Tailspin Turtle

To wit:

The seat rotated forward for takeoff and landing. That was a more comfortable position (the pilot would have actually been head down if the seat didn't rotate) and if he ejected then the seat would have somewhat of an upward trajectory.

Thanks - Great picture of the open roll-control surfaces, too. For more on the flasher pod (e.g. the generator fan blades on the aft end of the pod), click here:https://tailhooktopics.blogspot.com/2021/08/north-american-ra-5c-flasher-pod.html Note that the roll-control surfaces are in speed-brake mode. More here (scroll down): https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2010/12/vigilante.html

The top of the vertical fin of some or all RA-5Cs slopes downward to the rear because of the addition of an antenna to the top of the fin. I wrote IFF here but I could be wrong again: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2010/12/vigilante.html

In my defense, I hadn't had my coffee yet. Anyway 2.4 nm away and low and opening might work if the metal on your control surfaces is fairly thick and they are painted white.

Literally back-of-the-envelope crude calculation, in 16 seconds at 532 knots TAS, the jet would be about 24 nm away and opening the range at 1.5 nm per second. Seems doable.

If needs must, it was therefore available for and capable of strike missions.

Still doing them - the latest: $34.95, shipping included (Media Mail, US only). 1754 Warfield Circle, Simi Valley CA 93063. You can contact him at nfbooks at sbcglobal dot net for availability and pricing of his other books.

Steve has closed down his website: the guy who did it no longer can.

Rob, thanks for that. The first Mk 7s had dive brakes for retardation (however, I don't think I'd level out as depicted in your illustration: I'd keep diving, albeit at a shallower angle, until I had to pull out or hit the trees). I vaguely remember that the release altitude was 10,000 feet: I'll see if I can find documentation. The Mk 8 had a frangible nose cap over a blunt spiked nose as it was intended to penetrate some distance into the ground and/or concrete before detonating (it was the very inefficient gun-type device that would survive that shock). That would slow it down and result in

HABS, probably by another name, was the standard delivery for U.S. Navy carrier-based aircraft carrying the Mk 7 and Mk 8 prior to the development of LABS. It may have involved some retardation on the nukes to provide a little more separation from instant sunshine but the theory was the escape speed generated by the dive and the ability to quickly get low into terrain masking would make the maneuver survivable. The Mk 8 was also intended as a submarine pen buster, so it would penetrate some depth into the ground or concrete before detonating.

For those who haven't bought the book, the difference between the A2U and the A4D was that the A2U fully conformed to BuAer design requirements and the A4D was the result of an unsolicited Douglas proposal to allow it to spend funds available from canceling the A2D on the design and development of the lightest, simplest, jet-propelled, carrier-based bomber carrying the first of the tactical nuclear bombs without adherence to any BuAer requirements that Ed Heinemann and the BuAer Attack Class Desk (a Navy officer who was the program manager) agreed to be unnecessary for the purpose. Needless t

Page 326 has BuNos for: 3 XF7U-1s, 14 F7U-1s, 180 F7U-3s, 98 F7U-3Ms, and 12 F7U-3Ps; total 307 Operationally lost? That depends. The number destroyed relative to the size of the fleet is usually cited as 25% or more. The actual number, depending on how you keep score (some crashed Cutlasses would normally have been repaired but weren't because they weren't needed given there were enough without them to satisfy the operational requirements) is somewhat less. A more appropriate metric is the accident rate, which was comparable to or better than its contemporaries and covered in deta

Thanks Jon, but you obviously aren't fully aware of Al's devotion to collecting F7U material and documenting its history. Counting -1s, 307 were built; his data base for them will probably be upwards of 100 pages before he's through. Note that a full third of this 4-lb book consists of his summaries of squadron/facility/unit histories and airplane dispositions. I made a start at a Ginter-type model section for the book but after becoming aware of just how many kits, toys, tchotchkes, 50s Chevy hood ornaments, etc are in his collection, that would have been close to a monograph in itself...

I'll pass the suggestion on to Al. He is still perfecting his data base in that regard and may be interested in doing that.