Blunt Blade

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 - she met her demise 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...


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Gutless

Today on 'TWW' we depart a bit from the norm and offer for your viewing pleasure a rather groovy piece of artwork depicting a really groovy-lookin' P.O.S.

The Vought F7U Cutlass was, in a word, something of a freakin' fiasco. Quirky handling due to an underdeveloped flight control system, woefully under-powered by highly unreliable powerplants, and a host of other problems pegged the type as a killer. Literally. A total of twenty-five pilots were killed while flying the Cutlass, with more than one quarter of the entire production run being destroyed in accidents. The nicknames 'Gutless Cutlass', 'Ensign Eliminator', and 'Widow Maker' were well-earned, as was 'Praying Mantis'. Although, one has to wonder if the latter was due solely to the type's appearance, or if the alarmingly common practice of the female mantis devouring her mate after 'fun time'  had anything to do with it. Who knows... *shrug*

All your blogmeister knows for sure, aside from the fact that it was a disaster, is that the Cutlass was one cool lookin' bird.

Artwork by Darryl Legg

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