Грумман F9F/F9 Cougar: Американский палубный истребитель (1952-1974)

US Navy carrier based fighter aircraft in service 1952 1974

The Grumman F9F/F 9 Cougar is a carrier based jet powered fighter aircraft designed and produced by the American aircraft manufacturer Grumman. It was developed during the early 1950s on behalf of the United States Navy (US Navy) and United States Marine Corps (USMC), which were keen to quickly introduce a naval fighter equipped with a swept wing. Grumman's design team decided to adapt its earlier F9F Panther, replacing the straight wing of the Panther with a new swept wing. Thrust was also increased with the installation of a newer and more powerful engine. Nevertheless, the aircraft remained limited to subsonic speeds. The first prototype (XF9F 6), which was produced by modifying an existing Panther, performed its maiden flight on 20 September 1951. The Navy considered the Cougar to be an updated version of the Panther, despite having a different official name, and thus Cougars started off from F9F 6. During December 1952, the F9F 6 was introduced to service, VF 32 being the first squadron to receive the type; while developed at a relatively rapid pace, the Cougar's arrival was too late for it to engage in active combat during the Korean War. While initial production aircraft were powered by a single Pratt & Whitney J48 turbojet engine, the F9F 7 were furnished by an Allison J33 powerplant instead. In the mid 1950s, the improved F9F 8 was introduced, which had a lower stall speed, improved handling when flown at high angles of attack, and increased range. The twin seat F9F 8T was procured by the US Navy to perform various forms of training. The F9F 8P photo reconnaissance variant was created by converting existing F9F 8s; most of the modifications were made to the aircraft's nose. On 1 April 1954, US Navy Cougars established a new transcontinental crossing record. The US Navy's flight demonstration team, the Blue Angels, adopted the type in place of its Panthers. The Cougar gained a favourable reputation as a highly maneuverable and easy to fly aircraft. The only foreign air service that operated the Cougar was the Argentine Naval Aviation. The F9F 8 was withdrawn from front line duties during the late 1950s, having been replaced by more capable aircraft such as the F11F Tigers and F8U Crusaders. While the Naval Reserves flew Cougars into the mid 1960s, only the TF 9J trainer model saw actual combat, having been deployed as a Forward Air Control aircraft during the Vietnam War. Following its withdrawal from active service, many F9F 6s were used as unmanned drones for combat training, designated F9F 6D, or as drone controllers, designated F9F 6K.

Rumors that the Soviet Union had produced a swept wing fighter had circulated a year before the Mikoyan Gurevich MiG 15 first appeared at air shows in 1949. Despite the level of activity taking place with swept wing aircraft, the US Navy was not initially focused on the development of such aircraft. This was largely because the US Navy's focus at the time was defending the battle group against high speed, high altitude bombers with interceptors, as well as escorting medium range carrier based bombers in all weather conditions; air to air combat was of less interest at that time. Nonetheless, the US Navy appreciated the importance of getting a capable carrier based swept wing jet fighter. Grumman was awarded a contract for the development of a swept wing fighter jet in early 1951. The arrival of the MiG 15, which easily outclassed straight wing fighters in the air war over North Korea, was a major factor. Development proceeded at a relatively rapid pace, in part due to Grumman's pre existing experience of studying prospective derivatives of the Panther guiding several of their design choices. However, it was necessary to implement various design changes. To effectively accommodate the switch from a straight wing to a swept one, it was necessary to delete the two 120 gallon tip tanks, as in combination with the swept wing there would have been too great a negative impact upon the aircraft's center of gravity; for the same reason, only a single hardpoint was fitted under each wing. In a full power vertical dive, it could break the sound barrier without experiencing buffeting or major undesirable flight characteristics. In level flight, the aircraft remained only capable of subsonic flight, however, the critical Mach number was increased from 0.79 to 0.86 at sea level, and to 0.895 at 35,000 ft (10,000 m), thus delivering markedly improved performance than its predecessor. As such, the Cougar was capable of flying safely and easily even without the upper portion of the tail being present.

