The
Grumman F9F/F-9 Cougar was an
aircraft carrierAn aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power great distances without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
-based
fighter aircraftA fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets by dropping bombs. Fighters are small, fast, and maneuverable...
for the
United States NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
. Based on the earlier Grumman
F9F PantherThe Grumman F9F Panther was the manufacturer's first jet fighter and the U.S. Navy's second carrier jet fighter. The Panther was the most widely used U.S. Navy jet fighter of the Korean War. It flew 78,000 sorties and was responsible for the first air kill by the US Navy in the war—the downing of a...
, the Cougar replaced the Panther's straight wing with a more modern
swept wingA swept wing is a wing planform with a wing root to wingtip direction angled beyond the spanwise axis, generally used to delay the drag rise caused by fluid compressibility. Swept wings provide lateral stability and it was for this reason that the concept was first employed in the designs of...
. 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.
Design and development
Prototypes were quickly produced by modifying Panthers, and the first (XF9F-6) flew on 20 September 1951. The aircraft was still subsonic, but the
criticalIn aerodynamics, the critical Mach number of an aircraft is the lowest Mach number at which the airflow over a small region of the wing reaches the speed of sound....
Mach numberMach number is the speed of an object moving through air, or any fluid substance, divided by the speed of sound as it is in that substance...
was increased from 0.79 to 0.86 at sea level and to 0.895 at 35,000 ft (10,000 m), improving performance markedly over the Panther. The Cougar would not be outclassed by Russian
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 was a jet fighter developed for the USSR by Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich. The MiG-15 was one of the first successful swept-wing jet fighters, and it achieved fame in the skies over Korea, where early in the war, it outclassed all straight-winged enemy fighters in...
s, but it was too late to see
Korean warThe Korean War is a war that started between North Korea and South Korea on 25 June 1950 and paused with an armistice signed 27 July, 1953...
service.
Initial production (646 airframes) was the
F9F-6, delivered from mid 1952 through July 1954. Armament was four 20 mm (.79 in) M2 cannons in the nose and provision for two 1,000 lb (454 kg) bombs or 150 US gal (570 l) drop tanks under the wings. Most were fitted with a UHF homing antenna under the nose, and some were fitted with probes for inflight refuelling. Later redesignated
F-9F in 1962. Sixty were built as
F9F-6P reconnaissance aircraft with cameras instead of the nose cannon.
After withdrawal from active service, many F9F-6s were used as unmanned drones for combat training, designated
F9F-6K, or as drone directors, designated
F9F-6D. The F9F-6K and the F9F-6D were redesignated the
QF-9F and
DF-9F, respectively.
F9F-7 referred to the next batch of Cougars that were given the
Allison J33The General Electric/Allison J33 was a US-produced development of Frank Whittle's early Rolls-Royce Derwent, enlarged to produce dramatically more thrust, starting at and ending at with an additional low-altitude boost to with water-alcohol injection....
engine instead of the Pratt & Whitney J48. 168 were built, but the J33 proved both less powerful and less reliable than the J48. Almost all were converted to take J48s, and were thus indistinguishable from F9F-6s. These were redesignated
F-9H in 1962.
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 SidewinderThe AIM-9 Sidewinder is a heat-seeking, short-range, air-to-air missile carried by fighter aircraft and recently, certain gunship helicopters. Variants and upgrades remain in active service with many air forces after five decades...
air-to-air missileAn air-to-air missile is a guided missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft. AAMs are typically powered by one or more rocket motors, usually solid fuelled but sometimes liquid fuelled...
s 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.
The
F9F-8B aircraft were F9F-8s converted into single-seat attack-fighters, later redesignated
AF-9J. 110 photo-reconnaissance versions, the
F9F-8P, were also delivered in 1955-57. They were withdrawn after a short life in 1960, but some remained with reserve squadrons.
The Navy acquired 377 two-seat
F9F-8T trainers between 1956 and 1960. They were used for advanced training, weapons training and carrier training, and served until 1974. They were armed with twin 20 mm (.79 in) cannon and could carry a full bombs or missiles load. In the 1962 redesignation, these were called
TF-9J.
Operational history
F9F-8s were withdrawn from front-line service in 1958-59, replaced by Grumman
F11F TigersThe Grumman F11F/F-11 Tiger was a single-seat carrier-based United States Navy fighter aircraft in operation during the 1950s and 1960s. Originally designated the F11F Tiger in April 1955 under the pre-1962 Navy designation system, it was redesignated as F-11 Tiger under the 1962 United States...
and Vought
F8U CrusadersThe F-8 Crusader was a single-engine aircraft carrier-based air superiority fighter aircraft built by Vought. It replaced the Vought F-7 Cutlass. The first F-8 prototype was ready for flight in February 1955, and was the last American fighter with guns as the primary weapon, principally serving in...
. Reserves used them until the mid-1960s, but none of the single-seat versions saw
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War or the Second Indochina War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to 30 April 1975...
service.
The only version of the Cougar to see combat was the TF-9J trainer. They were used in the airborne command role, directing airstrikes against enemy positions in
South VietnamSouth Vietnam refers to a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the State of Vietnam and later as the “Republic of Vietnam” . Its capital was Saigon...
during 1966 and 1967.
The only foreign air arm to use the F9F Cougar was the
Argentine NavyThe Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Argentine Armed Forces, together with the Army and the Air Force....
