Grumman F9F-8 Cougar on on static display in the Great gallery of the Museum of Flight, Boeing Field, Seattle
Grumman F9F-8 Cougar on on static display in the Great gallery of the Museum of Flight, Boeing Field, Seattle. The F9F Cougar is the swept wing version of its forerunner, the F9F Panther -- Grumman's first jet fighter plane. As MiG-15s tangled with the slower, less agile Panthers and McDonnell Banshees over Korea, the Navy requested a swept wing F9F design from Grumman. The first Cougars were delivered in November of 1951, a year after the debut of the MiG-15 and never saw combat in Korea. But the Cougar, built as a stop-gap, became a successful design with 1,988 built. The last Cougar, an advanced trainer version, was phased out in 1974. The Museum's Cougar was built at Grumman's Bethpage, New York factory and delivered to the Navy on January 25, 1955. The plane served with Navy and Marine units in North Carolina, Virginia, and Texas. In 1964. Today, it wears the colors of Navy Fighter Squadron VF-81. The Grumman F9F/F-9 Cougar was an aircraft carrier-based fighter aircraft for the United States Navy. Based on the earlier Grumman F9F Panther, the Cougar replaced the Panther's straight wing with a more modern swept wing. The Navy considered the Cougar an updated version of the Panther, despite having a different official name, and thus Cougars started off from F9F-6 upwards. The F9F-8 was the final fighter version. It featured an 8 in (20 cm) stretch in the fuselage and modified wings with greater chord and wing area, to improve low-speed, high angle of attack flying and to give more room for fuel tanks. 601 aircraft were delivered between April 1954 and March 1957; most were given inflight refuelling probes, and late production were given the ability to carry four AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles under the wings. Most earlier aircraft were modified to this configuration. A number were given nuclear bombing equipment. These were redesignated F-9J in 1962.
Size: 5050px × 3360px
Location: Museum of Flight, 9404 East Marginal Way South, Seattle, Washington 98108
Photo credit: © John Gaffen 2 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: carrier-based, cougar, f9f, fighter, navy
