F7U-3 Cutlass Letter and Poster from John W. Konrad

A letter and poster from John Konrad, Chief Pilot with Chance Vought, to Wilson C. Travis, a young boy, regarding the Chance Vought F7U-3 Cutlass.

John William Konrad was a distinguished test pilot whose aviation career spanned 56 years. Entering the US Army Air Corps in 1943, he served as a B-17 pilot with the 305th Bomber Group in Germany and later as a C-47 commander in the Berlin Airlift. Returning from Europe, he was selected for the first test pilot training school in Dayton, Ohio and subsequently assigned to Muroc Army Airfield, California, later known as Edwards Air Force Base. Leaving the US Air Force in 1953, he joined Chance Vought Aircraft Corporation in 1954 as an experimental test pilot in Dallas, Texas, later becoming the Chief Experimental Test Pilot, Manager of Flight Test Ops and Director of Engineer Test. After retiring from Vought in 1990, he flew in numerous airshows and was inducted into the Texas Frontiers of Flight Hall of Fame in 2000.