Misplaced Pages

#103896

125-428: The Cutlass was developed from the mid 1940s to early 1950s as Vought's entry in a United States Navy competition. Their design team, which was influenced by design information obtained from Nazi Germany , opted for a tailless configuration paired with low aspect ratio swept wings, which was regarded as a radical departure from traditional aircraft design for the era. Vought's submission was favoured by Navy officials and

250-476: A pervasive cult of personality around Adolf Hitler to influence public opinion. The government controlled artistic expression, promoting specific art forms and banning or discouraging others. Genocide , mass murder , and large-scale forced labour became hallmarks of the regime; the implementation of the regime's racial policies culminated in the Holocaust . After the initial success of German invasion of

375-488: A communist uprising. The Reichstag Fire Decree , imposed on 28 February 1933, rescinded most civil liberties, including rights of assembly and freedom of the press. The decree also allowed the police to detain people indefinitely without charges. The legislation was accompanied by a propaganda campaign that led to public support for the measure. Violent suppression of communists by the SA was undertaken nationwide and 4,000 members of

500-657: A non-aggression pact with Poland. In March 1939, Hitler demanded the return of the Free City of Danzig and the Polish Corridor , a strip of land that separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany. The British announced they would come to the aid of Poland if it was attacked. Hitler, believing the British would not take action, ordered an invasion plan should be readied for September 1939. On 23 May, Hitler described to his generals his overall plan of not only seizing

625-605: A number of engine failures that led to the loss of the aircraft. A government investigation of the F3H-1N program issue failed to determine if pilots had been lost due solely to the engine issues. The grounded airframes were either scrapped or used for ground training. The F3H-2N used the Allison J71 engine. The J40 program was terminated in 1955, by which time all the aircraft it was to power were either grounded, cancelled or redesigned to use alternative engines. The J40's failure

750-521: A pair of Westinghouse J34 turbojet engines, was issued to the company. Construction took place at Vought's plant in Stratford, Connecticut . On 29 September 1948, the first prototype performed its maiden flight from Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland , piloted by Vought's chief test pilot, J. Robert Baker. Several issues were encountered during this initial flight. Shortly thereafter,

875-492: A pair of Westinghouse J34 turbojet engines; these were widely considered to be underpowered and several pilots disparagingly claimed that they "put out less heat than Westinghouse's toasters." The J34 produced considerably less power than had been originally projected by Westinghouse, yet it was the only engine that could fit the airframe of the Cutlass without extensive reworking. Later production aircraft were provisioned with

1000-474: A protectorate of France under the condition that its residents would later decide by referendum which country to join, and Poland became a separate nation and was given access to the sea by the creation of the Polish Corridor , which separated Prussia from the rest of Germany, while Danzig was made a free city . Germany regained control of the Saarland through a referendum held in 1935 and annexed Austria in

1125-485: A relatively radical design for the era. Vought's design team opted for an unconventional tailless configuration; this decision was heavily influenced by aerodynamic data obtained for various wartime projects undertaken by the German Arado and Messerschmitt companies that had been obtained at the close of World War II through German scientists who worked on the projects, though Vought designers denied any link to

1250-459: A second national anthem. Germany was still in a dire economic situation, as six million people were unemployed and the balance of trade deficit was daunting. Using deficit spending , public works projects were undertaken beginning in 1934, creating 1.7 million new jobs by the end of that year alone. Average wages began to rise. The SA leadership continued to apply pressure for greater political and military power. In response, Hitler used

1375-428: A stall. During one test flight, Lt. Morrey Loso's Cutlass exhibited such behavior, tumbling towards the ground following a stall. Upon letting go of the control stick to reach with both hands for the ejection handle, Loso's Cutlass promptly self-corrected. It was determined that normal recovery procedures did not apply to the Cutlass, a conclusion that was later confirmed via wind tunnel testing. The Vought F7U Cutlass

SECTION 10

#1732779963104

1500-482: A stronger airframe that was enlarged by one-third, as well as better maintenance access via additional panels. Test pilot (and later, astronaut ) Wally Schirra wrote in his autobiography that he considered the F7U-3 to be accident prone and a "widow maker". Several positive observations were also recorded by test pilots, such as it being a stable weapons platform, relatively maneuverable, fun to fly, and fairly sturdy with

1625-772: A substantial minority of Germans, who lived mostly in the Sudetenland . Under pressure from separatist groups within the Sudeten German Party , the Czechoslovak government offered economic concessions to the region. Hitler decided not just to incorporate the Sudetenland into the Reich, but to destroy the country of Czechoslovakia entirely. The Nazis undertook a propaganda campaign to try to generate support for an invasion. Top German military leaders opposed

1750-544: A suitable control system. This left the Navy with only the earlier, lower-power engines. These were eventually used for early flight testing, but proved to be largely unusable. A particularly notorious use was in the McDonnell F3H-1N Demon , which proved to be dangerously underpowered with the smaller engines. The design was quickly grounded after repeated incidents caused by flying the now overweight airframe and

1875-626: A thousand people (out of a population of around 16,000) committed suicide in Demmin around 1 May 1945 as the 65th Army of 2nd Belorussian Front first broke into a distillery and then rampaged through the town, committing mass rapes, arbitrarily executing civilians, and setting fire to buildings. High numbers of suicides took place in many other locations, including Neubrandenburg (600 dead), Stolp in Pommern (1,000 dead), and Berlin, where at least 7,057 people committed suicide in 1945. Estimates of

2000-462: A very serious fault. The first fleet squadron to receive F7Us was Fighter Squadron 81 (VF-81) in April 1954. Few squadrons made deployments with the type, and most "beached" them ashore during part of the cruise owing to operating difficulties. Those units known to have taken the type to sea were: During 1957, Chance Vought analyzed the accident record and found that, with 78 accidents and a quarter of

