Brand new Grumman F9F Panther was one of many You Navy’s very first successful supplier-centered sprinkle fighter and you may Grumman’s first spraying combatant

Brand new Grumman F9F Panther was one of many You Navy’s very first successful supplier-centered sprinkle fighter and you may Grumman’s first spraying combatant

It actually was one-engine, straight-winged go out combatant equipped with five 20mm (0.79 during the) cannons and may even hold rockets and you can bombs. The Panther was used by Us Navy and you will You Aquatic Corps about Korean War where in fact the Panther provided heavens safety for propeller fighter bombers F4U Corsairs and you will Ad Skyraiders. It absolutely was along with used by the usa Navy blue Angels and you can the brand new Argentine Navy.

To the concluded for three single motor prototypes designated since XF9F-dos

On the 1 June 1945, Grumman received a plan specification to possess a top results night fighter. Its recommended aircraft design is actually a much mid-wing, two-chair (Pilot and you can Radar Agent), evening combatant running on five Westinghouse 24C turbojet engines build into the pairs lower than for every wing. It can be skyrocketed out-of carriers and take regarding unassisted from a clear platform. It could already been armed with four 20mm cannons that have 250 rounds each weapon getting located in the nostrils. There is provisions to possess twist-normalized rockets that will be sent around about nacelle fillets. Having sites toward carriers, the outer wing areas folded therefore the nostrils methods manage kneel as a result of allow the nostrils to move up according to the tail otherwise wing of another aircraft. Into eleven April 1946, Grumman is given a contract and also the You Navy provided the latest Grumman framework this new designation XF9F-step 1 which stood to possess, X=experimental, F=combatant, 9=ninth types of, F=Grumman’s company letter designation and -1=basic design.

The fresh new XF9F-1 create ended up being fifty feet enough time with a course of 55 foot and you will a burden out of thirty-two,306 lbs which have a projected rates regarding 585 mph.

Several other advantageous asset of this new Rolls-Royce Nene motor construction was just about it did not exit any give-tale smoking walk with the challenger to spot

During the time, the XF9F-step one was in battle with other evening combatant designs of Douglas, Curtis and you may Fleetwings. The us Navy deemed the newest Douglas offer as being the top design (and this later turned the F3D Skyknight) and you may chose to cancel the fresh XF9F-1 contract. While work was being done to the XF9F-1, various other Grumman framework team is dealing with activities for a single engine naval squirt fighter getting powered by the british Goes-Royce Nene turbojet system. As opposed to canceling the new XF9F-step 1 package, Grumman pretty sure the usa Navy so you can update the current package so you can complement the latest aircraft structure instead of cancelling brand new package downright. The initial journey of your own model took place toward twenty four November 1947. No biggest alter getting expected, this new F9F-2 Panther went on the creation. The original production F9F-2 generated their maiden flight to the 24 November 1948 just seasons afterwards.

The fresh Panther was made around the Moves-Royce RB.41 Nene turbojet motor nevertheless motors that ran to your production F9F-2s just weren’t British established. These were subscribed produced in the us from the Pratt & Whitney and you may was designated brand new J42-P-6. They brought 5,100000 pounds off push inactive and you may 5,700 lbs off thrust wet nevertheless had no afterburner. Accessibility the motor into every Panthers was achieved by removing the latest tail area of the routes and therefore open the entire engine and you may fatigue end tubing. The usa F-80, F-84 and you will F-86 squirt fighters although not remaining longer tracks regarding black smoke which generated confident identification simple getting opponent pilots. In the event, the british did ended up selling the fresh new Nene system to the Soviets who in turn opposite engineered a healthier content and this driven the new MiG-15.

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The fresh new F9F-2 had a blank pounds out-of nine,303 lbs and you will an optimum gross weight away from 19,five-hundred lbs. An interior strength stream off 923 gallons is transmitted and given a selection in excess of 1,100 miles. Best rates are doing 525 miles per hour therefore could go up to 10,000 feet within just 70 seconds. To aid in service provider landings, the newest Panther got innovative flaps into the wings which were another type of function at that time. The unit aided lessen the obtaining speed of the flights.