In Defense of the F7U-3 Cutlass

 Uninformed speculation repeated often enough becomes fact. An example is the horrific ramp strike of F7U-3 BuNo 129595 piloted by LCDR Jay Alkire on 14 July 1955.

These excerpts are from the official accident report:

The description of the accident:

Note that the ramp strike followed a successful landing and was therefore at a lower gross weight (although still slightly above the maximum for a carrier landing).

Many descriptions of the accident state the fatalities of deck personnel in addition to that of Alkire. There were none:

The conclusion was explicit:

"It is concluded that this accident was caused by errors in pilot judgement and failure of the pilot to expeditiously answer signals from the Landing Signal Officer."

"(A)lthough the afterburners were operating, it is possible in sweptwing aircraft to establish an angle of attack such that the power required is greater than the power available with a resulting uncontrollable rate of sink."

 "It is recommended that squadrons which are equipped with sweptwing aircraft employing afterburners stress pilot training for complete familiarization with time lags in power acceleration and the curves for power required versus power available."

The sobriquet "Gutless Cutlass" was given to the F7U-3 in jest, referring to its somewhat degraded performance with no increase in thrust when laden with a radar, missile control system, four missile pylons, and four Sparrow Is as a placeholder for fleet air defense with guided air-to-air missiles due to a development delay with the McDonnell F3H Demon being procured for that mission. Its performance was adequate for the task and when landed on angle-deck carriers on a descending, mirror-guided approach, relatively accident free by the standards of the time. As a day fighter, its thrust-to-weight ratio was as good or better than its contemporaries:

Its Westinghouse J46 engine has also been incorrectly described as disappointing in thrust, unreliable, and slow to respond to throttle movement. While thrust did not meet contract specification, it was not by much; its reliability was never an issue; and because its fuel control maintained engine rpm at 100%, varying thrust by nozzle area as well as fuel flow, it was more responsive than most, if not all, jet engines of the time (which of course, was inferior to reciprocating engines but resulted in higher maximum speeds). The slight lag in the increase in thrust when afterburner was selected needed to be anticipated but that was a characteristic shared by all engines with afterburners.

In its subsequent, admittedly short career there were no more catastrophic ramp strikes. The F8U had several and a worse accident rate over the same amount of total flight time.

There's much, much more here if you want to comment knowledgeably about the F7U-3's development, capability, strengths, weaknesses, and operational career:

Well, There's Your Problem

 I scanned this photograph at the National Archives 14 years ago:

The caption:

 This 6 April 1955 photo was from the same qualification period and illustrates the defense in depth of the crew and aircraft forward of the landing area.

The Cougar is being pulled to a stop immediately before the Davis barrier by the next to the last arresting cable. The much taller webbing is the barricade. It has just passed over one of the standard propeller-plane barriers that is lying flat on the deck. For a primer on barrier/barricade, see https://thanlont.blogspot.com/2022/10/barricade-and-barriers-example.html

 This last minute wave off is another illustration of the landing area:

 

The mystery was that the webbing in front of 217's nose was clearly from the barricade (also note the damage to its right inlet from a vertical strap on the barricade) but the damage on the top of the nose and windscreen was not representative of either a Davis barrier or barricade encounter. This is an example of an F9F-6 going that far up the deck (note that it has engaged a Davis barrier and for some reason the hook has spit out the arresting cable, possibly because the pilot was too quick to raise it to the stinger position):

It was unlikely that the damage had resulted from a standard barrier been incorrectly raised for the landing: that would have required a nose landing gear collapse and the damage would have been far more extensive (e.g. the canopy and the pilot's head would probably have been removed), which is why the Davis barrier was created for carrier-based airplanes with nose landing gears:

 The likely answer became apparent when Peter Greengrass recently stated that F9F-6 BuNo 128266 was also involved in the incident. My guess is that it had just landed and was being taxiing forward but hadn't gotten far enough ahead of the barricade when LTJG Genter needed it, so he rammed it from behind.

Note that I've had to angle both Cougar's nose down relative to their static position to replicate the initial point of contact but this would result from 128266 accelerating forward and 217 being pulled to a stop like 202 here.
 

 

F8U-3: NASA Pilot Dogfights with F4H-1 Prototypes

 

Every once in a while, someone writes that pilots of the NASA Langley F8U-3s bounced F4H-1s being tested at Patuxent River and beat them badly in unbriefed dogfights.

This appears to be speculation repeated often enough that it has become fact. However, while there was one F8U-3, BuNo 146340, on flight status at Langley from June to October 1959 (they were stricken in November), this is almost certainly apocryphal.

It is true that two F8U-3s were ferried by Vought to NASA Langley in mid-1959, BuNo 146340 on 26 May and 146341 on 27 June. The former was assigned to sonic-boom research and the latter, relegated to being a hangar queen for spare parts. It is also true that F4H-1 prototypes were at Patuxent River during this time for brief periods (27 July-13 August and "October") for Naval Preliminary Evaluations, the former (Phase II with #6 for local carrier-suitability evaluations and the latter,  Phase III with #3 for AFCS and inflight refueling evaluation). While it's possible that by happenstance (it's hard to imagine that it was planned, a good way to get grounded forever) an F4H and F8U-3 were in the same airspace at the same time and at least one pilot decided to briefly abandon his planned and important test flight to tangle as fighter pilots will, it's unlikely at the least.