2125-896: A war fought on two fronts. The invasion conquered a huge area, including the Baltic states, Belarus , and west Ukraine . After the successful Battle of Smolensk in September 1941, Hitler ordered Army Group Centre to halt its advance to Moscow and temporarily divert its Panzer groups to aid in the encirclement of Leningrad and Kyiv . This pause provided the Red Army with an opportunity to mobilise fresh reserves. The Moscow offensive, which resumed in October 1941, ended disastrously in December . On 7 December 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor , Hawaii. Four days later, Germany declared war on

2250-515: A war of conquest to obtain more territory. The Saarland , which had been placed under League of Nations supervision for 15 years at the end of World War I, voted in January 1935 to become part of Germany. In March 1935, Hitler announced the creation of an air force, and that the Reichswehr would be increased to 550,000 men. Britain agreed to Germany building a naval fleet with the signing of

2375-466: The Schutzstaffel (SS) and Gestapo to purge the entire SA leadership. Hitler targeted SA Stabschef (Chief of Staff) Ernst Röhm and other SA leaders who—along with a number of Hitler's political adversaries (such as Gregor Strasser and former chancellor Kurt von Schleicher )—were arrested and shot. Up to 200 people were killed from 30 June to 2 July 1934 in an event that became known as

2500-579: The Völkisch movement . The party, especially its paramilitary organisation Sturmabteilung (SA; Storm Detachment), or Brownshirts, used physical violence to advance their political position, disrupting the meetings of rival organisations and attacking their members as well as Jewish people on the streets. Such far-right armed groups were common in Bavaria , and were tolerated by the sympathetic far-right state government of Gustav Ritter von Kahr . When

2625-541: The 6th Army could be supplied by air, but this turned out to be infeasible. Hitler's refusal to allow a retreat led to the deaths of 200,000 German and Romanian soldiers; of the 91,000 men who surrendered in the city on 31 January 1943, only 6,000 survivors returned to Germany after the war. Losses continued to mount after Stalingrad, leading to a sharp reduction in the popularity of the Nazi Party and deteriorating morale. Soviet forces continued to push westward after

SECTION 20

#1732779963104

2750-745: The Anglo-German Naval Agreement on 18 June 1935. When the Italian invasion of Ethiopia led to only mild protests by the British and French governments, on 7 March 1936 Hitler used the Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance as a pretext to order the army to march 3,000 troops into the demilitarised zone in the Rhineland in violation of the Versailles Treaty. As the territory was part of Germany,

2875-634: The Anschluss of 1938. The Munich Agreement of 1938 gave Germany control of the Sudetenland, and they seized the remainder of Czechoslovakia six months later. Under threat of invasion by sea, Lithuania surrendered the Memel district in March 1939. Between 1939 and 1941, German forces invaded Poland , Denmark , Norway , France , Luxembourg , the Netherlands , Belgium , Yugoslavia , Greece , and

3000-575: The Battle of Berlin (16 April – 2 May 1945), Hitler and his staff lived in the underground Führerbunker while the Red Army approached. On 30 April, when Soviet troops were within two blocks of the Reich Chancellery , Hitler and his wife Eva Braun committed suicide . On 2 May, General Helmuth Weidling unconditionally surrendered Berlin to Soviet General Vasily Chuikov . Hitler

3125-509: The Blue Angels , flew two F7U-1 Cutlasses (BuNos 124426 & 124427) as a side demonstration during their 1953 show season in an effort to promote the new aircraft, but did not use them as part of their regular formation demonstration. Both the pilots and ground crews found the aircraft generally unsatisfactory, and it was apparent that the type was still experiencing multiple teething troubles. However, there were political pressures to adopt

3250-738: The Communist Party of Germany were arrested. On 23 March 1933, the Enabling Act , an amendment to the Weimar Constitution , passed in the Reichstag by a vote of 444 to 94. This amendment allowed Hitler and his cabinet to pass laws—even laws that violated the constitution—without the consent of the president or the Reichstag. As the bill required a two-thirds majority to pass, the Nazis used intimidation tactics as well as

3375-633: The German Empire (1871–1918) as the second. Severe setbacks to the German economy began after World War I ended, partly because of reparations payments required under the 1919 Treaty of Versailles . The government printed money to make the payments and to repay the country's war debt, but the resulting hyperinflation led to inflated prices, economic chaos, and food riots. When the government defaulted on their reparations payments in January 1923, French troops occupied German industrial areas along

3500-743: The German Reich and later the Greater German Reich , was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship . The Third Reich , meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", referred to the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800/962–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which

3625-480: The Grumman F9F-8 Cougars ; the decision was somewhat abrupt, with new aircraft continuing to be delivered for a time after this. Nevertheless, the outstanding order for 250 Cutlass A2U-1, a ground-attack variant, was soon cancelled. During the late 1950s, the Navy donated many of the now-surplus aircraft to various municipalities and schools to promote aviation. The Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron,

3750-565: The Hague Convention , industrial firms in the Netherlands, France, and Belgium were put to work producing war materiel for Germany. The Nazis seized from the French thousands of locomotives and rolling stock, stockpiles of weapons, and raw materials such as copper, tin, oil, and nickel. Payments for occupation costs were levied upon France, Belgium, and Norway. Barriers to trade led to hoarding, black markets , and uncertainty about

3875-511: The League of Nations in October, claiming its disarmament clauses were unfair if they applied only to Germany. In a referendum held in November , 95 per cent of voters supported Germany's withdrawal. In 1934, Hitler told his military leaders that rearmament needed to be complete by 1942, as by then the German people would require more living space and resources, so Germany would have to start

Vought F7U Cutlass - Misplaced Pages Continue

4000-791: The Low Countries . They quickly conquered Luxembourg and the Netherlands and outmanoeuvred the Allies in Belgium , forcing the evacuation of many British and French troops at Dunkirk . France fell as well, surrendering to Germany on 22 June . The victory in France resulted in an upswing in Hitler's popularity and an upsurge in war fever in Germany. In violation of the provisions of

