By Tommy H. Thomason

Friday, July 4, 2008

XFL-1 Carrier Suitability Evaluation

The Bell XFL-1 flunked its shore-based carrier suitability evaluation due to excessive tail rise on arrestment, not that it was being seriously considered for production after the XF4U reportedly exceeded 400 mph in level flight. Note that the pilot is not wearing a shoulder harness, which was surprisingly absent in all Navy carrier aircraft at the time given the abrupt stop involved in an arrested landing.

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