Building a Better Navy Jet

摘要

Faced with an air superiority gap versus Air Force jets in the late 1940s and early '50s, the U.S. Navy embarked on an ambitious aircraft development program that produced one of the world's best all-around fighters Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, especially in aviation history. An extraordinary example occurred near Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, California, during the early 1950s: While performing flight testing from an aircraft carrier, the catapult bridle-a device that connected the airplane to the catapult shuttle-had jammed the nose gear strut of a Chance Vought F7U-3 Cutlass, so that the gear would neither fully retract nor extend.