The initial production model was the F9F 6; a total of 646 airframes were delivered between mid 1952 and July 1954. The F9F 6 first flew on 20 September 1951, seven months after Grumman signed a contract with the Navy for swept wing fighter. The first 30 production aircraft used the same J42 P 6 engine used in the F9F 5, but was then replaced by the more powerful J42 P 8 with of thrust. The J42 was a licensed version of the Rolls Royce Nene. Armament was four 20 mm (.79 in) AN/M3 cannons in the nose and provisions for two bombs or 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. The F9F 6 used an Aero 5D 1 weapons sight with an APG 30A gun ranging radar. The F9F 6 was later designated 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 6D, or as drone controllers, designated F9F 6K.

The Navy used two modified F9F 7s to conduct experiments landing on British inspired flexible decks which did not require the use of landing gear. The reasoning was that since an airplane's landing gear comprises some 33% of the total weight, a plane without landing gear would gain a greater range and would be able to carry more ordnance. The planes were launched using a ramp and a handling dolly which served as temporary landing gear. The two F9F 7 aircraft in the test were equipped with the powerful J48 P8 engine instead of the Allison J33 engine originally used with the F9F 7. While the landing tests yielded positive results and proved that landing was clearly possible, the project was terminated in 1955 as it would have been difficult to move the aircraft around the carrier deck once they landed. It also required a highly skilled pilot to perform the landings and would have made it impossible to divert to a land base if necessary.

Work on the F9F 8 began in April 1953 with three goals: lower the airplane's stall speed, improve aircraft control at high angles of attack, and increase range. It featured an 8 in (20 cm) stretch in the fuselage and modified wings with a greater chord, an increased area (from ), and a dogtooth. The airframe changes improved low speed and high angle of attack flying, and gave more room for fuel tanks. The top speed was and minimum catapult speed was lowered to It also was now capable of breaking the sound barrier in a steep dive. All four ammunition boxes were mounted above the guns, in contrast to the split location of most previous F9Fs including the Panther. Visibility, which was already very good was improved with the F9F 8. 601 aircraft were delivered between April 1954 and March 1957. Late production F9F 8 aircraft were given the ability to carry four AIM 9 Sidewinder air to air missiles under the wings (the first Navy aircraft to deploy with the missiles). Most earlier aircraft were later modified to carry Sidewinders. A number were given also nuclear bombing equipment. The F9F 9 was redesignated F 9J in 1962. The F9F 8B aircraft were F9F 8s converted into single seat attack fighters, later redesignated AF 9J. 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 later called TF 9J.

The F9F was known to be highly maneuverable and easy to fly. The F9F Cougar was also a capable multi role aircraft, which may explain why it was deployed less often than dedicated fighters.

The first F9F 6s were assigned to fleet squadron VF 32 at the end of 1952. The first F9F Cougar squadron to actually deploy was VF 24, assigned to Yorktown in August 1953. It arrived too late to the Korean theater to participate in the air war. The TF 9J two seat trainer had a long service with the U. S. Navy. It served as the Navy's advanced flight trainer for more than two decades.

The U. S. Navy's flight demonstration team, the Blue Angels flew four different variants of F9Fs from the F9F 2 Panther to the F9F 8. The Blue Angels replaced their six F9F 5 Panthers with six F9F 6s in 1953. This was short lived however and the Navy subsequently took them for fleet use without using the planes in an air show. The F9F 6s were then replaced with overhauled F9F 5s until 1954 when the Blue Angels switched to the F9F 8. The Blue Angels used the F9F 8 until 1957 they were replaced by the Grumman F11F 1 Tiger, although one two seat F9F 8T was retained for press and VIP flights.

The only foreign air arm to use the F9F Cougar was the Argentine Naval Aviation, who also used the F9F Panther as well. Two F9F 8T trainers were acquired in 1962, and served until 1971. The Cougar was the first jet to break the sound barrier in Argentina. One aircraft (serial 3 A 151) is on display at the Naval Aviation Museum (MUAN) at Bahía Blanca, while the other was sold to a customer in the United States and subsequently lost in an accident on 31 October 1991.