Comments by "Sar Jim" (@sarjim4381) on "USS Essex - Guide 093 - Part 002 (Fighters)" video.

  1. Vought produced two world beating fighters and two dogs. You mentioned one dog, the Cutlass, that actually made it to squadron service. At least one could argue the Cutlass failed because it used too many new features at once with and underdeveloped engine, but it did have potential. The other Vought dog was the F6U Pirate. It used a thoroughly conventional layout of straight wings and various aerodynamic bits and pieces in an attempt to wring out maximum performance from the largest turbojet available at the time, the Westinghouse J34 with an afterburner, a first for carrier aircraft. Unfortunately, US engine designers were still working out how to make powerful turbojets that would fit in small naval fighters, and the J34 wasn't the engine designers hoped for. It was seriously underpowered for sea level use, although the Pirate did have a top speed of nearly 600 mph at 20,000 feet. At sea level, however, it could be outrun by the speedy F8F Bearcat prop fighter, leading to the nickname "Groundhog". Given the straight wind design, it had no real development potential, so only 33 were built. On the plus side, it was a docile aircraft to fly and never killed any pilots, something that couldn't be said for the Cutlass, with 320 produced, in which 25 pilots died and 28% of the airframes were destroyed in accidents. Amazingly, in an attempt to win public favor for an aircraft already being being denigrated as a widowmaker, the Cutlass was ordered into use by the Blue Angels. I've never been able to find out what admiral made that decision, which is probably just as well for him. While trying to make full power take offs, the aircrafts experienced multiple serious flameouts, total hydraulic failures, engine fires on the ground and in the air, and a landing gear door falling off into a crowd of spectators, miraculously not killing or injuring anyone. The last straw was Lt. Lewis "Whitey" Feightner experiencing a total hydraulic failure in the first Cutlass Blue Angels flight while attempting to make a full afterburner takeoff. After clipping some trees at the end of the runway and losing one of the two engines, Feightner contemplated ejecting but was afraid of the risks to the people on the ground. He stayed with the plane long enough to get the backup hydraulic system on line so he could make a hard left turn, get the gear down, and safely get back on the runway, all the while a huge blue flame of hydraulic fluid trailed behind him. The crowd cheered, assuming it was part of the show. During a straight and level flight on the way to an airshow in Chicago,, the other Cutlass in use also experienced a flameout, forcing Feightner's wingman, Lt Harding MacKnight, to make an emergency landing at Naval Air Station Glenview. Being short on fuel, Feightner had to make an emergency landing at what was then Orchard Airpark, plowing through rows of peach baskets place on the new runway to keep vehicles off, thereby landing on what became the first runway of what we now know as Chicago O'Hare Airport. The Blue Angels brass, deciding discretion was the better part of valor, had the two aircraft dismantled and trucked to NAS Memphis, where they served for many years a maintenance instructional airframes. Ironically, both were eventually destroyed while being used for firefighting training.
    98
  2.  @WALTERBROADDUS  No, not at all. Rolls Royce designed the best engines of the first ten years of jet flight. My objection was the Soviet sympathizing Labour government of the time just passing on the family jewels to the Soviets for a pittance.
    14
  3.  @WALTERBROADDUS  Yes, it was really a more difficult time than we realize at this late date. We went from 350 mph fighters to 600 mph almost overnight, and over 700 mph by 1950. The really good German data and German engineers were seized by the Soviets when they occupied east Germany. The expertise in swept wings and the area ruled fuselage combined with the communist traitors in Britain literally selling the Soviets the Rolls-Royce RB.41 Nene, the premier jet engine of 1947, allowed the MiG-15 to be produced in time for the Korean War. In what can only be described as horrific. the MiG-15, using a reverse engineered Nene, was killing British pilots and troops in Korea when the British and Americans had no answer for the MiG for almost two years.
    10
  4.  @Johnnycdrums  No, the Blues went from Panthers to Cougars to the F-11 Tiger. There were only two Cutlass aircraft with the Blues and they were only flow as demonstration aircraft before they were dismantled. The F-11 was a fairly large slightly supersonic aircraft with pleasant flight characteristics and ability to perform almost any aerobatic maneuver without tearing the wings off it. It was much too slow and the engine had too many teething problems to make it into long term squadron service, but all the characteristics I mentioned made it an ideal Blue Angels plane. The Blues flew the Tiger until 1969, long after it had been otherwise withdrawn from other naval service. uch of the technology from the Tiger was used in the hugely successful McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantom II, the Blue's next mount.
    9
  5.  @Johnnycdrums  The Colt Mark 12 20mm cannon was designed for aerial combat and did fine in aircraft other than the Crusader. No other jet could pull as a high a G force maneuvers a Crusader, and the cannon feed mechanism couldn't keep up. It would have done better with a M39 revolver cannon since the feed wasn't subject to high G failures like the Mk 12, and the heavier shell was less likely to get sideways in the feed tray. Nevertheless, the light, high velocity round, with its larger bursting charge, was devastating to opponents when it scored hits. With its 1,000 rpm firing rate, a five second burst generally enough to bring down an opposing fighter. Its main weapon was the Sidewinder and HARM missiles, with only four air to air kills with the cannon. The Phantom's main advantage was its fighter-bomber role. There was no other naval aircraft with the load carrying ability of an F-4. Its biggest problem, ironically, was the lack of a built-in cannon and lead computing gunsight. This was finally solved with the F-4E carrying the excellent Vulcan cannon.
    8
  6.  @Johnnycdrums  The whole concept of naval air defense has undergone wholesale changes since the days of the Crusader. That major threat now are incoming missiles, not aircraft, so antimissile systems combines whit theater ballistic missiles for offense are how a real war will be fought. Aircraft like the Hornet are ordinance delivery systems with a secondary self-defense capability. The one area where aircraft still play major role is defense of amphibious landing areas since attack by aircraft is the mostly likely problem. Close air support of troops within range is the second major job. The Super Hornet excels at these roles while at the same time serving the same "bomb truck" role as the Phantom. Even when the F-35 overcomes all its teething problems, it will never displace the Super Hornet from the tactical roles at which it excels. Certainly no one in 1959 could have anticipated that 60 years later, a single seat aircraft with good air to air performance would be carrying a bomb load greater than a B-29.
    7
  7.  @Johnnycdrums  I always thought the Tiger was one of the best looking jets of the 50's too. Just too bad the Navy didn't go for the Super Tiger with the GE J79 engine. It was the first naval jet to exceed Mach 2, and did so in 1957. They instead chose the Vought F-8 Crusader, probably a better all around airplane, but nowhere near as good a high altitude interceptor.
    5
  8.  @Johnnycdrums  I too am concerned that so called stealth technology is not all it's cracked up to be. The Serbian shootdown of an F-117 using exactly the radar methods you wrote about should give the planners pause.
    5