4125-606: The McDonnell F3H Demon and Douglas F4D Skyray interceptors. Growth to over 15,000 lbf (67 kN) of thrust in afterburner was projected. A version without afterburner, the J40-WE-6, was to power the Douglas A-3D Skywarrior twin-engine carrier-based bomber. The J40-8 was only a little over 40 inches (1,000 mm) in diameter but 25 feet (7.6 m) long, with accessories and including

4250-526: The McDonnell FH Phantom . The enlarged J34 was obsolete when introduced, but moderately successful. A new design following the rapid industry progress was needed. The J40 represented a big opportunity for Westinghouse to become a prominent player in the turbojet engine market. The U.S. Navy showed great confidence in the company when it bet the success or failure of a new generation of jets on Westinghouse over three other engine companies. It

4375-527: The Nazi euthanasia program . Political courts called Sondergerichte sentenced some 12,000 members of the German resistance to death, and civil courts sentenced an additional 40,000 Germans. Mass rapes of German women also took place. As a result of their defeat in World War I and the resulting Treaty of Versailles, Germany lost Alsace-Lorraine , Northern Schleswig , and Memel . The Saarland became

4500-722: The Night of the Long Knives . On 2 August 1934, Hindenburg died. The previous day, the cabinet had enacted the " Law Concerning the Head of State of the German Reich ", which stated that upon Hindenburg's death the office of Reich President would be abolished and its powers merged with those of Reich Chancellor. Hitler thus became head of state as well as head of government and was formally named as Führer und Reichskanzler ("Leader and Chancellor"), although eventually Reichskanzler

4625-522: The Ruhr and widespread civil unrest followed. The National Socialist German Workers' Party ( Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei ), commonly known as the Nazi Party, was founded in 1920. It was the renamed successor of the German Workers' Party (DAP) formed one year earlier, and one of several far-right political parties then active. The Nazi Party platform included destruction of

4750-530: The Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. Germany signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union and invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, launching World War II in Europe . In alliance with Italy and other Axis powers , Germany conquered most of Europe by 1940 and threatened Great Britain. Racism , Nazi eugenics , anti-Slavism , and especially antisemitism were central ideological features of

4875-644: The Westinghouse Aviation Gas Turbine Division (AGT) in 1945. Along with General Electric , Westinghouse had extensive experience in turbine design that put them in the lead over established aviation engine manufacturers, who had little experience with these entirely new design concepts. While most early engines in the US were redesigned versions of British jets, the J30 was the first truly American-designed turbojet to run, and saw use in

5000-470: The federal election of 1932 , the party was the largest in the Reichstag , holding 230 seats with 37.4 per cent of the popular vote. Although the Nazis won the greatest share of the popular vote in the two Reichstag general elections of 1932, they did not have a majority. Hitler refused to participate in a coalition government unless he was its leader. Under pressure from politicians, industrialists, and

5125-499: The 14 F7U-1s built between 1950 and 1952 were approved for use in squadron service. On 7 July 1950, Vought test pilot Paul Thayer ejected from his burning prototype in front of an airshow crowd. Around this time, Vought repeatedly noted its dissatisfaction with the Westinghouse J34 engine to the Navy, alleging that the powerplant was responsible for delivery delays and an inability to perform certain flight tests. Funding for

Vought F7U Cutlass - Misplaced Pages Continue

5250-549: The 50-hour flight substantiation test was to have been accomplished by June 1949 and the 150-hour qualification test by December 1949. The J40 was designed to deliver twice the thrust of engines currently in service, allowing the J40-WE-8 with afterburner to power many of the new Navy carrier-based fighters with a single engine. These included the Grumman XF10F Jaguar variable-sweep wing general-purpose fighter,

5375-566: The Allied bombing campaign became even more devastating. By targeting oil refineries and factories, they crippled the German war effort by late 1944. On 6 June 1944, American, British, and Canadian forces established a front in France with the D-Day landings in Normandy . On 20 July 1944 , Hitler survived an assassination attempt. He ordered brutal reprisals, resulting in 7,000 arrests and

5500-456: The British and French governments did not feel that attempting to enforce the treaty was worth the risk of war. In the one-party election held on 29 March, the Nazis received 98.9 per cent support. In 1936, Hitler signed an Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan and a non-aggression agreement with Mussolini, who was soon referring to a "Rome-Berlin Axis". Hitler sent military supplies and assistance to

5625-471: The Cutlass was briefly cut before being reinstated during 1950. The extent of the aircraft's development difficulties were such that, according to aviation author Tommy Thomason, there were serious considerations towards cancelling the Cutlass entirely during the latter half of 1951, however, severe difficulties with the Westinghouse J40 that powered many of its potential competing aircraft and thus

5750-546: The Cutlass, F7U-1 , entered service during July 1951. It was promptly followed by F7U-2 and F7U-3 , improved models that were equipped with more powerful engines amongst other refinements. However, the Cutlass continued to suffer from frequent technical and handling problems throughout the aircraft's short service career. Accidents involving the type were responsible for the deaths of four test pilots and 21 other U.S. Navy pilots. Over one quarter of all Cutlasses built were destroyed in accidents; this high rate of accidents led to

5875-474: The Cutlass, both from several senior officers and from senators . Among the failures were landing gear failures, hydraulic failures, engine fires while in the air and, on one occasion, a landing gear door fell on a spectator grandstand but, through sheer luck, did not injure anyone. During the Blue Angels' first airshow appearance in 1953, pilot Lt Edward "Whitey" Feightner , the former program manager for

6000-537: The F3H-1 was relegated to subsonic performance using the lower-powered engine and continued to be subsonic even after substitution of the higher-power Allison J71. It has been stated, that although considered failures, the F3H-1 could have been competitive with early supersonic Air Force's Century Series fighters had the original engines delivered on their design specifications. In fact, the Demon that emerged from development

