Today we bring you a fine shot of a Vought F7U Cutlass, snapped by the man, the myth, the legend - Rudy Arnold. 'Tis the very first Cutlass, to be exact... XF7U-1 BuNo. 122472, though we have no additional intel on the date or location. If we find out more, we'll give a yell.
The Cutlass was a flop in US Navy service, with roughly one-quarter of the production run written off in accidents and twenty-five pilots killed over the course of the type's short time in service during the 1950s. This particular jet was one of those destroyed during a takeoff accident on September 28th, 1949, though thankfully Paul Thayer, the Vought test pilot on that occasion, survived.
Anyhoo, again, we dunno when or where this snap was made, though we're guessing it might have been at Pax River, Maryland.
Whatever the case, enjoy, and watch 'yer step getting in or outta the jet...
National Air & Space Museum (Rudy Arnold Photograph Collection)
Sometime back we featured a rather nice painting of the 'Gutless Cutless', which you can see HERE...
Fade to Black...
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