airplane graveyard, first in about 1977 after meeting Jim Bede's son at Akron-Fulton, and heard from him about the existence of Walter and his much-loved private collection. I have always wondered what became of this airplane after Walter's death. The last time I visited Mr. Soplata's place, he had passed away, and after talking to his wife for a few minutes, I just left; not wanting to worry her. not knowing me from Adam. A few years ago, I met some other guy at Akron-Fulton who claimed that he helped Mrs. Soplata get rid of some of Walter's collection. As soon as I realized the guy seemed to have the opinion that I was just a liar making up this story, I turned and walked away while he was still pontificating. So, I've never had the question of the fate of Walter's F7U answered. Walter was a great guy, who opened up the gun bays of his F2G, which sat right next to his Twin Mustang. When I met the great Steve Hinton last Spring, he hadn't seen Walter's F-52 in his yard, and I had brought some pictures with me when we visited Planes of Fame (his brother flew Spam Can with me in the 'back seat'), and low and behold, there was a picture of Walter, standing on the left wing of his Super Corsair in his rubber galoshes, with the F-82 parked right next to it. My eternal thanks to all of these fine fellows for their willingness to allow me a brief glimpse into their places in the history of aviation.
I'm a pilot. Haven't flown in a bunch of years and while I got away with some poor decisions it never was as crazy as this. Hopefully for my 81st birthday I'll be able to demonstrate how to take off and land in a cherokee 140, the plane I soled in and got my private certificate. Loved to teach flying.
I wonder how good, or not, the Cutlass could have been if it would have had more powerful and reliable engines and perhaps canards for high alpha flight regime
Have long thought that if I were a billionaire with a few million unused dollars lying around it would be fun to commission a modern build to the Cutlass' outline & with those canards.
The Cutlass is a very interesting design. Pushing the envelope of jet engineering. I find her silhouette beautiful. However her design and flight characteristics were way ahead of the current technology and suffered pumping,landing,electrical and power plant inefficiencies galore. Things that should had been addressed in prototype made it as far as frontline unfortunately.
...good book..now LONG outta print..."Skyrocketing into the Unknown" by Charles Coombs..originally printed in the late 50s..a treasure if 40s/50s aircraft designs..
I was a around 12 years old and lived near Moffett Field in California. I saw many F9F Panther jets there. I remember on one occasion that one crashed with the pilot ejecting and landing in an orchard. It wasn't long thereafter that these jets were all moved to a different base....
Based on the shape of the tower and the architecture of the buildings, it certainly looks like Pensacola in the 1950’s. Hopefully someone that knows for sure will verify.
Hi there, that picture was in my grandfather's (Butch Voris) personal collection. If I recall correctly, it was labeled Oakland, but I will go back and check next time I am near his archive. Will report back!
I said the "3" looked better, longer nose, less stubby cockpit. But I actually was wrong, it was the FU-1S, my bad. Still looks a lot like the "C" though...
My dad was on the Hancock when a cutlass crashed onto the deck and nearly took him out (burning fuel, not the crash). He had slides he took of the crash site after the fact. They were known for glacial spool up time and power losses at inopportune times could be deadly.
There was one on display at the front gate at Barbers Point when i was stationed there in the 1980's. I was always told that that aircraft was one piece of snot...
BUDDY RICH flew the F-7? What a drummer! Yes, I'm kidding. I actually spoke to a guy a friend knew, at The Reno Air Races, who owned some rare aircraft. He owned an F-7U. I spent some time speaking to him about it, as he was about to begin restoring it. I still don't know if he ever finished it. A fascinating airplane.
LMFAO. Only thing in the era that could outfly it was a Scooter. And those two missed one another in service by a whisker. In fact some ATKRONs were tasked with helping phase out the Grasshopper while they waited for the first Scooters.
@@mookie2637 I never said it wasn't an abominable death trap that among other failings had a tendency to strain it's pilots through the shattered canopy during hard landings with a reliability that got it barred from carriers. I only contested the myth it wasn't maneuverable. Also using 'reliable' in any way about this specific aircraft makes me feel dirty after all the stories I'd heard about them over the years from a guy who worked on them, lol.
There's been one being restored to flying condition in Arizona by Al Cosby. It has been in the making for like 30-40 years now. From what I've read everything will be updated except for the engines which cannot be replaced. It would take a lot of modifying if different engines were used. Look up Project F7U Cutlass and read the comments in the leave a comment section
The F7U was way ahead of it's technology . Even now it still looks similar to todays planes . With todays material , better motors and electronics it could keep pace with most anything . I thought it was cool in the 50's when I seen it .