6125-434: The F7U amongst naval aviators included the "Gutless Cutlass", the "Ensign Eliminator" and, in kinder moments, the "Praying Mantis". Both pitch and roll control was provided by elevons , though Vought referred to these surfaces as "ailevators" at the time. Slats were fitted to the entire span of the leading edge . The aircraft was provisioned with all- hydraulic flight controls; these provided artificial feedback so

6250-417: The F7U, experienced a total loss of hydraulics on a full afterburner takeoff and steep climb. While trying to gain enough altitude for ejection he was able to stay with the aircraft until the backup system came on. He clipped trees on the end of the runway, causing the left engine to flame out. With hydraulic fluid streaming back in a bright flame, he made a hard turn and got the plane back on the runway, much to

6375-573: The German National People's Party – their former coalition partners – which then disbanded on 29 June. The remaining major political parties followed suit. On 14 July 1933 Germany became a one-party state with the passage of the Law Against the Formation of Parties , decreeing the Nazi Party to be the sole legal party in Germany. The founding of new parties was also made illegal, and all remaining political parties which had not already been dissolved were banned. Further elections in November 1933 , 1936 , and 1938 were Nazi-controlled, with only members of

SECTION 50

#1732779963104

6500-441: The German research at the time. Specifically, former Messerschmitt AG senior designer Woldemar Voigt , who supervised the development of numerous experimental jet fighters in Nazi Germany , contributed to its design with his experience in the development of the Messerschmitt P.1110 and P.1112 projects. The F7U was the last aircraft designed by Rex Beisel , who was responsible for the first fighter ever designed specifically for

6625-411: The German state in the Nazi era are "Nazi Germany" and the "Third Reich", which Hitler and the Nazis also referred to as the "Thousand-Year Reich" ( Tausendjähriges Reich ). The latter, a translation of the Nazi propaganda term Drittes Reich , was first used in Das Dritte Reich , a 1923 book by Arthur Moeller van den Bruck . The book counted the Holy Roman Empire (962–1806) as the first Reich and

6750-445: The Nationalist forces of General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War , which began in July 1936. The German Condor Legion included a range of aircraft and their crews, as well as a tank contingent. The aircraft of the Legion destroyed the city of Guernica in 1937. The Nationalists were victorious in 1939 and became an informal ally of Nazi Germany. In February 1938, Hitler emphasised to Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg

6875-463: The Naval Technical Training Center. The Blue Angels would opt to use the Grumman F9F Panther in place of the Cutlass. Seven F7U-3 Cutlass aircraft are known to have survived: Data from Naval Fighters Number Six , Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation General characteristics Performance Armament Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Nazi Germany Nazi Germany , officially known as

7000-410: The Navy announced that the aircraft would be named Cutlass . During subsequent flight testing, one of the prototypes attained a maximum speed of 625 mph (1,058 km/h). During September 1949, Vought received a contract to modify the design and to produce 88 F7U-2 Cutlasses for the Navy. In May 1950, the Navy opted to halt F7U-1 production at 14 aircraft in favor of the updated model. None of

7125-419: The Navy had no solid alternative to readily take its place. The introduction of more powerful steam catapults during 1952 also aided the programme considerably. On 20 December 1951, the improved F7U-3 took off for its maiden flight; this model was a reconfiguration of the aircraft towards a more general purpose fighter configuration. Specific changes included the use of more powerful Westinghouse J46 engines,

7250-399: The Navy's grounding of all Westinghouse-powered F3H-1 Demons a "fiasco", with 21 unflyable planes, that could be used only for Navy ground training at a loss of $ 200 million. One high point of the J40 was the 1955 setting of an unofficial time-to-climb record, in a Demon, of 10,000 feet (3,000 m) in 71 seconds. A replacement engine could not be easily fitted into the grounded Demons, as

7375-482: The Nazis referred to as the Thousand-Year Reich , ended in May 1945, after only 12 years, when the Allies defeated Germany and entered the capital, Berlin , ending World War II in Europe . After Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President of the Weimar Republic Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933, the Nazi Party began to eliminate political opposition and consolidate power. Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934, and Hitler became dictator by merging

7500-421: The Party and a small number of independents elected. All civilian organisations had their leadership replaced with Nazi sympathisers or party members, and either merged with the Nazi Party or faced dissolution. The Nazi government declared a "Day of National Labor" for May Day 1933, and invited many trade union delegates to Berlin for celebrations. The day after, SA stormtroopers demolished union offices around

7625-403: The Polish Corridor but greatly expanding German territory eastward at the expense of Poland. He expected this time they would be met by force. The Germans reaffirmed their alliance with Italy and signed non-aggression pacts with Denmark, Estonia, and Latvia whilst trade links were formalised with Romania, Norway, and Sweden. Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop arranged in negotiations with

SECTION 60

#1732779963104

7750-402: The RAF in what became known as the Battle of Britain , and by the end of October, Hitler realised that air superiority would not be achieved. He permanently postponed the invasion, a plan which the commanders of the German army had never taken entirely seriously. Several historians, including Andrew Gordon , believe the primary reason for the failure of the invasion plan was the superiority of

7875-456: The Royal Navy, not the actions of the RAF. In February 1941, the German Afrika Korps arrived in Libya to aid the Italians in the North African Campaign . On 6 April, Germany launched an invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece . All of Yugoslavia and parts of Greece were subsequently divided between Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Bulgaria. On 22 June 1941, contravening the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, about 3.8 million Axis troops attacked

8000-429: The Soviet Union . Germany annexed parts of northern Yugoslavia in April 1941, while Mussolini ceded Trieste , South Tyrol , and Istria to Germany in 1943. Westinghouse J40 The Westinghouse J40 was an early high-performance afterburning turbojet engine designed by Westinghouse Aviation Gas Turbine Division starting in 1946 to a US Navy Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) request. BuAer intended to use

