Tail-less handful

摘要

Of all the futuristic-looking fighter designs that were coming off the drawing boards right after World War Two, the Vought F7U Cutlass had to rate close to the top of the list. It was a tail-less, swept-wing design with an astounding rate of climb. The US Navy was enthusiastic about the F7U and it was to be the only service to pursue it to operational status. Vought began working on the design just months before World War Two ended. The Navy had issued a request for a fighter that could operate at 40,000ft (12,000m) and had an airspeed close to Mach 1, which at the time was considered to be on a par with anything that the Soviets had.