Growing up in the '50s I thought the F-7 was the shape of the future. I was fortunate enough to have seen a F-7U at the Museum of Flight Restoration Facility at PaIne Field, Everett, Wa. I heard that it was traded or sold, anyone know where it is now?
There were a lot of terrible planes built in the immediate post WWII era. Why this plane ever got built in large numbers is the question. They should have required the designers to do the first test flights !! Just joking ! 🤪 Truthfully, there were a lot of dangerous planes sent out to the test pilots. Really no excuse for it.
The fact that Senators and very senior naval officers were pushing the Blue Angels to use the F7 as their demonstration aircraft just goes to show that they had vested interest in the aircraft. They had been either paid off to choose the aircraft given stock options or both. It’s even worse today and it’s obvious with senators owning multimillion dollar homes and in some cases more than one on 130,000 yearly salaries. It’s a cool looking aircraft and it would be neat to see a modern take of it but it killed 25 pilots in its very short career and none of those were in combat.
Ah the magnificent J46. Westinghouse destroyed any number of Navy aircraft programs with their garbage engines. Think this way - the GE F404 from the basic F-18 was the same diameter, same weight, and about 40" shorter than the J46. And three times the thrust and modern throttle response. You'd need a lot more air intake...
I don’t know all that goes into upgrading and updating our shipyards, airfields, & military bases, but I don’t see why the army core of engineers can’t be brought in to help get some of these projects done. I think way to much money is wasted when it doesn’t have to be which is partly why the Chinese are kicking our ass in building these big projects. (However made by any1 else might cost more and take much longer to get finished, yet a Chinese built project will be the first to breakdown! Cheap & unsafe construction & materials. Everything they do is a crappier version of whatever it is. Since the CCP came into power, they have basically just become sneaky, lying thieves who are great at mass producing an all around cheaper knock off version of whatever idea they can steal.
This video is exactly what makes CZcams special. Where else could you find 25 year old “podcasts” full of absolutely fascinating yet super specialized people. I get very frustrated with the perils of the internet but things like this make it all worth it.
Great interview about the Blue Angels F-7u with "Whitey" Fightner! Thank you for making it available to enjoy.
I grew up in Pensacola and got to see the Blues often. One weekend they let many of us get into the Panthers they were using at that time. I was so impressed with the life and times of the Blues that I became a Marine fighter pilot. I then got to fly the Cougar and f-11 both of which the Blues flew. I also got time in the TV2 that was mentioned in the interview and that was like flying a Piper
Cub it was so easy and predictable to fly. Then I went to an F-4B squadron also a plane that the Blues flew. Of all of them, the F-11 was my favorite and the easiest to fly formation with. I also think it was one of the prettiest of them all.
Rudy, I'm not a pilot but an aviation geek. Do you agree with some experts that the F-11 could have been the "Phantom" of it's era had been equipped with a much better engine?
F-11 Tiger's were sexy as hell.
I see they flew for a long time with you guys, 57' thru 69'.
The F-4's must have been gas hogs by comparison.
@@s.marcus3669 Yes, especially the F-11F-1F Super Tiger, which was superior to the Lockheed F-104 (widowmaker), but Lockheed had more corrupt marketing.
@@vladimirdorta6692 It's really sad how Lockheed got greedy; it's also amazing that they survived such a scandal....
The Cougar has always been my favorite though I am also a big fan of the Tiger and have seen both flying with the Blues!
The Midway Museum here in San Diego finally has an F7U on the flight deck. It is awesome to see in person.
He meant 600 degrees per second in roll, not minute.
I was born in 1964 and fell in love with the F7U from a very early age, specifically upon my first visit to Travel Town, a transportation (mainly railroad) themed outdoor museum in Los Angeles' Griffith Park. There, they had a white F7U, a blue Panther, a white P2V Neptune and a blue Loon in individually chain-linked enclosures. Sometime in the 1990s when the park was remodeled the planes were either sold off or donated to various museums. I have photos of them which I cherish!
I was born in 1956. I went to Travel Town and I remember a P-38 there. I hope you post your pictures to CZcams.
As a retired sailor who was also born in 64 that is really cool, I highly recommend you visit Pensacola to the Navy Aviation Museum there.
From what i understand they wete severly under powered!!
