Vought F7U Cutlass

[KJ_Lesnick]

JayBee

How about this for an idea, it appeared in FSM some time ago but I have no idea who to credit it to.

I've seen that before -- it looks like it would complement the F4D-1


joncarrfarrelly

As to the original question, paper numbers produced during the design phase in that era are largely informed guesses, while based on available data, experience and utilizing empirical methods, they were still guesses and targets they hoped to meet.

I'm looking through a book I forgot I had (U.S. Naval Air Superiority: Development of Shipboard Jet Fighters 1943-1962, by Tommy H. Thomason) and from what I'm looking at here

→ The contract guarantee was for an OEW of 9,711 lbs (no idea where 9,565 came from)
→ By October, 1948, the OEW went up to 11,874 lbs
→ Additional changes brought it up to 12,387 lbs

I'm not sure if fuel loads were increased, and I'm not sure what kind of drop-tanks they used.  I do know of a tip-tank design.  Do you have anything?

The Westinghouse 24C/J34 was actually a very successful early axial design, it was based on the 1942 designed Westinghouse 19A 'Yankee' the first all US design

Most people don't know that, the Westinghouse 19A was originally designed as an auxiliary powerplant because the Navy was unwilling to use pure-jet aircraft at first and sought to use a propeller plane with a jet-engine for high-speed (This lead to two aircraft, of which one was built: The FR-1); the J30 (19A) was subsequently modified into a standalone powerplant for the FH-1 Phantom.

when designed in 1944-45 it's power output was impressive for a 24" diameter engine.

Yes, it was quite impressive.

The J40 failure for one had a huge impact as several aircraft had been designed around it's promised performance

Oh yeah... threw a wrench into everything.  The F3H, F4D, A3D, XF10F were all powered by it.  The XF10F was a prototype and would be unneeded; the F3H ended up with a J71 in lieu, and the A3D, F4D ended up using J57's.

[KJ_Lesnick]

I did some looking and supposedly the F7U as it was designed with it's landing gears tilted forward so as to effectively put more room between it and the elevons so as to give the elevons more leverage.  I'm not sure truthfully how much of a difference it actually made verses how much it was projected to make, but it did seem to account for the significant nose-up tilt.

Regardless, I'm still not sure if it had to be jacked-up so much to be able to work adequately even despite this (it was around 10 feet up and 9% nose-up telescoped and around 14-15 feet when jacked up). 

Interestingly, what might have been a hurdle for the F7U-1, might not have been as big a deal for the F7U-3 as the elevons went right up to the tip and might have been more deeply inset which would have made them more effective; the wings also had a larger wing-span for the same area producing a higher aspect ratio which would mean more lift for the same alpha.

Despite seemingly subtle differences, cobbling a F7U-3's wing to an F7U-1's fuselage could raise some serious WHIF potential provided
- The aircraft didn't have as many gadgets on it (added weight)
- The landing gear could be reduced to 9% nose-high or lower (better visibility)

It was an interesting design to the extreme, and it had remarkable performance provided it's weight did not exceed a certain amount.  It could have given the F-86 a run for it's money.


BTW: Has anybody heard of the N-20 Aquillon which has a similar design...

[NARSES2]

I presume you mean the N20 Aiguillon ? There's a resin kit available which I think Martin has built ?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EFW_N-20

[jcf]

... and Dr. Frank Mitchell did a beautiful 1/32 scratchbuild:
http://hsfeatures.com/features04/n20fm_1.htm

[pyro-manic]

There's the De Havilland DH 108 as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_DH_108

[KJ_Lesnick]

NARSES2

I presume you mean the N20 Aiguillon ?

That would be it...


joncarrfarrelly

Don't you see certain similarities between it an the F7U?

[rickshaw]

Don't you see certain similarities between it an the F7U?

Apart from being a delta, not really.

[jcf]

Aside from both looking like 1950s Detroit hood ornaments, the two have little in common.

Nor are they 'delta'-winged aircraft, like the F4D they are tail-less aircraft with low aspect
ratio swept wings. Compared to them, the Me 163 and the DH 108 are in Spackman territory. 

[PR19_Kit]

Compared to them, the Me 163 and the DH 108 are in Spackman territory. 

Hm, there's an idea. I have a DH 108 kit somewhere, it could do with longer wings............ 

[Pellson]

How about this for an idea, it appeared in FSM some time ago but I have no idea who to credit it to.

That is one awesome pic!
I've got an ancient Revell F7U somewhere in my all too big stash and the original plan for that was something like this, scaloramaed to 1/72, of course. And in the 1990-ies lo-viz scheme. But it does definitely need a second crewmember and a few AIM-54:s..

[KJ_Lesnick]

This should have occurred to me by now, and it might sound dumb but I have two questions

1.) Why did the F7U have two tails?

Though, I know the design was derived from German wartime research (on the Arado E.583 which had a similar layout): The F7U differed massively from the Arado P.1 E.583 design in terms of engine arrangement, intake design, tail-configuration, number of crew, nose cone shape, wing-taper-ratio and so on, let alone overall dimensions like length and so on.

2.) Why were the tails not just mounted on the wingtips?

I've seen RC gliders designed to this effect such as one design called a Kaver wing.  The wingtips mounted on the tips of the wings would have more leverage and would have some vortex reducing effects meaning a higher L/D ratio for the same wing-area.  Sure the wing would have to fold, but the height of the folded wing would be roughly the same as it would have otherwise due to the tails pointing straight up and the wings folded at the same point on the wing.

[Daryl J.]

Somewhere buried in the stash is a started Hobbycraft Cutlass awaiting its booms making it look a bit Sea Vixen-like.