F9F Panther
Type	Fighter-bomber
Manufacturer	Grumman
Maiden flight	24 November 1947
Retired	1958, U.S. Navy 1969, Argentina
Primary users	United States Navy United States Marine Corps Argentine Navy
Variants	F9F Cougar

The American Grumman F9F Panther was the manufacturer's first jet fighter and the U.S. Navy's second. The Panther was the most widely used US Navy jet fighter of the Korean War. It flew 78,000 sorties and was responsible for the first air kill in the war - the downing of a North Korean Yak-9 fighter. Total F9F production was 1,382, with several variants being shipped to Argentina for export. Grumman F9F Panther. ... An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, and/or spacecraft. ... The Grumman logo The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a leading producer of military and civilian aircraft of the 20th century. ... The Maiden flight of an aircraft is the first occasion on which an aircraft leaves the ground of its own accord. ... November 24 is the 328th day (329th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... USN redirects here. ... Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is a branch of the U.S. military responsible for providing power projection from the sea,[1] utilizing the mobility of the U.S. Navy to rapidly deliver combined-arms task forces to global crises. ... Image File history File links Naval_Jack_of_Argentina. ... Argentine Navy Jack The Navy of the Argentine Republic (Armada de la República Argentina, ARA) is the navy of Argentina. ... F9F Cougar The Grumman F9F Cougar (redesignated the F-9 Cougar in the 1962 joint service aircraft designation system) was a aircraft carrier-based fighter aircraft for the United States Navy. ... The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ...

Design and development

Development studies at the Grumman company began near the end of the World War II as the first jet engines emerged. The prototype Panther, piloted by test pilot Corky Meyer, first flew on 24 November 1947. Propulsion was a Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet built under license by Pratt & Whitney as the J42. Since there was insufficient space within the wings and fuselage for fuel for the thirsty jet, permanently-mounted wingtip fuel tanks were added. It was cleared for flight from aircraft carriers in September 1949. During the development phase, Grumman decided to change the Panther's engine, selecting the Pratt & Whitney J48-P-2, a license built version of the Rolls-Royce Tay. The other engine that had been tested was the Allison J33-A-16, a development of the Rolls-Royce Derwent. November 24 is the 328th day (329th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... The Nene or RB.41, was Rolls-Royces third jet engine to enter production, designed and built in an astonishingly short five month period in 1944, first running on October 27th, 1944. ... This article is about the U.S. company Pratt & Whitney. ... Rolls Royce Nene on display RAAF Base Pearce, Western Australia Rolls-Royce Nene 103 The Rolls-Royce Nene was a 1940s British centrifugal compressor turbojet engine. ... The Pratt & Whitney J48 is a Pratt & Whitney licensed-built version of the Rolls-Royce Tay turbojet (not to be confused with the current Rolls-Royce Tay turbofan). ... The Tay name is given to two Rolls-Royce jet engines. ... Allison J33-A-35, photo USAF Museum The J33 was a US-produced development of Frank Whittles early Rolls-Royce Derwent, enlarged to produce dramatically more thrust, starting at 4,000 lbf and ending at 4,600 lbf with an additional low-altitude boost to 5,400 lbf with... The Derwent was the second jet engine design to be put into production by Rolls-Royce. ...

Operational service

F9F-2s, F9F-3s and F9F-5s served with distinction in the Korean War, downing six Mikoyan MiG-15s with one F9F loss. The first MiG-15 downed was on 9 November 1950 by U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander William (Bill) Amen of VF-111 "Sundownders" Squadron flying an F9F-2B. Three more were downed in November 1951, and the other two were downed on the 18 November 1952. The type was the primary Navy jet fighter and ground-attack plane in the Korean conflict. Combatants United Nations: Republic of Korea United States United Kingdom Canada Australia The Netherlands France Philippines Turkey Ethiopia Communist states: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea People’s Republic of China Soviet Union Commanders Syngman Rhee Chung Il Kwon Douglas MacArthur Mark W. Clark Matthew Ridgway Kim Il-sung Choi... The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (NATO reporting name Fagot) was a jet fighter developed for the USSR. History Design began under the bureau designation I-310, which first flew in 1947. ... November 9 is the 313th day of the year (314th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 52 days remaining. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ... In the Royal Navy, United States Navy and United States Coast Guard, a lieutenant commander (lieutenant-commander or Lt Cdr in the RN) is a commissioned officer superior to a lieutenant and inferior to a commander. ... The VF-111 Sundowners was a U.S. Navy fighter squadron flying the F-14 Tomcat until disetablished in 1995. ... November 18 is the 322nd day of the year (323rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Panthers were withdrawn from front-line service in 1956, but remained in training roles and with Reserve units until 1958.