8125-493: The Soviet Union a non-aggression pact, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , signed in August 1939. The treaty also contained secret protocols dividing Poland and the Baltic states into German and Soviet spheres of influence. Germany's wartime foreign policy involved the creation of allied governments controlled directly or indirectly from Berlin. They intended to obtain soldiers from allies such as Italy and Hungary and workers and food supplies from allies such as Vichy France . Hungary

8250-506: The Soviet Union attacked from the east on 17 September. Reinhard Heydrich , chief of the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo; Security Police) and Sicherheitsdienst (SD; Security Service), ordered on 21 September that Polish Jews should be rounded up and concentrated into cities with good rail links. Initially the intention was to deport them further east, or possibly to Madagascar . Using lists prepared in advance , some 65,000 Polish intelligentsia, noblemen, clergy, and teachers were murdered by

8375-441: The Soviet Union in 1941, Nazi Germany attempted to implement the Generalplan Ost and Hunger Plan , as part of its war of extermination in Eastern Europe. The Soviet resurgence and entry of the US into the war meant Germany lost the initiative in 1943 and by late 1944 had been pushed back to the 1939 border. Large-scale aerial bombing of Germany escalated and the Axis powers were driven back in Eastern and Southern Europe. Germany

8500-443: The Soviet Union. In addition to Hitler's stated purpose of acquiring Lebensraum , this large-scale offensive—codenamed Operation Barbarossa —was intended to destroy the Soviet Union and seize its natural resources for subsequent aggression against the Western powers. The reaction among Germans was one of surprise and trepidation as many were concerned about how much longer the war would continue or suspected that Germany could not win

8625-463: The U.S. Navy, the Curtiss TS-1 of 1922. Vought's design was given the company type number V-346 and later received the official designation of F7U when the aircraft was announced to be the winner of the competition. Reviewing official found the design, despite its unconventional nature, to pose an acceptable level of risk, less so than some of the competing submissions. During June 1946, an initial order for three XF7U-1 prototypes, each powered by

8750-419: The United States. Food was in short supply in the conquered areas of the Soviet Union and Poland, as the retreating armies had burned the crops in some areas, and much of the remainder was sent back to the Reich. In Germany, rations were cut in 1942. In his role as Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan , Hermann Göring demanded increased shipments of grain from France and fish from Norway. The 1942 harvest

8875-444: The Weimar Republic, rejection of the Treaty of Versailles, radical antisemitism , and anti- Bolshevism . They promised a strong central government, increased Lebensraum ("living space") for Germanic peoples, formation of a national community based on race, and racial cleansing via the active suppression of Jews , who would be stripped of their citizenship and civil rights. The Nazis proposed national and cultural renewal based upon

9000-496: The afterburner. It weighed almost 3,500 pounds (1,600 kg), the -6 being almost 7 feet (2.1 m) shorter and about 600 pounds (270 kg) lighter, because it did not have an afterburner. In 1949, a higher-power J40-WE-12 non-afterburning version developing 9,500 lbf (42 kN) thrust, with better fuel consumption, was proposed for the A3D, and an afterburning version (J40-WE-10) developing 13,700 lbf (61 kN) thrust

9125-495: The airframes lost while accumulating 55,000 flight hours, the Cutlass had the highest accident rate of all Navy swept-wing fighters. Furthermore, according to Thomason, accidents involving the Cutlass were typically more severe than with other aircraft. The aircraft's poor safety record caused Vice Admiral Harold M. "Beauty" Martin, air commander of the United States Pacific Fleet , to replace the Cutlass with

9250-500: The blockade, imports into Germany declined by 80 per cent. To safeguard Swedish iron ore shipments to Germany, Hitler ordered the invasion of Denmark and Norway , which began on 9 April. Denmark fell after less than a day , while most of Norway followed by the end of the month. By early June, Germany occupied all of Norway . Against the advice of many of his senior military officers, in May 1940 Hitler ordered an attack on France and

9375-464: The business community, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933. This event is known as the Machtergreifung ("seizure of power"). On the night of 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building was set afire . Marinus van der Lubbe , a Dutch communist, was found guilty of starting the blaze. Hitler proclaimed that the arson marked the start of

9500-513: The churches. The Nazi regime abolished the symbols of the Weimar Republic—including the black, red, and gold tricolour flag —and adopted reworked symbolism. The previous imperial black, white, and red tricolour was restored as one of Germany's two official flags; the second was the swastika flag of the Nazi Party, which became the sole national flag in September 1935. The Party anthem " Horst-Wessel-Lied " ("Horst Wessel Song") became

9625-551: The country; all trade unions were forced to dissolve and their leaders were arrested. The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service , passed in April, removed from their jobs all teachers, professors, judges, magistrates, and government officials who were Jewish or whose commitment to the party was suspect. This meant the only non-political institutions not under control of the Nazis were

9750-420: The definitive production version, a total of 288 aircraft equipping 13 U.S. Navy squadrons. Further development of the type came to an end shortly after flight testing of the more capable Vought F8U Crusader commenced. The F7U's performance suffered due to a lack of sufficient engine thrust ; consequently, its carrier landing and take-off performance was notoriously poor. The J35 was known to flame out in rain,

9875-482: The design in several fighter aircraft and a bomber. However, while an early low-power design was successful, attempts to scale it up to its full design power failed, and the design was finally abandoned, deemed a "fiasco" and a "flop". The design originally called for an engine of 7,500  lbf (33 kN) thrust at sea level static conditions without afterburner and 10,900 lbf thrust with afterburner. A more powerful model 9,500/13,700 lbf thrust version

10000-563: The electorate in a plebiscite . Most Germans were relieved that the conflicts and street fighting of the Weimar era had ended. They were deluged with propaganda orchestrated by Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels , who promised peace and plenty for all in a united, Marxist-free country without the constraints of the Versailles Treaty. The Nazi Party obtained and legitimised power through its initial revolutionary activities, then through manipulation of legal mechanisms,