@@user-lz9pl5dr6k Yes, this is covered in this and every documentary about the Cutlass...
Cool to see my dads ship at the 7:45 mark. My dad served aboard the U.S.S. Princeton during the Korean War. I remember looking in his cruise book and seeing that very picture. If I remember right, they had a memorial write up about LCDR Magda in the book. RIP dad.
I built the Lindberg Line F7U-1 Cutlass model kit when I was a kid and then Hobby Craft made a 1/48 scale F7U-3M that was the Sparrow missile equipped version wirh a belly rocket pack.
I grew up looking at the model of this odd duck, along with the other models of my Dads. He was WWII Navy fighter pilot, who after the war became a test pilot, then went civvie and became a TP for McDonnell Douglas here in St Louis.
The Cutlass was a very unique plane.....One of my first fascinations, as a kid.....
Pity that it wasn't given more power..!!!
Right there with you, Sir.
I agree and there was at lest one engine available at the time with more thrust the RR Avon had 6500lb dry in 1950 compared to the Westinghouse which only had 6000lb in after burner
This is priceless. I can listen to the Admiral all day long. America’s finest right here. May he rest in peace.
I had a model of this airplane when I was kid. I’m 57 now. Lol!
The Blue Angels got there start 15 June 1946 at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida. I retired about 20 miles away near the Mayport Naval Station at the beaches. We have a great weekend each year when the Blue Angels team along with my other groups to preform. Our family has rented a place on the beach a number of times for that week to enjoy all of the air shows. If you ever get the chance go enjoy the Blue Angels show. Thank you for putting this up. It is a pleasure to watch your show. Shalom
Thanks so much for sharing! Glad you’re enjoying the videos. More to come!
I was born in '52. The cutlass was a big deal in my young life. It was unlike anything else. Just captivating.
Terry, scroll up about five comments to see my post about the Cutlass!
Really? I too was born in 1952, son of a Senior Chief Petty officer. The first F7U, I saw was on display in a transportation museum in LA, called "Travel Town." The aircraft had what looked like a stupidly long nose landing gear strut. Dad called it the "Gutless" and said it was a failure. Circa 1985, while serving in the Navy myself, was assigned to an A-7B Corsair II squadron. The attached civilian "Tech Rep" an employee of Ling Temco Vought, LTV, admitted the last batch of Cutlass fighters went directly from the factory to the boneyard.
Amazin video!
The Cutlass part caught my eye. I used to watch them land at NAS Alameda. My dad was in FASRON 8 as a Chief Metal Smith working on Corsairs. He was probably overseas on the Boxer at the time, as we were across the street from the base in federal housing. There was runway parallel to the estuary between Alameda and Oakland. And I could watch planes land there without going on the base. I think Todd shipyard was at the south end of that runway. I hadm''t seen a lot of jets at the time, and was amazed by the serious nose up attitude and the long nose gear when they were landing. After Corsairs my dad did Demons, and I still have the Demon Doctor patch he gave me back then. I think it was around the time of the Demons that they changed his rating designation to Structural Mechanic. I think the serious swept back wings and dual engines of the Cutlass caught my fancy as well.
Back in the late 60s early 70s in Rockville Maryland there was a Park close in another town that had a Cutlass put there as a kids climb around toy. I think it was twinbrook Park in any case I want back in the 80s and it was gone
Amazing interview! Thank you!
Have a video if a blue angel f-18 Taking out the chain link fence at NAF ElCentro & blasting the tops off a beet field before barely establishing climb & returning to land surrounded by emergency equipment. It was so close to a fuel spray disaster. We could have all been taken out. I'll post it as soon as I convert it from the 8mm hq vid tape it's on when I find somebody with a working player. I need to run it by the base first. The Blues have been a great part of my community forever. Permission would be nice.
It was an ill - fated plane, but one of the most beautiful designs
I can remember Vought sparing no expense promoting the Cutlass to the general public that included a beautiful lithograph series I had plastered to my bedroom walls. Only found out relatively recently how dangerous this plane really was.
Thank you for this - fantastic to hear the whole Cutlass interview with "Whitey" Feightner 🙂 Regarding the unique two-position landing gear that the F7U had, on the background photo that shows the two Blues aircraft parked next to each other (example at 10.40), you can see that the main gear is in the different position on each aircraft ;-)
Time flies with the f-4s at point mugu and the smoking fighter pilot teasing a sidewinder
T38 had a roll rate of 720 degrees a second. After my lessons were complete, my instructor would take control and practice rolling twice at maximum rate without loosing or gaining altitude. After a few flights doing this and my head banging agains the canopy, I got even. Luckily for me, he was a real nice guy.