 Moreover, Donald Mallick was one of two NASA pilots assigned to the F8U-3 test program. He wrote a memoir that is available online, or at least used to be, for free:

 It includes a candid and detailed account of his F8U-3 experience. Given that by the time he was writing it he almost certainly would not experience any reprisal (nor would the other pilot, who was killed while making a flight text evaluation of a Blackburn NA.39 Buccaneer in England in early October just before NASA F8U-3 flights were concluded), it is inconceivable that he wouldn't have mentioned an impromptu encounter with an F4H.

Nevertheless, it is very likely that if there was a dogfight between the Phantom II and the Super Crusader, the F8U-3 pilot would have won it. 

Naval Fighters Number 122: Loening Amphibian

 

The latest monograph from Steve Ginter, it covers Grover Loening's designs from the M-2 through the XS2L-1. As usual, copious pictures, excellent reproduction on glossy paper, and good coverage of operational use. Available direct from Steve, $26.95 (shipping included) at 1754 Warfield Circle, Simi Valley, CA 93063.

U.S. Naval Air Superiority Revised and Updated

  

The previous edition took the story up to 1962 and the F4H Phantom. this one provides corrections and additions to the original text and illustrations and includes new chapters on the F6D/F-111B, F-14A/B/C/D and F-18 A/B/C/D. Significant events post 1993 are also covered including the retirement of the F-14 and "legacy" F-18 as well as the introduction of the F-18E/F, F-35C, and unmanned programs. 

Unless you're in England and maybe Europe, pre-ordering from  Crécy will involve significant postage. I suggest waiting until it is advertised on Amazon. It will also be available from Casemate Publishing in the US, possibly as soon as October.

HU2K Seasprite Book - Wayne Mutza

I just received my copy. "Comprehensive" does not adequately describe the content. Wayne has done a heroic job of researching and documenting the development and service life of the HU2K/H-2.

Also superlative: I ordered it from David Doyle Books (https://daviddoylebooks.com/), free shipping to U.S. addresses on orders of $15 or more. I was particularly impressed by the very clever and sturdy cardboard packaging that was all but bullet-proof.

Now Available: https://youtu.be/N69WLni7KQQ?si=govOhHV64PsLZCJy

 https://schifferbooks.com/products/kaman-h-2-seasprite

 Also see: https://thanlont.blogspot.com/2017/02/carrier-plane-guard-by-helicopter.html

 

F4H Phantom Project High Jump

 

BuNo 148423: note what appears to be a high-visibility rectangle above the Project High Jump marking.

All of the F4H Phantom II's speed and altitude records were set by F4H-1Fs, which were originally designated F4H-1 and then redesignated F-4A. The time-to-climb records were set in early 1962 in Project High Jump with F4H-1 (subsequently F-4B) BuNo 148423, the 108th Phantom II. These were timed from a standing start to the following altitudes in meters above the takeoff point: 
    Altitude                Time (seconds)    Pilot
    3,000                     34.123                LCDR John W. Young, USN        
    6,000                     48.797                CDR David M.Longton, USN
    9,000                     61.688                LtCol W.C. McGraw, USMC
    12,000                   77.143                LtCol W.C. McGraw, USMC
    15,000                 114.148                LCDR D. W. Nordberg, USN
    20,000                 178.5                    LCDR Francis T. Brown, USN
    25,000                 230.44                  LCDR John W. Young, USN
    30,000                 371.43                  LCDR D. W. Nordberg, USN

On the 30,000 meter record flight, the F4H coasted past 100,000 feet, unofficially breaking the altitude record.

The time-to-climb records were accomplished at two different locations with a separate flight (and usually more than one attempt) for each altitude using the flight profile that minimized the time and fuel required. The climbs up to 15,000 meters were flown out of NAS Brunswick, Maine to take advantage of cooler air; the 20,000 meter and above flights were accomplished beginning at sea level from NAS Point Mugu, California. 

The takeoff from Point Mugu was initiated using the catapult holdback to restrain the aircraft while burning down to the minimum fuel required and then releasing the holdback electrically. The profile was to accelerate to 400 knots, climb to 40,000 feet, accelerate to 2.1 Mach, and then pull up to the optimum attitude to achieve the target altitude in minimum time.

There has been some confusion about there being a second Phantom used, BuNo 149449, because it was marked with the Project High Jump logo, apparently for PR photos. However, it had only made its first flight at St. Louis while the last record flights were being accomplished at Point Mugu with 148423. As near as I can tell, however, the markings are virtually identical in font and location to the ones on 148423, which leads me to believe that they were both applied by McDonnell since it appears to be flying over Missouri.

 

 The pilots at Brunswick, left to right, LCDR Young, CDR Longton, LtCol McGraw, and LCDR Nordberg:

 

The pilots at Pt Mugu (note the full-pressure suits required): 

 Thanks to my F4H subject-matter expert, Peter Greengrass, for photos and corrections.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ginter Books

 Steve Ginter no longer has his own website but he is still creating and publishing books. You can contact him directly for availability and pricing (nfbooks@sbcglobal.net ) or look for them here: https://daviddoylebooks.com/ginter-books-covers?rq=Ginter

Kaman Synchropter History

 Hot off the press:

81 pages: A detailed and well-illustrated history (if I do say so myself) of Kaman's development of the synchropter and successful marketing of it for U.S. Navy, USMC, and USAF helicopter requirements.

Available directly from Steve Ginter:  1754 Warfield Circle, Simi Valley CA 930063 for $34.95, media mail shipping, U.S. only,