The F7U Cutlass, born from post-WW2 experimental designs, entered service with promise—yet quickly earned a deadly reputation. What went wrong with this bizarre, tail-less Navy jet?

Pilots hated the plane, and even the improved F7U-3 wasn't much better, as well as being a mechanical nightmare to maintain. Despite all this, Oldsmobile decided to name a car after the plane; ...

The F7U made its maiden flight in 1948. For an aircraft that would lose a quarter of its rolling stock to accidents, many of them fatal, the Cutlass had a fairly trouble-free first few test flights.

On December 20, 1951, the F7U-3 made its first flight. “Our job was to test the Cutlass,” wrote F7U Navy test pilot—later astronaut—Wally Schirra in his autobiography, Schirra’s Space .

But Beisel also invented the F7U Cutlass jet, which was not anyone’s idea of a fine fighter.The Cutlass “was ahead of its time and the capabilities of available power plants, resulting in its ...

But Beisel also invented the F7U Cutlass jet, which was not anyone’s idea of a fine fighter.The Cutlass “was ahead of its time and the capabilities of available power plants, resulting in its ...

This collection consists of a letter and poster from John Konrad, Chief Pilot with Chance Vought. The poster depicts a Chance Vought F7U-3 Cutlass in flight over a US Navy fleet while the letter ...

F7U-3 Cutlasses crashed on at least four occasions in 1955, the year this photo was taken over New Jersey. One beautiful southern California afternoon in the summer of 1954, I watched a Navy F7U-3 ...