Warbird Information Exchange

Anyone got a good idea and just how many F7Us survive. Four are easy:

129554 Paine Field (ex-park WA)
129642 Willow Grove
129655 Pensacola (ex-park CA)
129685 Ohio

But then it gets confusing:

128451 has been listed at the Fred Weisbrod Museum - status?
Static project listed for many years in Trade a Plane by John Byrum at SECO Aviation, Georgia - ID?
Vought is restoring a F7U - ID?
The USS Hornet is supposed to get a F7U - ID?
Ex-Reinhart F7U section - still extant?
ex-NAS Hensley - still extant?
ex park in Bridgeport CT - confused with 129554 that was in Bridgeport WA?

Are some of these above planes one in the same?

Any ideas?

Jim

Hi Jim--

Went back to the future; not sure it'll prove any help, but had a look in my 1971 Veteran And Vintage Aircraft. The index for some reason quotes 12 survivors, but then lists refs in the book for just 8! Which were...

129655 F7U-3M Travel Town Museum, Griffith Park CA (now at NMNA)
Bu???? F7U-? Reinert collection, Mundelein IL, incomplete (ex Glenview)
129565 F7U-3 NAS Olathe, KS, on pylon
129722 YF7U-3M Regional Recreation Park, Wheaton MD
129549 F7U-3 NAS Minneapolis, MN
129685 F7U-3 Soplata collection, Newbury OH (still there)
129642 F7U-3 NAS Willow Grove, PA (still there)
139908 F7U-3M NAS Hensley Field, Dallas TX, incomplete

...Any of these ring a bell with anybody? And, BTW, even that long ago (34 years!), Mr Hunt's listings appear to indicate the much sleeker-looking F7U-1 series may already have been extinct. Didn't actually realize that was the case till now. Bummer. The Cutlass may have been less than a roaring success, but the -1 version was pretty cool-looking.

S.

Not that this helps much, but here are some pics of 129554...
http://community.webshots.com/photo/252 ... 7477UvwvGQ
http://community.webshots.com/photo/252 ... 0164SSjXuo

Mike

_________________
Mike R. Henniger
Aviation Enthusiast & Photographer
http://www.AerialVisuals.ca
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Do you want to find locations of displayed, stored or active aircraft? Then start with the The Locator.
Do you want to find or contribute to the documented history of an aircraft? If so then start with the Airframes Database.

Willow Grove, January 2005

I was at the former NAS Oletha, KS earlier this year, and did not see any F7U at all.

Saludos,

Tulio

May not be a survivior but a cool shot of one at the 1955 Philly Airshow.

http://www.pbase.com/image/54062008/original.jpg

The YF7U-3M at Wheaton, Maryland is gone. A close friend of mine remembers playing on that plane as a boy. It was only a hulk....hollow on the inside so kids could play inside. He couldn't remember what kind of plane it was. Now he will know. His last recollection of seeing the plane was in the late 70s. We have no idea what happened to it. I imagine it was deemed too "dangerous" for kids to play on and was scrapped.

There was also a P-80 as a gate guard at the Montgomery County Airpark in Gaithersburg, Maryland (yes it was definitely a P-80 and not a T-33) that was there until the late 1980s and it is now gone. It was basically intact, so hopefully it found a brighter future than the Cutlass.

Found this pic of the Fred Weisbrod Museum bird:

http://www.avwings.com/pics/f7u.html

Could this be the Reinhart hulk?

Jim

...Well, a component anyway...

I don't think the Weisbrod F7U is the former Reinert one; I've seen Earl's and there was only a cockpit section that had a lot of little pockmarks like a cutting torch had been used on it.

_________________

All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

Jim--

Thanx for the link to the Colorado F7U hulk. Could this be the ex-Whiting Field aircraft (which was also said in Hunt's '71 book to be "incomplete")? Also, TX to CO is closer than IL to CO...V&V quoted the BuNo for the Whiting Field F7U as "139908", which I think might be a typo for "129908" since all the other F7U-3 BuNos seem to fall within the 129 range. Any ID on the Weisbrod hulk?

The wooden intake lips are very interesting. I wonder if this may have been a flight-trial fit (or even a standard one), since Vought certainly made much use of the Metalite wood-sandwich composite--having built the entire F5U "Flying Flapjack" out of it? Reminds me, too, that the leading edges of the wingtip cooling pods on the "Beguine" Mustang were also laminated wood...as was the fuselage pod of a Vampire. So it's not unheard-of...

S.

Steve,

I'm told the Weisbrod hulk is BuNo. 128451. 139908 is a valid F7U serial, from the F7U-3M block 139868 thru 139917.

The wood part is funny because you are correct...Vought used quite a bit of Metalite in the F7U. Didn't know it was a secret.

Jim

I sent a query to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission that manages the park where Bu 129722 (Wheaton Regional Park) resided. They told me that the plane was removed from the park in the late 1970s and cut up for scrap. There was also a second plane in Cabin John Regional Park that was also removed and scrapped at the same time. However, the person who responded to me did not know what type of plane it was.

Apparently, I was not the only one who asked about these planes. Many others have fond memories of playing on the planes. It's too bad. These days, an airplane would be considered far to "dangerous" to play on. I remember my nursery school having a derelict 1957 Chevy Station Wagon and a 1940s-era Fire Truck that we used to play in all the time. You don't see that anymore.

Here's a link to one that's still around:

http://members.tripod.com/glenthorne/sabre.html

Back in the mid- or late-70s Air Classics' "Warbird Report" had a shot of a derelict all-white F2H-2 that could have been in a playground - anyone recall where?

_________________

All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

Hello all,

I also was a child that spent many an hour on a playground bird imagining I was flying missions. I was lucky to have a cougar at our airplane park in Wall NJ. I was also lucky to know where my bird ended up.

I was killing time picking my fiance up in NYC when I stopped at the Intrepid and saw that my playground bird was being restored in a big tent on the deck. I also got a close-up due to the generosity of Eric Boehm, the aircraft Collection Manager. He took a lot of time with me explaining what the plan for the aircraft was and allowing me a close look at her. Can't wait to see the final result.

I am sure many of us have similar stories. The Park is now officially Airplane Park but only the sign indicates a plane was once there.

Dave C