10125-529: The end of 1939 in an attempt to destroy Poland's identity as a nation. Soviet forces advanced into Finland in the Winter War , and German forces saw action at sea. But little other activity occurred until May, so the period became known as the " Phoney War ". From the start of the war, a British blockade on shipments to Germany affected its economy. Germany was particularly dependent on foreign supplies of oil, coal, and grain. Thanks to trade embargoes and

10250-602: The establishment of the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, which stripped them of their basic rights. The Nazis would take from the Jews their wealth, their right to intermarry with non-Jews, and their right to occupy many fields of labour (such as law, medicine, or education). Eventually the Nazis declared the Jews as undesirable to remain among German citizens and society. As early as February 1933, Hitler announced that rearmament must begin, albeit clandestinely at first, as to do so

10375-523: The excitement of the crowd. Later, while traveling to an airshow at Naval Air Station Glenview in Chicago, Illinois , another Blue Angel pilot, Lt Harding MacKnight, experienced an engine flameout in his Cutlass, forcing him to make an emergency landing at NAS Glenview. Traveling with him, Feightner was redirected to make his landing at Chicago's former Orchard Airpark, which had been expanded and renamed O'Hare Airport . The runway had just been completed and

10500-473: The execution of more than 4,900 people. The failed Ardennes Offensive (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was the last major German offensive on the western front, and Soviet forces entered Germany on 27 January. Hitler's refusal to admit defeat and his insistence that the war be fought to the last man led to unnecessary death and destruction in the war's closing months. Through his Justice Minister Otto Georg Thierack , Hitler ordered that anyone who

10625-1126: The failed German offensive at the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943. By the end of 1943, the Germans had lost most of their eastern territorial gains. In Egypt, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel 's Afrika Korps were defeated by British forces under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery in October 1942. The Allies landed in Sicily in July 1943 and were on the Italian peninsula by September. Meanwhile, American and British bomber fleets based in Britain began operations against Germany . Many sorties were intentionally given civilian targets in an effort to destroy German morale. The bombing of aircraft factories as well as Peenemünde Army Research Center , where V-1 and V-2 rockets were being developed and produced, were also deemed particularly important. German aircraft production could not keep pace with losses, and without air cover

10750-515: The fuselage had to be redesigned and enlarged. When this redesign was done to accommodate the J71, the wing area was also enlarged to counter the increased weight of the all-weather aircraft. The F4D Skyray that had been designed to more easily accept different engines emerged in production powered by the Pratt & Whitney J57 . The A3D emerged with non-afterburning J57 engines as well. The F10F-1 program

10875-668: The future. Food supplies were precarious; production dropped in most of Europe. Famine was experienced in many occupied countries. Hitler's peace overtures to the new British Prime Minister Winston Churchill were rejected in July 1940. Grand Admiral Erich Raeder had advised Hitler in June that air superiority was a pre-condition for a successful invasion of Britain , so Hitler ordered a series of aerial attacks on Royal Air Force (RAF) airbases and radar stations, as well as nightly air raids on British cities, including London , Plymouth , and Coventry . The German Luftwaffe failed to defeat

11000-581: The higher-powered J40-WE-10 would be the power plant. These first production Demons were grounded for a redesign to accept the J71 engine after the loss of six aircraft and four pilots. The decision to move the Demon to the J71 had occurred long before the initial production batch emerged and with the development of a suitable afterburner for the J71 being protracted, BuAer decided to accept the early aircraft with Westinghouse J40-WE-22A and -22 engines. This decision came under Congressional review in 1955 and drew sharp criticism from Congress. Time Magazine called

11125-578: The more powerful Westinghouse J46 engine. The F7U-3M model was the first aircraft in US Navy service to be capable of firing the AAM-N-2 Sparrow I air-to-air missile . While it had been intended to equip the Cutlass with radar , such apparatus would be excluded due to weight constraints. Production orders were placed for the F7U-1 under a specification that remained relatively close to that of

11250-531: The muzzle blast from the 20mm cannons caused the engines to flame out , however this was solved when the US Navy approached weapons expert George M. Chinn who designed a flame-out eliminator, a similar device to the Cutts compensator used on the Thompson submachine gun to divert the muzzle blast that solved the problem. The very long nose landing gear strut required for high angle of attack takeoffs lifted

11375-478: The need for Germany to secure its frontiers. Schuschnigg scheduled a plebiscite regarding Austrian independence for 13 March, but Hitler sent an ultimatum to Schuschnigg on 11 March demanding that he hand over all power to the Austrian Nazi Party or face an invasion. German troops entered Austria the next day, to be greeted with enthusiasm by the populace. The Republic of Czechoslovakia was home to

11500-400: The pilot 14 feet into the air and was fully steerable. The high position of the nose relative to the flight deck posed visibility difficulties for the pilot. Furthermore, the high stresses of barrier engagements, and side-loads imposed during early deployment carrier landings caused failure of the retract cylinder's internal down-locks, causing nose gear failure and resultant spinal injuries to

11625-532: The pilot could feel aerodynamic forces acting on the aircraft. The hydraulic system operated at 3000 psi, twice that of other Navy aircraft; however, the system proved to be not ready for front-line service and experienced a high level of unreliability. Allegedly, this was at least partially due to many components having been intended for lower pressure hydraulic systems, resulting in a high rate of failure and thus exacerbating overall unreliability. During flight testing, aviator John Glenn and various test pilots found

11750-416: The pilot. To help mitigate the loading forces exerted upon the nose landing gear actuator and mounting structure, Vought's design engineers added small turbines, powered by bleed air from the engines, to pre-spin on the nosegear tires to 90 mph prior to landing. Furthermore, an automatic fuel transfer system maintained the aircraft's center of gravity . The initial models of the Cutlass were powered by