Sitting anchored in Lake Washington waiting for the 4th flight of this year's team..yesterday was a close to a perfect show as I have ever seen. Thanks again Ryan..great video.
Very cool looking aircraft. Pity it was such a PoS
I have copies of the flight logs of both of the Blue Angels F7U-1 pilots while assigned to the team. It confirms they never performed together in an airshow. MacKnight was a backup for a solo performance if needed. They did fly at Corpus Christi, but their logs state only one duel air show practice training flight versus flights for MacKnight to learn the aircraft and keep proficient.
When I was a kid,we went to Wheaton regional park near silver spring md. They had a cutlass you could climb up on. Pretty gutted but cool to climb into the cockpit and air intakes. Great looking airplane. Too bad it was so underpowered.
I like the footage where the Cutlass landed on the carrier deck and came to a stop before the wires undamaged
If you look closely, the hook is down on approach, hits the deck and is kicked up, only to come back down as the Cutlass has already come to a stop !
Good, got a notification on this.
Hope you enjoy! RADM Feightner was a rare breed.
It really is too bad there are not more YT videos like this!!
Thank you!!
An interesting piece of Blue's history. The Insignia adopted by the Blue's, was designed and produced between a coordinated effort of Dusty Rhodes (Boss) and my mother who was the Staff Artist at NAS Corpus Christi.
I know the Cutlass was a nightmare, I think it's one of the coolest looking planes ever.
Amazing they built as many of these as they did
Yeah the money was there to commit to production orders long before aircraft were proven. Everyone understood that not every program was going to be successful, hence multiple programs were simultaneously funded across competing manufacturers. That was the price the taxpayer (and many Test Pilots) paid for the incredibly rapid advances made in the ‘50s…
@@neilturner6749 These days the taxpayer pays thru the nose for glacial development processes and refused deliveries ...
Ron Williamson at NAS Jacksonville has been doing the history of the NAS Jax which includes the Blue Angels.
I’ve seen his work and it’s is fantastic.
He was invited twice to present Part 1 and Part 2 of his NAS Jax History. He had a photo of 1 of the 3 that did the first show at KCRG in Jax taxiing out to takeoff@@BlueAngelPhantoms
The very first aircraft to land at O’Hare airport in Chicago, albeit an emergency landing, was an F7U-1 Cutlass
Really? O'Hare has been around since the 30s, and was actually renamed "O'Hare" in 1949. Sabres were operting from it from the early 50s.
@@mookie2637 I think you are correct, it was called O’Hare field n 1949, formerly Douglas Aircraft “Orchard Air Field” hence the “ORD” identifier….I just reviewed the Wikipedia article agreeing with you….I read an article years ago called “Run, it’s a Cutlass!” that mentioned a Cutlass making an emergency landing there and they claimed it was the first landing at O’Hare, knocking over peach baskets on the closed runway…..perhaps I remembered in error. Thanks for the correction.
@@hertzair1186 I go through it so often (and had so many delays there...) that I've got into the history of the place a little 😁
@@mookie2637 👍
The official inauguration of Chicago's O'Hare Field took place on October 29, 1955, and a spectacular airshow was planned for the event. But it turned out to be a rain-soaked day and the show itself was cancelled.@@mookie2637
Excellent interview with the Admiral !
Fascinating information from and about this demonstration team flown by gold winged Naval Aviators. Daddy graduated from Corpus NAS in June ‘42, and living in San Antonio later, he took me there for every air show and gathering possible. Cadets were still flying T28s in to the late 70s there. Wonderful memories all and this presentation keeps me rooted in the Naval tradition. Thanks to all Naval Aviators and the men who flew demonstration and still do so today.
Sounds like you could get hurt in that thing.
Great interview really fascinating, will have to find his books, hope they are on Kindel or Audible format...
Thanks for this. I had the great fortune to see one of these babies up close in Walter Soplata's back yard, airplane graveyard, first in about 1977 after meeting Jim Bede's son at Akron-Fulton, and heard from him about the existence of Walter and his much-loved private collection. I have always wondered what became of this airplane after Walter's death. The last time I visited Mr. Soplata's place, he had passed away, and after talking to his wife for a few minutes, I just left; not wanting to worry her. not knowing me from Adam.
