Грумман F3F: Последний биплан ВМС США

US Navy biplane

The Grumman F3F is a biplane fighter aircraft produced by the Grumman aircraft for the United States Navy during the mid 1930s. Designed as an improvement on the F2F, it entered service in 1936 as the last biplane to be delivered to any American military air arm. It was retired from front line squadrons at the end of 1941 before it could serve in World War II, and replaced by the Brewster F2A Buffalo. The F3F, which inherited the Leroy Grumman designed retractable main landing gear configuration first used on the Grumman FF, served as the basis for a biplane design ultimately developed into the much more successful F4F Wildcat that succeeded the subpar Buffalo.

The Navy's experience with the F2F revealed issues with stability and unfavorable spin characteristics, prompting the 15 October 1934 contract for the improved XF3F 1, placed before F2F deliveries began. The contract also required a capability for ground attack, in addition to the design's fighter role. Powered by the same Pratt & Whitney R 1535 72 Twin Wasp Junior engine as the F2F, the fuselage was lengthened and wing area increased over the earlier design. A reduction in wheel diameter allowed greater fuselage streamlining, eliminating the prominent bulge behind the cowling of the F2F. The prototype, BuNo. 9727, was delivered and first flown on 20 March 1935 with company test pilot Jimmy Collins making three flights that day. Two days later, six dive recovery flights took place; on the 10th dive, the aircraft's pullout at 2438.40 m registered 14 g on the test equipment. The aircraft broke up in midair, crashing in a cemetery and killing Collins. The second prototype was rebuilt in three weeks, flying on 20 June 1935. An order for 54 F3F 1 fighters was placed on 24 August of that year, following the conclusion of the flight test program.

The first production F3F 1 (BuNo 0211) was delivered on 29 January 1936 to the test group at Naval Air Station Anacostia, with squadron service beginning in March to VF 5B of Ranger and VF 6B of Saratoga. Marine squadron VF 4M received the last six in January 1937. Grumman, wanting to take advantage of the powerful new Wright R 1820 supercharged radial engine, began work on the F3F 2 without a contract; the order for 81 aircraft was not placed until 25 July 1936, two days before the type's first flight. With the introduction of the Brewster F2A 1, the Navy's biplane fighter days were numbered. All F3Fs were withdrawn from squadron service by the end of 1941, though 117 were assigned to naval bases (Mainly NAS Miami and NAS Corpus Christi) and used for training and utility duties until December 1943.

Today, there are four flying aircraft, three F3F 2 models and the Grumman demonstrator G 32A, all which were restored by Herb Tischler's Texas Airplane Factory in Fort Worth. The restorations took four years and consisted of rebuilding the G 32A from original blueprints with tooling built at the Texas Airplane Factory. The wreckage of three 2 aircraft which had originally crashed in Hawaii were utilized to complete the other restorations. 0972 – F3F 2 owned by Hawks Zeroq3 in Sonoma, California. This airframe was restored by Chris Prevost and has been on the flight line at Vintage Aircraft in Sonoma, California. It has since been sold to Lewis Air Legends in Texas. 1028 – F3F 2 on display at the Fantasy of Flight in Polk City, Florida. 1033 – F3F 2 owned by the National Museum of World War II Aviation in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 335 – G 22 on static display at the Steven F. Udvar Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia. Replica – G 32A owned by Comanche Warbirds Inc in Houston, Texas. This airframe is a replica rebuilt at the Texas Airplane Factory using the identity of G 32A construction number 447, which crashed in 1971.