11875-497: The plan, as Germany was not yet ready for war. The crisis led to war preparations by Britain, Czechoslovakia, and France (Czechoslovakia's ally). Attempting to avoid war, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain arranged a series of meetings, the result of which was the Munich Agreement , signed on 29 September 1938. The Czechoslovak government was forced to accept the Sudetenland's annexation into Germany. Chamberlain

12000-551: The powers of the chancellery and presidency. A 1934 German referendum confirmed Hitler as sole Führer (leader). Power was centralised in Hitler's person, and his word became the highest law. The government was not a coordinated, cooperating body, but rather a collection of factions struggling to amass power. In the midst of the Great Depression , the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending. Financed by deficit spending ,

12125-488: The prototypes, and further developed F7U-2 and F7U-3 versions with more powerful engines. Because of development problems with the powerplant, however, the F7U-2 would never be built, while the F7U-3 would incorporate many refinements that came out of flight tests of the -1. The first 16 F7U-3s were powered by non-afterburning Allison J35 -A-29 engines. The -3, with its Westinghouse J46-WE-8B turbojets, would eventually become

12250-606: The provisions of the Reichstag Fire Decree to keep several Social Democratic deputies from attending, and the Communists had already been banned. The Enabling Act would subsequently serve as the legal foundation for the dictatorship the Nazis established. On 10 May, the government seized the assets of the Social Democrats, and they were banned on 22 June. On 21 June, the SA raided the offices of

12375-589: The regime undertook extensive public works projects, including the Autobahnen (motorways) and a massive secret rearmament program , forming the Wehrmacht (armed forces). The return to economic stability boosted the regime's popularity. Germany made increasingly aggressive territorial demands, threatening war if they were not met. Germany seized Austria in the Anschluss of 1938, and demanded and received

12500-793: The regime. The Germanic peoples were considered by the Nazis to be the " master race ", the purest branch of the Aryan race. Jews , Romani people , Slavs , homosexuals , liberals , socialists , communists , other political opponents, Jehovah's Witnesses , Freemasons , those who refused to work , and other "undesirables" were imprisoned, deported , or murdered. Christian churches and citizens that opposed Hitler's rule were oppressed and leaders imprisoned. Education focused on racial biology , population policy, and fitness for military service. Career and educational opportunities for women were curtailed . Nazi Propaganda Ministry disseminated films, antisemitic canards , and organized mass rallies; fostering

12625-523: The stock market in the United States crashed in 1929 , the effect in Germany was dire. Millions were thrown out of work and several major banks collapsed. Hitler and the Nazis prepared to take advantage of the emergency to gain support for their party. They promised to strengthen the economy and provide jobs. Many voters decided the Nazi Party was capable of restoring order, quelling civil unrest, and improving Germany's international reputation. After

12750-437: The strengthened airframe. Furthermore, test pilots gave particular praise for its high roll rate of 570 degrees/s, which was three times faster than most production jets at the time. Some pilots have suggested that inexperience with swept wing aircraft, as well as other innovative features of the aircraft, likely contributed to the poor accident record. Early on, it was discovered that the Cutlass would gyrate after experiencing

12875-529: The total German war dead range from 5.5 to 6.9 million persons. A study by German historian Rüdiger Overmans puts the number of German military dead and missing at 5.3 million, including 900,000 men conscripted from outside of Germany's 1937 borders. Richard Overy estimated in 2014 that about 353,000 civilians were killed in Allied air raids. Other civilian deaths include 300,000 Germans (including Jews) who were victims of Nazi political, racial, and religious persecution and 200,000 who were murdered in

13000-543: The type being withdrawn during the late 1950s despite having been in service for less than ten years. The Cutlass was developed in response to a competition organised by the United States Navy for a new carrier-capable day fighter that was launched on 1 June 1945. Specific requirements of the competition included the ability to fly at speeds of up to 600 miles per hour (970 km/h) and altitudes of up to 40,000 feet (12,000 m). Vought decided to respond with

13125-421: The use of police powers, and by taking control of the state and federal institutions. The first major Nazi concentration camp , initially for political prisoners, was opened at Dachau in 1933. Hundreds of camps of varying size and function were created by the end of the war. Beginning in April 1933, scores of measures defining the status of Jews and their rights were instituted. These measures culminated in

13250-494: The war drew to a close. Suicide rates in Germany increased, particularly in areas where the Red Army was advancing. Among soldiers and party personnel, suicide was often deemed an honourable and heroic alternative to surrender. First-hand accounts and propaganda about the uncivilised behaviour of the advancing Soviet troops caused panic among civilians on the Eastern Front, especially women, who feared being raped. More than

13375-427: Was a carrier -based jet fighter and fighter-bomber . It featured broad chord , low aspect ratio swept wings , with twin wing-mounted tail fins either side of a short fuselage . There were no flaps . The cockpit , which was pressurized , was situated well forward to provide good visibility for the pilot during aircraft carrier approaches . The pilot was provisioned with an ejector seat . Common nicknames for

13500-527: Was a missile-armed all-weather fighter over 8,000 lb (3,600 kg) heavier than the XF3H-1 had been, and even the high-powered J71 could not restore its performance. The F3H-1N Demon single-engine jet fighter was initially a severe disappointment, due to the unreliability of the J40 and the difficulties of flying the much heavier airframe with the lower-powered J40-WE-22A engines. The airframe design had assumed

13625-494: Was a powerful ally, the relationship was distant, with little co-ordination or co-operation. For example, Germany refused to share their formula for synthetic oil from coal until late in the war. Germany invaded Poland and captured the Free City of Danzig on 1 September 1939, beginning World War II in Europe. Honouring their treaty obligations, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. Poland fell quickly, as

