Tag Archives: USS Intrepid (CVA-11)

Gutless Cutlass

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Some 70 years ago this week.

A great view of LT(j.g.) H.C. Arnold of Attack Squadron (VA) 83 “Rampagers” taxiing his cutting-edge Chance-Vought F7U-3M Cutlass toward the port steam catapult on board the Essex-class attack carrier USS Intrepid (CVA 11) during flight operations 22 June 1956. This was during Carrier Air Group Eight’s (CVG-8) 1956 Mediterranean cruise (12 March to 5 September) aboard Intrepid after the carrier had received her SCB-27C conversion to better operate jets.

The nose of the Cutlass sat over 14 feet high by nature of its nine-foot-long nose strut. What could go wrong? By Photographer’s Mate First Class Wilcox, NARA K-20587 via NHHC

An expanded shot of the same aircraft from the same cruise (NNAM 1996.253.7207.015)

According to Baugher, Arnold’s Cutlass, Modex E-308, BuNo 129733, was struck off at NAF Litchfield Park less than two years after the above image.

Why?

Sure, the F7U-3 was one of the Navy’s first swept-wing, afterburner-equipped jets. Further, the 3M variant shown above was retrofitted to be missile-capable and carried up to four early AAM-N-2 Sparrow I air-to-air beam-riding missiles. In fact, VA-83’s 1956 Med cruise, seen above, was the first Navy squadron to deploy operationally overseas with missiles.

While subsonic (around Mach 0.9) at sea level, it could get supersonic on dives and could carry up to 2,000 pounds of ordnance (as much as the vaunted SBD Dauntless of a decade prior) in addition to its four forward-firing 20mm cannons.

However, the aircraft’s puny engines (two 4,600-lb thrust J46-WE-8A turbojets) and funky “tailless” characteristics earned it the nicknames the “Ensign Eliminator” and “Gutless Cutlass” after no less than 78 of the 320 airframes delivered were lost in accidents during its short eight-year operating period with seven fleet (VA) and one test (VX) squadrons. It was just too underpowered to muscle the 16-ton aircraft around the sky, especially in tricky carrier ops, earning it a well-earned reputation as a widowmaker.

These included an epic crack-up on USS Hancock that was caught on film and used in TV and film footage for generations.

The aircraft was replaced by the much better liked (and supersonic) F-8 Crusader, which remained in service with the Navy and Marines for over 30 years.

Painting, Acrylic on Illustration Board, by Joseph Binder, C. 1960, Unframed Dimensions 26H X 20W. Naval History and Heritage Command Accession #: 68-084-A-07

One of these things is not like the Others

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Two Forrestal-class supercarriers, (listed from bottom to top) USS Independence (CVA-62), and USS Saratoga (CVA-60), steaming alongside the Essex-class fleet carrier USS Intrepid (CVA-11). Underway in 1961, with crewmen paraded on deck in their whites to spell out commemorating the (then) 50th Birthday of Naval Aviation (8 May 1911).

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command. Catalog #: NH 97716

While Indy and Sara were laid down in 1954 and 1952, respectively– making them just a couple years past shakedown when this image was snapped– the 80,000-ton, 1,070-foot leviathans were in a whole different league than the Fighting I who had joined the fleet just a decade prior to their keel laying.

Nonetheless, in a real sense of irony, the 40,000-ton, 872-foot Intrepid, who earned five battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation during World War II, and a further three battle stars for Vietnam service has outlived all of the Forrestals, berthed at Pier 86 on the Hudson River in New York City since 1982.

Further, she is still serving today in addition to her museum operations, hosting military events in the NYC area, and standing ready, as needed, for use as an Emergency Operations Center for the Big Apple, complete with a “secure space” installed in 2006 for FEMA and the like. It wouldn’t be the first time. Following Sept. 11th, she was home to the FBI’s response in the city for five weeks.

Interestingly, the Intrepid Museum recently announced the acquisition of a new aircraft to its collection, a Douglas F4D-1/F-6A Skyray. The exact aircraft, (BuNo 134836) acquired from the New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, Conn., previously flew from Intrepid in 1961– and is likely in the above image. The Skyray will be added to the Museum’s flight deck on Tuesday, July 27, 2021, becoming the 28th plane in the Museum’s aircraft collection.