1/72 Vought XF7U-1 Cutlass

Anigrand Craftswork - 1/72 Vought XF7U-1 Cutlass. In June 1945, U.S. Navy launched competition for a fighter able to fly at 600 mph high speed. Vought submitted the Model V-346 design which was based from German Arado's tailless fighter documents. Vought's engineers believed that deleting the tailplane would solve aerodynamic problem to increase maximum speed. In June 1946, Navy chose Vought's design as the winner and ordered three prototypes, designated XF7U-1 Cutlass. The first prototype made its first flight in September 1948. Performance was excellent but embarrassed with engine problems as the early jet was not reliable at that time. With the outbreak of the Korean War, U.S. Navy urgently needed this super fighter to enter in service even all the three prototypes were crashed by accidents. Totally 14 production aircraft were made but continued fatal accidents. In 1951, in hope to improve the F7U-1, Vought redesigned the aircraft to become the F7U-3. The remaining F7U-1s were grounded and assigned to training command in 1952.