A few years ago, I met some other guy at Akron-Fulton who claimed that he helped Mrs. Soplata get rid of some of Walter's collection. As soon as I realized the guy seemed to have the opinion that I was just a liar making up this story, I turned and walked away while he was still pontificating. So, I've never had the question of the fate of Walter's F7U answered.
Walter was a great guy, who opened up the gun bays of his F2G, which sat right next to his Twin Mustang. When I met the great Steve Hinton last Spring, he hadn't seen Walter's F-52 in his yard, and I had brought some pictures with me when we visited Planes of Fame (his brother flew Spam Can with me in the 'back seat'), and low and behold, there was a picture of Walter, standing on the left wing of his Super Corsair in his rubber galoshes, with the F-82 parked right next to it. My eternal thanks to all of these fine fellows for their willingness to allow me a brief glimpse into their places in the history of aviation.
I'm a pilot. Haven't flown in a bunch of years and while I got away with some poor decisions it never was as crazy as this. Hopefully for my 81st birthday I'll be able to demonstrate how to take off and land in a cherokee 140, the plane I soled in and got my private certificate. Loved to teach flying.
I wonder how good, or not, the Cutlass could have been if it would have had more powerful and reliable engines and perhaps canards for high alpha flight regime
Have long thought that if I were a billionaire with a few million unused dollars lying around it would be fun to commission a modern build to the Cutlass' outline & with those canards.
I always thought I was up on military aircraft, I guess, not as much as I thought. 🙁
The Cutlass is a very interesting design. Pushing the envelope of jet engineering. I find her silhouette beautiful. However her design and flight characteristics were way ahead of the current technology and suffered pumping,landing,electrical and power plant inefficiencies galore. Things that should had been addressed in prototype made it as far as frontline unfortunately.
Nice work!! 🍻
I believe if they would rebuild this plane now with a proper power plant it might be the greatest fighter ever.
...good book..now LONG outta print..."Skyrocketing into the Unknown" by Charles Coombs..originally printed in the late 50s..a treasure if 40s/50s aircraft designs..
There was a reason why they called it the Gutless Cutlass.
Yes Wilson these are exciting times we live in
I know of a surviving airframe located along the NAS Coronado inner fence line. It doesn’t look complete but it is a beautiful relic.
Thanks that was amazing.
I was a around 12 years old and lived near Moffett Field in California. I saw many F9F Panther jets there. I remember on one occasion that one crashed with the pilot ejecting and landing in an orchard. It wasn't long thereafter that these jets were all moved to a different base....
Such a cool looking fighter
awesome stuff. where was that pic(18:02 mark) of the line of F-9Panthers taken? Pensacola?
Based on the shape of the tower and the architecture of the buildings, it certainly looks like Pensacola in the 1950’s. Hopefully someone that knows for sure will verify.
Hi there, that picture was in my grandfather's (Butch Voris) personal collection. If I recall correctly, it was labeled Oakland, but I will go back and check next time I am near his archive. Will report back!
the F7U Cutlass was far ahead of its time.
Maybe too far...
These Cutlasses look so much better than the standards, what type are they, and how many got built?
They're the first production version, F7U-1 only 14 built, and they were similar to the 3 XF7U prototypes.
The later F7U-3 version was a lot bulkier
The 3 was used by the Blue Angels, and not bulky at all...@@Wannes_
@@oscarolie5743 Looking forward to see any evidence of the Blues using the F7U-3 !
Why do you think the -1 looked better
I said the "3" looked better, longer nose, less stubby cockpit. But I actually was wrong, it was the FU-1S, my bad. Still looks a lot like the "C" though...
My dad was on the Hancock when a cutlass crashed onto the deck and nearly took him out (burning fuel, not the crash). He had slides he took of the crash site after the fact. They were known for glacial spool up time and power losses at inopportune times could be deadly.
There was one on display at the front gate at Barbers Point when i was stationed there in the 1980's. I was always told that that aircraft was one piece of snot...
600 degrees per second roll rate surely.
BUDDY RICH flew the F-7? What a drummer! Yes, I'm kidding. I actually spoke to a guy a friend knew, at The Reno Air Races, who owned some rare aircraft. He owned an F-7U. I spent some time speaking to him about it, as he was about to begin restoring it. I still don't know if he ever finished it. A fascinating airplane.
Ah yes, the Gutless.. Slow, very little maneuverability, just the thing for flight demonstrations.
