Vought F7U Cutlass - Developments, Variants and Related Projects

Sabrejet said:
I can't wait for Al's Cutlass book so that we can put these misconceptions behind us. It would appear that an advanced design plus entrenched attitudes were the main issue, not the aircraft.
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I did not know there was such a book. I have seen a vast disparity of views on the aircraft being fot for purpose and would really like to know the truth. Any pointers to the book and publication timeline please?
 
Foo Fighter said:
I did not know there was such a book. I have seen a vast disparity of views on the aircraft being fot for purpose and would really like to know the truth. Any pointers to the book and publication timeline please?
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IIRC, Al Casby (who is rebuilding an F7U to airworthiness) is writing it, possibly with input from Tommy Tomasson. Al has done a GREAT deal of background research into the F7U, analysing every incident and accident and is able to attribute most of them to their correct cause (as opposed to recent commentators who have done nothing of the sort). My understanding is that Al's book was due out (this year?) but either way, it should help to finally address the massive amount of erroneous plagiarised stuff that's been written about the Cutlass. Of interest, Al is even able to show cases where distinguished flyers have contradicted statements they'd previously made about the type, apparently in order to present their points to a different audience.

It would appear that at some point in history the tide turned against the F7U and those who had previously been in praise of it turned too. Hopefully that aspect will also be covered in Al's book, though I'm not sure even he will be able to fully explain why this aircraft became the target of so much ill-informed negativity.
 

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As promised, albeit late, for your enjoyment find a large scale Tandem fuselage Vought V-366H that we made for Al Casby. Wait till you see the next series that is under construction..... !
 

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Scott Kenny said:
Bumped into a guy on FB a while back that claimed to have a flying F7U. He said that the problem was how the exhaust nozzle worked on the J46. Seems the engine spins at full RPM, and thrust is varied by nozzle constriction (weird, and first I'd heard of such a control scheme). Open the nozzle too quickly and the combustion chambers blow out. No thrust, when you need it the most!
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Reaching 100% rpm at about 75% Mil thrust and then increasing thrust by closing the nozzle (which was there for afterburning) rather than increasing RPM was actually a feature. It meant the J46 was more responsive to throttle than other jet engines of the time, particularly the centrifugal-flow engines that had a massive compressor to spool up and down. The nozzle opening "problem" was really associated with going from Mil thrust to afterburning but that was no different than an rpm-controlled engine, since its nozzle was also closed at Mil thrust. If the nozzle opened and the afterburner didn't light, the combustion chambers didn't "blow out" but the thrust was reduced due to the increase in nozzle area. However, if the nozzle didn't open and the afterburner lit, the compressor was almost certain to stall, which significantly reduced thrust (along with loud noises and attention-getting shudder). To avoid the latter, there was a bit of a delay to insure the nozzle had opened, which resulted in a momentary reduction in thrust until the afterburner lit.
 
"To intentionally and repeatedly do that with a Cutlass…." We desperately need the book! I'm fed up with ill-informed, plagiarised lazy journalism!!!
 

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