Warbird Information Exchange

Are there any FJ3-M'S flying yet?
CHUCK

Chuck,

I do not believe there are any flying examples of North American Furys out there other than the FJ-4B Fury that flys with the "MiG Fury" air show team.

I would love to see an FJ-3M Fury in the air, but I am not aware of any active project to restore one to flying status.

It would be nice to see a few more types of Navy/Marine Jet Fighters of the fifties brought to flying warbird status (Fury/Cougar/Panther/Demon, Skyray, etc.) but availabilty of good airframes and the expense and complexity of this type of undertaking probably do not make it likely we will see a lot of these.

Jim C.

Out of curiousity, how much more complex is a Fury/Cougar/Panther/Demon/Skyray in comparision to an F-86 or T-33? There seems to be a few Sabres around, as well as T-33s. Or is it more of the complexity/limitations/difficulties of operating early jet engines (& their systems) that makes early jets a bit of a rarity?

Sure would be nice to see more flying, especially an F-84 or two...


greg v.

I think there are experts who can address this a lot better than I can, but I think the number of Sabres and T-33s around has something to do with the large number of examples that came from Canada and may have been less problematic from a maintenance and operation standpoint.

Asides from maintenance and operating difficulties, I think there were just not the availability of decent examples of the other types. I would love to see some of these rare types be brought to a flying state.

The apparent problems and delays with bringing that F-86L in Texas back to flyable condition is another example of this.

Jim C.

Does anyone know what happened to the Fury that was a pylon sitter at
Seawolf Park on Pelican Island (Galveston), Texas. It's been gone for 5 years or so now...I don't know what dash number it was, only it was a Fury with a load of seagull stuff..Tom

Doesn't Duane Doyle have a FJ-3 under restoration to fly?

Jim

I believe the one in Galveston was a FJ4
I was a plane captain on a FJ3M on my last cruise in 58.
prior to the Fury i was a PC on a F9F-5 and a A4D-1
CHUCK

In addition to the Navy planes listed, it seems that unfortunately we will not see an F-84, Dog Sabre, F-89 or F-94 in the air again either. A few years ago it was reported that an F7U was being restored to fly, but that possibility has seemed to have gone away also.

So tell us what Squadron / airwing and ship / airfield you where on? I'm always interested to hear such things.

Tim

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www.tailhookstudio.com

With the F9F-5's and the A4D-1's I was at NAS QUONSET POINT, RI in VA-72, CAG-7 Along with VA-75, VF-71 and VF-74
we were phasing out the panthers and getting the A4D's went to the USS RANDOLPH CVA-15 For carquals picking up VF-61 with F3H DEMONS then to cuba for gunnery.
2 Months of bouncing back and forth between Gitmo and the Saratoga for more quals.
Trasferred CAG-7 to NAS OCEANA.
The NAVY saw fit to transfer me to VF-62 at CECIL FIELD. Getting there I discover they are deployed on the USS ESSEX CVA-9 with ATG 201 for a med cruise. along with VF-11, VA-105 VA-83, VAH-7, VAW-12, VA(AW)-33 and VFP-62
our turn around point for the cruise ended up off the coast of Formosa for 30 days.
Left mayport aroung the first of Feb 1958 and pulled back in in Nov 58.
Great cruise.
CHUCK

There is still one if civilian hands in Newberry. You never know where that will end up.

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When all is said and done more is said than done.

There is an F7U in the Museum of Flight restoration shop at KPAE. I believe the long term goal is to turn it into a flyer, but if I remember correctly it is quite a ways down on the priority list.

-WC

When I listed some of the Navy/Marine jet fighters of the fifties in one of my earlier posts I did leave out the Cutlass. It didn't come to mind at the time, but it certainly was a unique and interesting aircraft with a short lived USN operational history. Seeing one fly would be great, but it seems to me that the known problematic career of the F7U-3 and F7U-3M, may make it one of the more difficult fifties vintage jet fighters to bring to and maintain in flyable shape.

Jim C.

Chuck, you worked with some interesting airplanes back then. In my humble opinion the FJ-3M Fury was the best looking of the entire FJ-2/FJ-3/FJ-4 series of jet fighters.

I think the "MiG Fury" FJ-4B/AF-1E Fury is a GREAT looking airplane and it is unique as the only Fury to be in operational service (with the Reserve) into the mid-sixties, and I loved seeing it in the air at Thunder Over Michigan in 2005. But from a purely personal view of jet fighter aircraft aesthetics, the FJ-3 and FJ-3M is my favorite.


Jim C.

JWC
Plus after flight quarters was secured for the night (AROUND 0200)
throwing my blanket and pillow down the intake they made a good bed until 0500 flight quarters went.
CHUCK