DS> Anyone out there have details and/or experience with the F-7
 DS> Tigercat?  I've seen a model of one but am having trouble finding any
 DS> more information about this plane.
        Daniel, here's some additional information I dragged out of the
basement for you regarding the F7F Tigercat, as well as the later F11F Tiger
and Supertiger
                       The Grumman F7F Tigercat
The F7F Tigercat was ordered by the Navy on the same day in June of 
1941 that it ordered the F6F Hellcat. The Navy had been studying air combat 
in Europe the previous two years, and concluded that the things that mattered 
most were engine power, armament, protective armor and self-sealing tanks. At
a time when the average U.S. Navy fighter had 1,000 hp and two machine guns, 
the Bureau of Aeronautics asked Grumman to build a fighter with more than 
4,000 hp and a weight of fire more than 100 times as great.
The F6F project advanced quickly due to its more modest goals, resulting 
in the introduction into battle of the war-winning Hellcat in early 1943. The 
F7F project, being far more ambitious, meant that the first Tigercat 
prototype 
did not fly until December of 1943, and the first service deliveries did not
take place until October of 1944. Tigercats were deployed to Guam and Okinawa 
in
May of 1945 and saw limited combat in the waning days of the war. 
Had the invasion of Japan been necessary, the tremedous versatility of the
F7F design would probably have resulted in its becoming the Navy's single 
most 
effective and valuable aircraft. In 1945, the F7F Tigercat was the fastest 
aircraft in the sky at low altitude, was almost as fast as the Mustang at 
high altitude, had an absolutely devastating firepower of four 20-mm cannon 
(200 rpg) and four .50 caliber machine guns (300 rpg), could outmaneuver a 
P-38 or a Japanese "Nick" (two contempory twin-engine designs) and could 
outclimb everything but an F8F Bearcat. As a fighter bomber, it could be 
equipped with a torpedo, or two 1,000 lb bombs, or six rockets. The rugged, 
battle-tested design of its two air-cooled 2,100 hp radial Pratt & Whitney 
R-2800-22W Double Wasp engines and excellent protective armor meant that it 
could sustain battle damage that no other fighter could withstand and still 
get its pilot back home. In addition, the F7F was roomy enough to incorporate 
a second seat and a radar operator, resulting in a night fighter as capable 
as the newest and fastest USAAF model - the P-61C Black Widow. With the 
veterans of Japanese airforce largely shot out the sky, the emphasis for 
Naval air missions would have shifted from air-to-air combat to ground attack 
sorties such as attacks on kamikazi aerodomes, interdiction of rail and 
other ground transport facilities and strikes against coastal shipping, all 
for which the F7F Tigercat was imminently suited. 
As it turned out, of course, the Tigercat as an air-to-air fighter wound up 
only a footnote in the history of aviation. Like so many other excellent 
aircraft of its era, the Tigercat as an air superiority fighter was made 
obsolete by the dawn of the age of jets. By the time the Navy found itself in 
air-to-air combat five years later in the skies over Korea, it was meeting 
that challenge with its first jets, most notably the Tigercat's (and 
Bearcat's) direct successor, the Grumman F9F Panther. But the Tigercat lived 
on in Korea as the Navy's and Marine's most advanced night-fighter until 
replaced late in that war by the jet-powered F3D Skyknight. The Tigercat also 
was used heavily by the shore-based Marines in Korea as a very capable 
ighter
-bomber, supplementing the work of F4U Corsairs, AD-1 Skyraiders, F9F 
Panthers 
and F2H Banshees in critically important Naval and Marine close-air and 
interdiction strikes against the North Korean and Chinese Communists.
e-mail: phartl@siopmag.ucsd.edu
Phone: 619-587-8878 (home)
        619-534-6531 (office)
   The Grumman F11F Tiger and F11F-F1 SuperTiger
The Grumman F11F Tiger's two greatest claims to fame were both results
of peacetime activities. To many of us "boomers" who grew up in the fifties 
and sixties, the F11F Tiger was THE Blue Angels jet. The Angels flew the
Tiger from 1957 to 1969, the longest period for any aircraft, a period which
corresponded to the duration of conscious childhood for me. Indeed, when the 
Angels finally changed over to F-4J Phantoms in 1969, I felt as if I'd lost 
an old friend!  The Tiger's other claim to fame is not nearly as glorious, 
however, as it was the only U.S. military aircraft known to have shot itself 
down! This decidedly inglorious incident occurred in September 1956 when 
Grumman test pilot Tom Attridge was test firing the craft's 20-mm cannon in a 
dive and somehow managed to catch up with his own projectiles! There were at 
least three hits, one on the windshield, one on the nose cone and one on the
starboard intake which apparently was subsequently ingested by the engine. 
