The Great, Constantly Changing Picture Gallery, Troisième partie: la vengeance!

[Llarry]

Vought Aircraft had some real winners over the years, like the scout and observation biplanes of the interwar period, the F4U Corsair., the F-8 Crusader and the A-7 SLUF. But Vought also had some duds. One of the worst was the tailless F7U Cutlass -- the Navy ended up ordering over 300 F7Us before calling it quits. They also ordered 146 A2U versions with more fuel and more wing, but regained sanity and cancelled those in November of 1954. Several attack squadrons were briefly equipped with the F7U-3 model before the Navy and Vought gave up. The carrier suitability and the accident rate were horrible. I suspect that the footage of the F7U ramp strike and miraculous escape by the LSO has been seen
by many.

 

[Hair Warrior]

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[PhrogPhlyer]

Lovin' the HUP on plane guard duty. Laugh all you want, but you're so glad he's there when you need him!

 

[Griz882]

The McDonell Douglas early Cold War lineup.


The Demon (aircraft in the center) was MD’s last single engine fighter not copied from another model like the Harrier. Designed as the first Sparrow missile carrier, it was heavy, a bit slow, and underpowered. One former aviator said the aircraft could have probably beat most MiG designs of the era, but it required a pilot who was way ahead of the aircraft and the fight since it didn’t have the power to get you out of trouble. The Demon didn’t last long, it was soon replaced by the F4 Phantom.

 

[PhrogPhlyer]

The early jet years were full of trials and errors.