First flown in 1948, the F7U was ahead of its time and the capabilities of available power plants, being dubbed the "Gutless Cutlass". Plagued with weaknesses, over a quarter of the 320 F7Us built were lost to accidents. From 1954 this one flew with VF-83 (Oceana), VF-212 (Moffett), VA-151 (Alameda) and NARTU (Los Alamitos). Displayed in a Los Angeles park from 1960, it was restored from 1991. I was delighted to shoot this having recently acquired the wonderful new Crecy book on the Cutlass, co-authored by the owner of another F7U being restored for flight

Photographer: Rob Mignard

On display at an airshow.

The 4th of only 14 built, on display at the National Aircraft Show in Dayton.

F7U-3M missile-carrying version of the Cutlass displayed at Pensacola.

The Cutlass was cutting edge technology. This airframe spent the summer of 1955 at NACA Ames for testing. Photo from: NASA

A good case can be argued that the Cutlass was the worst arcraft ever operated by the USN, mainly as it was woefully underpowered. Nonetheless it is great that this airframe, relegated to ground instructional duties in 1957, is being restored at the Museum of Flight Restoration center.

Vought F7U Cutlass interceptor, ex U.S. Navy, in open storage at FXE. BuAer number not marked on aircraft and has been taken from a research article by Art Schoeni.