F7U Cutlass Restoration

[Ed Likes]

In the latest issue of Air Classics was a small photo of an F7U that is under some type of restoration by the Museum of Flight. Does anyone know if this aircraft will be at some point a flyer or static only? The only other time I ever saw a F7U was when I was at the late and great Walter Soplota's place back in the late 70's. As some of you have stated Walter gave me a personal tour of everything he had back then I saw him in 1977 and again in 1978.
On a side note does anyone know if and when there might be an auction of some type held at Walter's place? Perhaps the family is still taking inventory of all that Walter collected over many years. Walter certainly saved some real gems. There would not be any F-82 Twin Mustangs being restored if it wasn't for Walter he had enough grease and oil on those aircraft to keep them fairly well preserved considering what he had to work with. That F7U he had certainly got my attention.

In the latest issue of Air Classics was a small photo of an F7U that is under some type of restoration by the Museum of Flight. Does anyone know if this aircraft will be at some point a flyer or static only?

I saw that photo and little blurb, also. The F7U-3 Cutlass is an interesting airplane and I would love to see one in the air someday, so it caught my attention too, and I wondered the same thing initially although I knew it was extremely unlikely that a Cutlass would be made into a flyer. After I reread the caption with the photo and looked into the Musuem of Flight in general, I am almost completely certain it is being restored for museum static display only.

[Mike]

The Cutlass at MoF is privately owned by the restoration shop manager, and is up for sale on Barnstormers for a cool $210k.

Flyer or static? That only depends on how many million $ a prospective buyer is prepared to spend. I spent some time looking over it this afternoon. A nice project, but quite a lot still left to do.

Last edited by Mike on Sun Jun 19, 2011 12:27 am, edited 1 time in total.

[tom d. friedman]

walt's estate is mired in so much red tape, govt b.s. & plain stupidity that it will be years before his holdings are ironed flat. then there is the epa......... another headache X 100 & more govt hooy gumming up the works. then there is his family & dealing w/ his assets & liabilities. i saw the cutlass in 2003 she looked great overall, but her pelican legs were sinking fairly fast.

[peter]

There is a Cutlass resto project on Barnstormers!

[Jiggersfromsphilly]

Willow Grove has one on display !

http://wingsoffreedommuseum.org/index.p ... &Itemid=72

[Fouga23]

Given the type's service record, I doubt someone would want to make one airworthy again!

[The Inspector]

Keep in mind that a lot of the airframe was magnesium and mag is like cheapo wine, time and age are not it's friend.

[old iron]

Given the type's service record, I doubt someone would want to make one airworthy again!

My dad got his naval pilot training in San Diego, where the Cutlass was used. My earliest memory - I must have been 3 or 4 years old - is of a Cutlass in flight. But my mother was not nostalgic for the type: she called them ENSIGN DESTROYERS.

[SaxMan]

There used to be an F7U (or at least the hulk of one) located at Wheaton Regional Park in Wheaton, Maryland...along with an FJ Fury at Cabin John Regional Park in Potomac, Maryland up until the late 1970s. If my memory serves me correct the Wheaton F7U was actually a YF7U. I now volunteer with the Park Police in Montgomery County, Maryland and still hoping to come across them hidden in one of the Maintenance Yards. However, most of the "old timers" have assured me that they were removed and scrapped.

My first experience with the F7U was building the Revell Forrestal-class models (Forrestal, Ranger, Independence). I had no idea what the plane was, but it was the coolest looking plane that came with the model. (IIRC, there were also A-3 Skywarriors, F-8 Crusaders, S-2 Trackers and E-3 Hawkeyes included with the models). We never glued the planes to the deck, preferring to play with the planes and modesl.

[StangStung]

Has someone confirmed with the MoF that it is indeed their example which is up for sale on Barnstormers?

And if so, was there any rational given for (a) the sale; and (b) the pricing?

Just curious.

[JohnB]

(IIRC, there were also A-3 Skywarriors, F-8 Crusaders, S-2 Trackers and E-3 Hawkeyes included with the models). We never glued the planes to the deck, preferring to play with the planes and modesl.

At the risk of sounding like a nerd, I doubt if it was an E-3, they're rather later than the other planes. Probably a piston WF-1/E-1, an S-2 with a radar on top. The Apollo 11 Hornet kit had them so Revell had the molds.

[Speedy]

(IIRC, there were also A-3 Skywarriors, F-8 Crusaders, S-2 Trackers and E-3 Hawkeyes included with the models). We never glued the planes to the deck, preferring to play with the planes and modesl.

At the risk of sounding like a nerd, I doubt if it was an E-3, they're rather later than the other planes. Probably a piston WF-1/E-1, an S-2 with a radar on top. The Apollo 11 Hornet kit had them so Revell had the molds.

Nerd.

Actually, you just beat me to it. I was gonna say the same thing about the Hornet kit and the Elmer Fudd's.

[PinecastleAAF]

I would love to see one fly but not up close. 2 or 3 miles away would be safe enough.

[The Inspector]

Aw, come on, it would be like seeing female nude coleslaw wrestling on trains headed for a collision , you might not want to look, but you couldn't look away-