, who used the
F9F PantherThe Grumman F9F Panther was the manufacturer's first jet fighter and the U.S. Navy's second carrier jet fighter. The Panther was the most widely used U.S. Navy jet fighter of the Korean War. It flew 78,000 sorties and was responsible for the first air kill by the US Navy in the war—the downing of a...
as well. Two F9F-8Ts trainers were acquired in 1962, and served until 1971. The
Argentine NavyThe Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Argentine Armed Forces, together with the Army and the Air Force....
, after several failed attempts, managed to get the two airframes delivered by taking advantage of a bureaucracy designation
mistake, but the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
refused to send spare parts during the following years. The Cougar was the first jet to break the sound barrier in Argentina.
Variants
XF9F-6 : First three prototypes of the F9F Cougar
F9F-6 : 646 built; redesignated
F-9F in 1962.
F9F-6P : 60 were built for reconnaissance
F9F-6D : drone directors, converted from F9F-6s; redesignated
DF-9F in 1962.
F9F-6K : unmanned drones for combat training, converted from F9F-6s; redesignated
QF-9F in 1962.
F9F-6PD : drone directors, converted from F9F-6Ps; redesignated
DF-9F in 1962.
F9F-6K2 : an improved version of the F9F-6K target drone, converted from F9F-6s; redesignated
QF-9G in 1962.
F9F-7 : 168 were built with the
Allison J33The General Electric/Allison J33 was a US-produced development of Frank Whittle's early Rolls-Royce Derwent, enlarged to produce dramatically more thrust, starting at and ending at with an additional low-altitude boost to with water-alcohol injection....
engine; most were converted to take J48s; redesignated
F-9H in 1962.
F9F-8 : 601 aircraft; redesignated
F-9J in 1962.
YF9F-8B : Prototype for a single-seat attack-fighter aircraft converted from a F9F-8; later redesignated
YAF-9J.
F9F-8B : F9F-8s converted into single-seat attack-fighters; later redesignated
AF-9J.
F9F-8P : 110 photo-reconnaissance versions.
YF9F-8T : one F9F-8 aircraft converted into a prototype for the F9F-8T training aircraft; later redesignated
YTF-9J.
F9F-8T : 377 two-seat trainers acquired; redesignated
TF-9J in 1962.
NTF-9J : Two TF-9Js used for special test duties.
YF9F-9: Original designation of the
YF11F-1 TigerThe Grumman F11F/F-11 Tiger was a single-seat carrier-based United States Navy fighter aircraft in operation during the 1950s and 1960s. Originally designated the F11F Tiger in April 1955 under the pre-1962 Navy designation system, it was redesignated as F-11 Tiger under the 1962 United States...
protoypes. First flight was in 30 July 1954; redesignated in April 1955.
Operators
- Argentine Navy
The Navy of the Argentine Republic or Armada of the Argentine Republic is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Argentine Armed Forces, together with the Army and the Air Force....
- United States Navy
The United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
- United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States armed forces responsible for providing force projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to rapidly deliver combined-arms task forces. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
Specifications (F9F-8/F-9J)
Aircraft on Display
There is an
FT-9J Cougar on display in the hangar deck of the at the
Patriot's PointPatriot's Point Naval & Maritime Museum is located in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, at the mouth of the Cooper River on the Charleston Harbor, across from Charleston, SC.Patriot's Point is home to four museum ships:* , an aircraft carrier...
Naval and Maritime Museum in Mount Pleasant, SC.
The
Town of Tonawanda Veterans MemorialThe Town of Tonawanda Veterans Memorial is a public memorial in the Town of Tonawanda, New York. It is located in Walter M. Kenney Field at the northwest corner of Brighton Road and Colvin Boulevard and stands to honor the service of all veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces.Construction of the...
in the
Town of TonawandaTonawanda is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. The name is derived from a creek on the northern border. The name tonawanda means "swift waters" in the Iroquois language. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 78,155. The town is at the north border of the county. It...
,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
features an
F9F-6P Cougar airframe, which is on loan to the town from the U.S. government and has been on display at the site since May 1959.
During the construction of the Town of Tonawanda Veterans Memorial in the summer of 2009, a local auto collision shop volunteered to refurbish the F9F-6P airframe. To refurbish the aluminum structure, volunteers removed all old paint, pounded out dents, filled in cracks and gaps, repainted all surfaces, and applied decals to the fuselage and wings. The entire process and took roughly three weeks to complete.
Since its installation, the F9F-6P airframe had been used as a piece of playground equipment by local children. However, in February 2009, town government officials received paperwork from the
National Museum of Naval AviationThe National Museum of Naval Aviation is a military and aerospace museum located at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. The museum opened in 1962....
requesting that the town take full responsibility for the loaned airframe's upkeep and make an effort to prevent people from climbing on its wings and fuselage. In response to this request, the town has installed signage asking visitors to refrain from climbing on the airframe.
The
Intrepid Sea-Air-Space MuseumThe Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum is a military and maritime history museum with a collection of museum ships in New York City. It is located at Pier 86 at 46th Street on the West Side of Manhattan. The museum showcases the World War II aircraft carrier , the submarine , a Concorde SST and a...
has recently acquired a F9-F8 (AF-9J) (on loan from the
National Museum of Naval AviationThe National Museum of Naval Aviation is a military and aerospace museum located at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. The museum opened in 1962....
). It was built in Grummans' Bethpage factory in 1955 and retired from active service in 1965. Once restored, it will wear fighter squadron VF-61 colors, which flew from Intrepid in 1956.
See also