Fabulous and Funky Fifties Fighters

Fabulous (and not) U.S. Navy fighters undergo carrier suitability trials. Featuring the McDonnell F3H "Demon", Vought F7U "Cutlass", Douglas F4D "Skyray" and A4D "Skyhawk" aboard the USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) in September, 1955.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• McDonnell
• F3H
• Demon
• CV-14
• USS
• Ticonderoga
• F4D
• Skyray
• Vought
• F7U
• Cutlass
• Douglas
• A4D
• A-4
• Skyhawk
• Navy
• Carrier
• Fighter

[manxcafe]

Love the "Cold War Warriors" the SkyHawk went on to distinguished serviced for many years after the other types were phased out. Great but challenging planes to fly. Thank you.

[PayasYouListen]

Simple, elegantly engineered and effective. That's why the Skyhawk was such a success, including Vietnam, Israel and the Falklands (they gave our boys hell).

The others were a little bit ahead of their time, but each played an important role in developing US Navy fighters too.

[megashegem]

Too bad the Demon,Cuttless and Skyray were under powerd. It would have been an interesting competition.

[TopGun8993]

A-4's forever!!! I worked on the A-4 E,F &M and T/A-4J at Top Gun, NAS Miramar from 89-93. I was a Plane Capt. and Aviation Structural Mech. I miss the old A-4. It served our country heavily in Vietnam and later in aggressor squadrons and at Top Gun. It also served as the Blue Angels from 1974(I think) until 1986. @koivis87, I wasn't in power- plants, but I believe the Skyhawk had a Pratt & Whitney J-52 engine.

[collectorfun]

The Skyhawks survives all others "things" and continue to flying in many air forces, what a Fighter!.....56 years in service!

[RippedWookie]

Umm... so which one is supposed to be fabulous?

[Craigers22763]

I love these old jets! Too bad they had such short service lives ( with the exception of the A-4) Once the F-8 Crusader and then the F-4 phantom entered service, they all quickly disappeared. The Demon, Cutlass and Skyray were all underpowered and by the time they were upgraded it was already too late.

[VMATT500C]

COOL

[koivis87]

Nice video! Yep, the USN had an interesting hodge-podge of planes in the 1950s. And the 4 planes featured here also had all different engines: Allison J71 (F3H), Westinghouse J46 (F7U), P&W J57 (F4D) and Wright J65 (F4D)! Must have been a maintenance nightmare...

[nick48823]

Thanks for the post. I love these old planes--they have so much character.

I think the Demon is a cool plane---all it needed was a J79!