13750-493: Was among those that affected the most military programs. The program failure was primarily due to lack of investment in research and experimental resources by Westinghouse, leaving them unable to resolve the issues with the various models of the engines. In 1953 Westinghouse worked with Rolls-Royce to offer engines based on the Avon , which had similar performance but matured into an excellent design of even higher output. Westinghouse

13875-562: Was conquered by the Soviet Union from the east and the other Allies from the west, and capitulated on 8 May 1945. Hitler's refusal to admit defeat led to massive destruction of German infrastructure and additional war-related deaths in the closing months of the war. The Allies initiated a policy of denazification and put many of the surviving Nazi leadership on trial for war crimes at the Nuremberg trials . Common English terms for

14000-516: Was covered with peach baskets to prevent aircraft from landing until it was opened. Feightner was told to ignore the baskets and land on the new runway. As a result, Feightner's F7U became the first aircraft to land on the new runway for Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Following these incidents, the two Cutlasses were deemed unsuitable for demonstration flying and were flown to Naval Air Station Memphis , Tennessee, where they were abandoned to become aircraft maintenance instructional airframes for

14125-437: Was declared the winner in 1946. On 29 September 1948, the prototype performed its maiden flight ; all three prototypes would be lost during the flight test program. It was initially powered by a pair of Westinghouse J34 turbojet engines which were relatively underpowered, contributing to its accident-prone nature; its unreliable hydraulic flight control system was also a source of difficulties. The first production model of

14250-417: Was dropped. Germany was now a totalitarian state with Hitler at its head. As head of state, Hitler became Supreme Commander of the armed forces. The new law provided an altered loyalty oath for servicemen so that they affirmed loyalty to Hitler personally rather than the office of supreme commander or the state. On 19 August, the merger of the presidency with the chancellorship was approved by 90 per cent of

14375-641: Was good, and food supplies remained adequate in Western Europe. Germany and Europe as a whole were almost totally dependent on foreign oil imports. In an attempt to resolve the shortage, in June 1942 Germany launched Fall Blau ("Case Blue"), an offensive against the Caucasian oilfields. The Red Army launched a counter-offensive on 19 November and encircled the Axis forces, who were trapped in Stalingrad on 23 November. Göring assured Hitler that

14500-526: Was greeted with cheers when he landed in London, saying the agreement brought "peace for our time". Austrian and Czech foreign exchange reserves were seized by the Nazis, as were stockpiles of raw materials such as metals and completed goods such as weaponry and aircraft, which were shipped to Germany. The Reichswerke Hermann Göring industrial conglomerate took control of steel and coal production facilities in both countries. In January 1934, Germany signed

14625-545: Was in June 1947 that the Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics contracted for its development. The prototype engine first ran in November 1948. According to an article in the April 1949 edition of the Naval Aviation Confidential Bulletin by Lieutenant Commander Neil D. Harkleroad of the Bureau of Aeronautics Power Plant Division, "The engine has been operating successfully to date." As of that writing,

14750-497: Was in violation of the Versailles Treaty. On 17 May 1933, Hitler gave a speech before the Reichstag outlining his desire for world peace and accepted an offer from American President Franklin D. Roosevelt for military disarmament, provided the other nations of Europe did the same. When the other European powers failed to accept this offer, Hitler pulled Germany out of the World Disarmament Conference and

14875-401: Was intended to replace the earlier engines in the various airframes. In total, thirteen different variations were planned. The projected need for the higher-power engines led BuAer to place a second source production contract with Ford Motor Company, Lincoln Mercury Division for both J40-WE-10 and J40-WE-12 engines. The higher-powered versions proved to have a flawed compressor design and lacked

15000-525: Was not completed until January 1951, a year behind schedule. The afterburner was particularly troublesome – the afterburning version of the engine, the J40-WE-8, did not pass its 150-hour qualification until August 1952. As a result, J40-WE-6 engines without afterburners had to be used for initial testing, causing delays in flight test programs. Early on even the low-powered versions of the engine were considered unusable because of reliability problems. The A3D would prove successful with alternate engines, but

15125-432: Was not prepared to fight should be court-martialed, and thousands of people were executed. In many areas, people surrendered to the approaching Allies in spite of exhortations of local leaders to continue to fight. Hitler ordered the destruction of transport, bridges, industries, and other infrastructure—a scorched earth decree—but Armaments Minister Albert Speer prevented this order from being fully carried out. During

15250-461: Was out of the aircraft engine business by 1965 when their 6,200 lbf (28 kN) thrust, scaled-down version of the 12,000 lbf (53 kN) Avon 300-series engine, the XJ54, also failed to find a United States market. The J57 would also replace, for the U.S. Navy, the disastrous Westinghouse J40 that never fully materialized in acceptable form Westinghouse Electric Corporation established

15375-437: Was proposed for the fighter projects. Both versions were accepted and became the engines the airframes were designed to use. The lower-powered early development models were now intended to be used only for ground and initial flight testing until the high-powered engines became available. Development of the big engine was protracted. The all-important 150-hour qualification test that was to have been accomplished in December 1949

15500-489: Was succeeded by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz as Reich President and Goebbels as Reich Chancellor. Goebbels and his wife Magda committed suicide the next day after murdering their six children . Between 4 and 8 May 1945, most of the remaining German armed forces unconditionally surrendered. The German Instrument of Surrender was signed 8 May, marking the end of the Nazi regime and the end of World War II in Europe . Popular support for Hitler almost completely disappeared as

15625-682: Was the fourth nation to join the Axis, signing the Tripartite Pact on 27 September 1940. Bulgaria signed the pact on 17 November. German efforts to secure oil included negotiating a supply from their new ally, Romania , who signed the Pact on 23 November, alongside the Slovak Republic. By late 1942, there were 24 divisions from Romania on the Eastern Front, 10 from Italy, and 10 from Hungary. Germany assumed full control in France in 1942, Italy in 1943, and Hungary in 1944. Although Japan

#103896