LMFAO. Only thing in the era that could outfly it was a Scooter. And those two missed one another in service by a whisker. In fact some ATKRONs were tasked with helping phase out the Grasshopper while they waited for the first Scooters.
@@Cemi_Mhikku It was a terrible aircraft. More than 25 per cent of them were lost in accidents, and 25 pilots died in them.
@@mookie2637 I never said it wasn't an abominable death trap that among other failings had a tendency to strain it's pilots through the shattered canopy during hard landings with a reliability that got it barred from carriers. I only contested the myth it wasn't maneuverable.
Also using 'reliable' in any way about this specific aircraft makes me feel dirty after all the stories I'd heard about them over the years from a guy who worked on them, lol.
There's been one being restored to flying condition in Arizona by Al Cosby. It has been in the making for like 30-40 years now. From what I've read everything will be updated except for the engines which cannot be replaced. It would take a lot of modifying if different engines were used. Look up Project F7U Cutlass and read the comments in the leave a comment section
The F7U was way ahead of it's technology . Even now it still looks similar to todays planes . With todays material , better motors and electronics it could keep pace with most anything . I thought it was cool in the 50's when I seen it .
Growing up in the '50s I thought the F-7 was the shape of the future. I was fortunate enough to have seen a F-7U at the Museum of Flight Restoration Facility at PaIne Field, Everett, Wa. I heard that it was traded or sold, anyone know where it is now?
It's owned by Al Cosby and it's in Arizona being restored to flying condition.
Nick means 600 degrees per second, not per minute.
Thank you.
Does the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet flown by the Blue Angels suffer this high level of problems?
Yep, it can barely take off, it's quite underpowered. Pilots call it The Ground Sloth in disgust. I'm kidding it is a great plane.
@@robjones8733 Thank you…
There were a lot of terrible planes built in the immediate post WWII era. Why this plane ever got built in large numbers is the question. They should have required the designers to do the first test flights !! Just joking ! 🤪 Truthfully, there were a lot of dangerous planes sent out to the test pilots. Really no excuse for it.
I heard that aircrews affectionately called the F7U 'Gutless'.
The gutless
I met a pilot that flew them. He said they also called them the ‘Gutless Cutlass’…
The fact that Senators and very senior naval officers were pushing the Blue Angels to use the F7 as their demonstration aircraft just goes to show that they had vested interest in the aircraft. They had been either paid off to choose the aircraft given stock options or both. It’s even worse today and it’s obvious with senators owning multimillion dollar homes and in some cases more than one on 130,000 yearly salaries.
It’s a cool looking aircraft and it would be neat to see a modern take of it but it killed 25 pilots in its very short career and none of those were in combat.
Vought Made Up for the F-7 Cutlass with the F-8 Crusader.
I don't know spit about airplanes, but it sounds like the Navy had some "rough" planes with witch to fly
The Cutlass was called “the Gutless” for a reason, according to my Grandad’s best friend (who flew the type).
We're "watcheen!"
The infamous Gutless Cutlass.
"Fighty" Whitener....the Cutlass was super cool-looking, but too radical for team acrobatics.
I had no idea what a ghastly early history The Blue Angels had...unreliable aircraft, with no ejection seats! 🙄
It’s nickname was the gutless due to being so under powered.
Ah the magnificent J46. Westinghouse destroyed any number of Navy aircraft programs with their garbage engines.
Think this way - the GE F404 from the basic F-18 was the same diameter, same weight, and about 40" shorter than the J46. And three times the thrust and modern throttle response. You'd need a lot more air intake...
I don’t know all that goes into upgrading and updating our shipyards, airfields, & military bases, but I don’t see why the army core of engineers can’t be brought in to help get some of these projects done.
I think way to much money is wasted when it doesn’t have to be which is partly why the Chinese are kicking our ass in building these big projects. (However made by any1 else might cost more and take much longer to get finished, yet a Chinese built project will be the first to breakdown! Cheap & unsafe construction & materials. Everything they do is a crappier version of whatever it is. Since the CCP came into power, they have basically just become sneaky, lying thieves who are great at mass producing an all around cheaper knock off version of whatever idea they can steal.
Navy lost a lot of good pilots because of that flash in the pan aircraft.
The Gutless Cutlass
One of the most gorgeous and useless airplanes in history.
Videos about everything except the F7U Cutlass. Thumbs down.
NO, 600 degrees a SECOND. That is the roll rate... Not "600 feet per minute" as he stated... :|