The only foreign buyer of the Panther was the Argentine Navy, who bought 24 ex-USN aircraft in 1958. The catapults on the then only Argentine carrier, ARA Independencia (V-1), were considered not powerful enough to launch the F9F, so the aircraft were land-based. Argentine Navy Jack The Navy of the Argentine Republic (Armada de la República Argentina, ARA) is the navy of Argentina. ... HMS Warrior (R31) (later CVL20) was a Colossus-class aircraft carrier, of the Royal Navy. ...

The Argentine Panthers were involved in the general mobilization during the 1965 border clash between Argentina and Chile but no combat occurred. They were taken out of service in 1969 due to the lack of spare parts and replaced with A-4Q Skyhawks. 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... The A-4 Skyhawk is an attack aircraft originally designed to operate from United States Navy aircraft carriers. ...

Variants

The Blue Angels, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Roy M. "Butch" Voris in 1952, fly their F9F-5 Panther jets in the team's signature "diamond" formation.

• XF9F-2: the first two prototypes
• XF9F-3: the third prototype
• F9F-2: first production version, J42 powered.
• F9F-2B: version fitted with underwing racks for bombs and rockets. All F9F-2s were eventually so modified, and the B designation was dropped.
• F9F-2P: unarmed photographic reconnaissance version used in Korea
• F9F-3: Allison J33 powered version produced as insurance against the failure of the J42, 54 built. All converted to J42 power later
• XF9F-4: Prototype used in the development of the F9F-4.
• F9F-4: longer fuselage with greater fuel load, J33 powered. Most re-engined with J42s. F9F-4s were the first aircraft to successfully employ blown air, extracted from between the engine´s compressor and combustion chambers, to energise the slot flaps, thus achieving a decrease in stalling speed of 9kt for takeoff and 7kt on power approach for landing.
• F9F-5: As -4, but Pratt & Whitney J48 (Rolls-Royce Tay built under licence) powered. 616 built.
• F9F-5P: unarmed photo-reconnaissance version, 36 built, longer nose.
• F9F-5KD: After the F9F Panther was withdrawn operational service, a number of F9F-5s were converted into unmanned target drone aircraft. Redesignated DF-9E in 1962.

Image File history File links Blues_Support_Crew_watching_Diamond_Formation_at_Show. ... Image File history File links Blues_Support_Crew_watching_Diamond_Formation_at_Show. ... The Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornets fly in tight diamond formation, maintaining 18 wingtip-to-canopy separation. ... Allison J33-A-35, photo USAF Museum The J33 was a US-produced development of Frank Whittles early Rolls-Royce Derwent, enlarged to produce dramatically more thrust, starting at 4,000 lbf and ending at 4,600 lbf with an additional low-altitude boost to 5,400 lbf with... The Pratt & Whitney J48 is a Pratt & Whitney licensed-built version of the Rolls-Royce Tay turbojet (not to be confused with the current Rolls-Royce Tay turbofan). ... The Tay name is given to two Rolls-Royce jet engines. ... Mixed reconnaissance patrol of the Polish Home Army and the Soviet Red Army during Operation Tempest, 1944 Reconnaissance is the military term for the active gathering of information about an enemy, or other conditions, by physical observation. ...

Continued development

After concerns about the Panther's inferiority to its MiG opponents in Korea, a swept-wing derivative of the Panther, the Grumman F9F Cougar, was developed. F9F Cougar The Grumman F9F Cougar (redesignated the F-9 Cougar in the 1962 joint service aircraft designation system) was a aircraft carrier-based fighter aircraft for the United States Navy. ...