Attridge managed to get out of the aircraft after a crash landing.
The F11F Tiger started out as a proposed design modification of the
F9F Cougar to incorporate the newly discovered "area rule" concept to reduce
transonic drag and push the jet through Mach 1. The plan soon evolved into a 
completely new design, and by spring 1953, the F11F project had begun. The 
area rule stated that the total frontal cross-sectional area of the aircraft 
must be maintained down the length of the aircraft. Thus, where wings and 
tail surfaces joined the fuselage, the fuselage cross section must be reduced 
to allow for the increase in frontal area presented by those components. This 
gave rise to the "coke bottle" fuselage shapes of this and other aircraft of 
its era (most notably Republic's F-105 Thunderchief). The design worked. The 
F11F exceeded Mach 1 in level flight soon into its test program in the fall 
of 1954, even though the specified engine was not yet ready. When the F11F 
finally was properly engined, it was with a 7,400/10,500 lb thrust 
dry/afterburning J65-W-18, which gave it top speed of 754 mph and a rate of 
climb about 10,000 ft/min.
However, rapid advances in jet engine design during this period made
this performance almost obsolete before the F11F could reach its destination
squadrons. Vought, McDonnell, Douglas and others were all vying for a shot
at becoming the Navy's number one fighter contractor, and this time Grumman
had taken a misstep. Grumman of course soon realized this, and quickly drew 
up plans for a Super Tiger, designated F11F-1F, to be powered by a 
9,600/15,000 lb thrust dry/afterburning General Electric YJ79-GE-3. This 
version of the F11F first flew in May 1956 and attained a speed of Mach 2 
and set an altitude record of 80,250 feet a year later. But it was too late. 
Vought had in the meantime won the competition for first-line fighter with 
its 
excellent F8U Crusader, and McDonnell-Douglas sealed up all possible chances 
for a Grumman comeback shortly thereafter with its superb F4 Phantom.
 
All in all, just 200 or so F11F Tigers served with the Navy as front-line 
fighters from March 1957 to April 1961. If the F11F-1F Super Tiger had been
available a bit sooner, these would almost surely have seen action over 
Vietnam in the middle and late sixties, but this was not to be. Grumman had 
lost out, and for the first time in 28 years, since even before the F4F 
Wildcats of Midway and Guadalcanal fame, no Grumman fighters were protecting 
the fleet. Not until 1974 did Grumman make its fighter comeback with the 
F-14A Tomcats. 20 years later, F-14 Tomcats still patrol the skies over the 
fleet as its first-line fighter.
Specifications          F11F-1       F11F-1F
Dimensions:
Span                    31'7"         31'7"
Length                  46'11"        48'9"
Height                  13'3"         14'5"
Wing Area, sq. ft.      250           250
Weights (lb):
Empty                   14,330      16,457
Loaded                  21,280      23,360
Max                     24,078      26,086
Performance:
Max speed, mph            754(s.l.)   1,325 (35K ft) 
Cruise speed, mph         578         580
Climb rate, ft/min        10,000*     30,000*
Service Ceiling, ft.      42,000      50,300
Normal range, miles       1,275       1,136
Powerplant, type          J65-W-18        YJ79-GE-8
Powerplant, lb. thrust    7,400/10,500    9,600/15,000 (dry/afterburning) 
Armament:            4x 20mm cannon    4x 20mm cannon
Weapons load:           4,000 lb.      2,000 lb.
Weapons types:  Bombs, 5-in HVAR or HPAG rockets, Sidewinder             
(* Rene Francillon gives unrealistically low climb rates for both Tiger 
versions, so I have put down estimates based on power/weight ratios and 
comparisons with other similar aircraft such as the F3H Demon and F8U 
Crusader. His numbers are 5,130 and 8,950 ft/min.) 
Reference Source: 
"Grumman Aircraft Since 1929" by Rene J. Francillon
e-mail: phartl@siopmag.ucsd.edu
Phone: 619-587-8878 (home)
 619-534-6531 (office)
                Have Fun,
                        Christopher
... "Do you suppose we've died and gone to the Army?" -- Trapper
___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 [NR]
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