I believe the Vought F7U Cutlass had the worst safety record of all the jet carrier planes in the USN.
https://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=356
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vought_F7U_Cutlass
There was an article some time ago in Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine about them. One test pilot on the program said "There was never nothing wrong with them." With nicknames like "The Gutless Cutlass", you know power just wasn't there when you needed it.
In service only a couple years. They really were crapwagons. And yet...
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Yep, Blue Angels, but only very briefly. They hated them too.
They weren't an ugly bird. Just overcomplicated, underengineered, underpowered, and unsafe.
Spear Fishing?
London, 1940, and Mister Hitler's NAZI thugs won't bloody derail her special day.
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The English. Kinda wonderful.
Next to fighting alongside my own countrymen, I think these blokes would have been the next best thing to have your back in a fight. Tough as nails ....and a sense of humour.
The Martin XB-51 had an interesting history.
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Martin built two. The first one was lost at Edwards.
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The second one was briefly famous. It starred in a William Holden movie - "Toward the UNknown" - as the "Gilbert XF-120":
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Not much later it crashed, killing the flight engineer and badly burning the pilot, who later died.
The last remaining piece:
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Thus goes all flesh. Damn shame. It was a pretty thing.
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The Martin XB-51 had an interesting history.
![]()
Martin built two. The first one was lost at Edwards.
![]()
The second one was briefly famous. It starred in a William Holden movie - "Toward the UNknown" - as the "Gilbert XF-120":
![]()
Not much later it crashed, killing the flight engineer and badly burning the pilot, who later died.
The last remaining piece:
![]()
Thus goes all flesh. Damn shame. It was a pretty thing.
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