F-7U-Cutlass

Date	Air Force	A'cft	Unit / Serial	based	crashed	crew	photo	seat
Monday 15th March 1949	Chance Vought Aircraft Company	XF7U-1	#2 aircraft	Chance Vought Aircraft Company	Test flight. Crashed in Chesapeake Bay, southern Maryland	Test pilot William H. B. Millar killed		Vought
6th July 1950		Vought F7U-1 Cutlass	124416		Control system failure	Pilot killed		Vought
7th July 1950	Chance Vought Aircraft Company	XF7U-1	122474 #3 aircraft	Chance Vought Aircraft Company	engine fire during display at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland	Test Pilot W. Paul Thayer ejected [personal testimony]		Vought
	Chance Vought Aircraft Company	XF7U-1	#1 aircraft	Chance Vought Aircraft Company	take-off crash	Test Pilot Paul Thayer		Vought
28th September 1950		Vought F7U-1 Cutlass	124417	NAS Dallas, Mountain Creek Lake Texas, USA	Ran off runway into the lake	Pilot OK		Vought
23rd June 1953	Chance Vought	Vought F7U -3 Cutlass	128451	NAS Dallas	Ground looped while landing			Vought
17th March 1954		Vought F7U -3 Cutlass				CDR C. A. Williams ejected		Vought
7th April 1954	Vought	Vought F7U-3 Cutlass			Post stall gyration	N. McGuyrt ejected ejected		Vought
26th July 1954		Vought F7U-3 Cutlass				LT F. C. Nugent ejected		Vought
4th August 1954	Vought	Vought F7U-3 Cutlass				H. T. Bracket ejected		Vought
24th September 1954		Vought F7U-3 Cutlass				ENS M. W. E. White ejected		Vought
18th November 1954		Vought F7U-3 Cutlass				ENS J. R. Sears ejected		Vought
11th December 1954		Vought F7U-3 Cutlass				LTJG J. W. Hood ejected		Vought
11th January 1955		Vought F7U-3 Cutlass				LTJG J. D. Lindsay ejected		Vought
20th January 1955		Vought F7U-3 Cutlass	129548	VC-3 NAS Moffet Field, California	Went into flat spin during search for a missing aircraft from NAS Moffett	LT H. G. Sickel ejected safely with some minor injuries		Vought
	It is thought that Bud also bailed out of a USAF F-86D that had an engine malfunction while he was doing exchange duty with the 82nd Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Hamilton AFB. But sadly, I have been unable to get copies of his Log Books to give you a definitive answer regarding the planes number or details of the accident. He was killed on 13th July 1956 while flying an FJ-3 Fury 136091 at Patuxent River
30th May 1955		Vought F7U-3 Cutlass				LCDR P. O. Harrell ejected		Vought
8th July 1955		Vought F7U-3M Cutlass	129728	VA-83	hydraulic failure near NAS Oceana	LCDR F. C. Turner ejected safely suffered severe back injuries		Vought
14th July 1955		Vought F7U-3 Cutlass	D 412	VF-124 USS Hancock	Ramp strike			Vought
21st November 1955		Vought F7U-3 Cutlass				LT F. A. Downs ejected		Vought
16th December 1955		Vought F7U-3 Cutlass				ENS J. G. Curtis ejected		Vought
1st February 1956		Vought F7U-3M Cutlass				LT B. Montgomery ejected		Vought
10th March 1956		Vought F7U-3 Cutlass				LT C. N. Birdwell ejected		Vought
12th March 1956		Vought F7U-3 Cutlass				LTJG S. O. Hesla ejected		Vought
22nd June 1956		Vought F7U-3 Cutlass				LTJG W. J. Doody ejected		Vought
10th July 1956		Vought F7U-3M Cutlass				LCDR J. P. Murray ejected		Vought
13th July 1956		Vought F7U-3 Cutlass				LTJG G. W. Morey ejected		Vought
17th August 1956		Vought F7U-3 Cutlass				LT L. P. Morgan ejected		Vought
14th November 1956		Vought F7U-3 Cutlass				ENS H. H. Strong Jr. ejected		Vought
26th November 1956		Vought F7U-3M Cutlass				LT W. M. Earley, Jr. ejected [could the surname be Barley ??]		Vought
2nd February 1957		Vought F7U-3M Cutlass				LTJG J. A. Shields ejected		Vought
18th April 1957		Vought F7U-3M Cutlass				LTJG G. W. Baird ejected		Vought

I know of one ejection from the Cutlass.It happened when we were on a med cruise in the early 50s, We were based off the ship { Ticnderoga CVA 14 ] We were based at Port Lyutey North Africa.I cant remember the exact date of the incident.I think the Pilot was Lt Tesla or Hesla. He told us later as he was flying at pretty high altitude he heard an muffled explsion, he throttled back and all seemed ok, when he advanced the throttles it exploded again so he ejected.He knew from weather reports the cloud layer was about 10,000 feet and since he was so high in smmer flight gear he elected to free fall until he got to a lower altitude.He said as he was falling his arms were spread eagled out due to the centrifugal force found it exceedingly difficult to pull his arms in to actuate the rip cord.He landed in the dessert and was greeted by a band of arabs who couldnt speak or undrstand english.They thought he was a god from heaven. He said he gave them things from his flight suit, whistles etc. He feared for his life at this point.He related theytook him into a tent and tried to give him tea.He said that near where he had landed he saw some wreckage and told us he picked up a metal placard that told how to service the planes hydraulic system..He heard a prop plne and used his signal mirror to alert a passing Airforce search plane that happened by looking for a missing Airforce plane.They sent a helicopter to bring him back, told him he was lucky as when a plane crashed the arabs would scavage it, would hide by covering with tents to prevent anyone from seeing it from the air etc.I do remember him telling us how he pushed his watch up his sleeve so they wouldnt steal it..He was back flying ,was not injured at all....Before I got into the squadron they had another ejection at Norfolk Va,Our Yoeman was still doing paper work on that one when we were on our cruise.I think the Pilots name was Kelly, Was making a low pass for some type of air show or Navy ceremony when his contrl stick froze due to hydraulic problems and he ejected.It may have been his first flight,they joked in the squadron that all he brought back was the rip cord handle...Hope some of this helps.I dont remember the name of the seat we had, it had a large shell in it and when the curtain was pulled if the seat was in the "flying " mode it would rotate to "landing " mode before it fired, the curtain pulled down over the full face..We periodicaly checked them with a dummy cartridge and it was scary even tho you knew it was unarmed.

I"m aware of only two ejections, altho there were more----. In about 1954 while "Project Cutlass" was operating out of Miramar, a pilot named Nugent (LT) ejected in the vicinity of San Diego. Believe he had a landing gear problem and a landing attempt was nixed. He made a planned ejection heading out to sea just west of NAS North Island, without any significant personal injuries. However, the bird proceeded to return and drone around the NAS, even made a sort of pass at the Dell Coronado. After generating much concern, it finally wondered out to sea and crashed. The other event in 1955 was via our team leader at Moffett Field, LCDR Bud Sickle. Bud decided to evaluate the bird's spin characteristics (he didn't buy the "post-stall gyration characteristics), deliberately stalled the airplane, could not recover, and ejected. He received only minor injuries--bruises, stiffness here and there, etc. Both Nugent and Sickle are deceased.