The Panther in film

The Panther played a prominent role in the 1954 movie Men of the Fighting Lady. It was also used for the flying sequences in the 1955 movie The Bridges at Toko-Ri, although in the 1953 James A. Michener novel upon which the movie was based the main character flew an F2H Banshee, not a Panther. The Bridges at Toko-Ri is a 1953 novel by James Michener, about a Korean War pilot charged with bombing a group of extremely-well-defended bridges. ... James Albert Michener (February 3, 1907? - October 16, 1997) was the American author of such books as Tales of the South Pacific (for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1948), Hawaii, The Drifters, Centennial, The Source, The Fires of Spring, Chesapeake, Caribbean, Caravans, Alaska, Texas, and Poland. ... F2H-2 Banshee The McDonnell F2H Banshee was a military carrier-based jet fighter aircraft, used by the US Navy from 1951 to 1959 and by the Royal Canadian Navy from 1955 until 1962. ...

Operators

• Argentina
  • Argentine Navy
• United States
  • United States Navy
  • United States Marine Corp

Image File history File links Flag_of_Argentina. ... Argentine Navy Jack The Navy of the Argentine Republic (Armada de la República Argentina, ARA) is the navy of Argentina. ... Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... USN redirects here. ... Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... United States Marine Corps Emblem The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is a branch of the U.S. military. ...

Specifications (F9F-2 Panther)

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 37 ft 5 in (11.3 m)
• Wingspan: 38 ft 0 in (11.6 m)
• Height: 11 ft 4 in (3.8 m)
• Wing area: 250 ft² (23.2 m²)
• Empty weight: 9,303 lb (4,220 kg)
• Loaded weight: 14,235 lb (6,456 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 16,450 lb (7,462 kg)
• Powerplant: 1× Pratt & Whitney J42-P-6/P-8 turbojet, 5,000 lbf dry; 5,950 lbf with water injection (22.2 kN / 26.5 kN)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 575 mph (925 km/h)
• Range: 1,300 mi (2,092 km)
• Service ceiling: 44,600 ft (13,594 m)
• Rate of climb: 5,140 ft/min (26.1 m/s)
• Wing loading: 71 lb/ft² (kg/m²)
• Thrust/weight: 0.42

Armament

• 4x 20 mm M2 cannon (190 rounds per gun, 760 rounds total)
• 2,000 lb (907 kg) of bombs or 6x 5 in (127 mm) rockets on underwing hardpoints

The distance AB is the wing span of this Aer Lingus Airbus A320. ... In aviation, the Maximum Take-Off Weight (or MTOW) is the maximum weight with which an aircraft is allowed to try to achieve flight. ... Rolls Royce Nene on display RAAF Base Pearce, Western Australia Rolls-Royce Nene 103 The Rolls-Royce Nene was a 1940s British centrifugal compressor turbojet engine. ... Turbojets are the simplest and oldest kind of general purpose jet engine. ... VNO of an aircraft is the V speed which refers to the velocity of normal operation. ... The maximal total range is the distance an aircraft can fly between takeoff and landing as limited by its fuel capacity. ... In aeronautics, the service ceiling is the maximum density altitude where the best rate of climb airspeed will produce a 100 feet per minute climb(twin engine) and 50 feet(single engine) at maximum weight while in a clean configuration with maximum continuous power. ... This page is a candidate to be moved to Wiktionary. ... In aerodynamics, wing loading is the loaded weight of the aircraft divided by the area of the wing. ... Thrust-to-weight ratio (where weight means weight at the Earths surface) is a dimensionless parameter characteristic of rocket and jet engines, and of vehicles propelled by such engines (typically space launch vehicles and jet aircraft). ...

Related content

Related development

• F9F Cougar

Comparable aircraft

• Hawker Sea Hawk

Designation sequence

• Pre-1962: F6F - F7F - F8F - F9F - F10F - F11F - F12F
• Post-1962: F-6 - F-7 - F-8 - F-9 - F-10 - F-11 - YF-12

Related lists

• List of military aircraft of the United States
• List of fighter aircraft

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