The Cougar was a swept-wing development of the earlier G-79 Panther. The fuselage was similar but the wings and tailplane were swept at 35°. First flown in prototype form on 20 September 1951, the initial production version was the F9F-6 armed with four 20 mm cannon and powered by a 32.25kN Pratt & Whitney J48-P-8 turbojet engine. The F9F-6P was an unarmed photographic-reconnaissance version with a longer nose to accommodate K-17 and tri-metrogon cameras. Next came the F9F-7, similar to the previous version except that it was powered by a 28.25kN Allison J33-A-16A engine.
The first production F9F-8 flew on 18 January 1954. Powered by J48-P-8 engine, it was a development of the F9F-6 with increased speed and range. Movable leading-edge slats were replaced by fixed cambered leading-edge extensions outboard of the wing fences. Total internal fuel capacity was increased by 530 litres. A photographic-reconnaissance version (the F9F-8P) flew for the first time on 21 August 1955 and had an extended nose for the cameras. The F9F-8 went out of production in 1957.
The final version of the Cougar was the F9F-8T two-seat fighter-trainer, first flown on 4 April 1956. Production of this version ended on the last day of 1959 after 399 had been built. Total production of the Cougar was 1,985 aircraft. Many F9F-8Ts were flown operationally in Vietnam.
Grumman F9F Cougar on YOUTUBE
3-View
A three-view drawing of F9F-8 Cougar (1278 x 926)
Specification
MODEL
TF-9J
ENGINE
1 x Pratt & Whitney J48-P-8A turbo-jet, 32.0kN
WEIGHTS
Take-off weight
9344 kg
20600 lb
DIMENSIONS
Wingspan
10.52 m
35 ft 6 in
Length
13.54 m
44 ft 5 in
Height
3.73 m
12 ft 3 in
PERFORMANCE
Ceiling
15240 m
50000 ft
Range
966 km
600 miles
ARMAMENT
2 x 20mm cannon, 907kg of weapons on external hardpoints
I was in VF 32 from 1952 till 1955. We were the first squadron to get the Cougar, received the first f9f-6 Nov 1952. The first models were powered by the j48-p6 6250 lbs thrust. The flying tail was not activated at that time. Later in 1953 they were activated. The cougar stall dirty was very honest. Clean it was wicked. Th -8 model cleaned that up. The major flying difference between the 6 and 8 was the 8 did not loose as much speed in turns as the 6. It would go supersonic in a vertical dive. 1.15 is the highest I ever saw. Our skipper Jack Evans led four cougars in a supersonic dive over Melbourne Australia and Wellington New Zealand summer 1954. It was the first sonic boom heard in New Zealand. Broke windows downtown.
I was in vt-22 in the late 60's, as what was called an aircrew survival equipmentman. I took care of things like helmets,oxygen masks and such. Dealing with the instructors, and students at personal level I was able to get rides in the back seat of the F-9. There was a Marine Capt that was considered the top gun instuctor,so to speak, he wore a umpire's cap with the little brim and when he went to his plane, for a traing mission he would say "kick a tire and light a fire" I had never heard that before. He took me up on what was called J stage which was dog fight training. We blew the nose gear tire on take off and he just said the hell with it, and went on with the lesson.
This is the first Navy aircraft I worked on .The year was 1964 at NAS Kingsville Texas ,with VT-22. I would like to find a Hat Pin for a F9F-Couger or TF9J ,Or both if possible. Thank You Wayne Curry
Got my wings flying the plane in Beeville, TX. Got a lot of time in photo version and the dual seat one too. One of my memorable takeoffs was in this plane. I had to wait until about 0200 to takeoff at El Paso due to the high runway temperature. I managed to get it in the air but spent the next minute or so flying down the slope of the terrian with my hand on the fuel dump switches to see in I was ever going to start climbing. Not a lot of power in that engine, but it flew well for its time. It would go a pretty long way at 40,000 feet. Never made it back from OKC or DAL, but going east with some tail wind was not a problem. My first squadron had three of the duals and about nine photo types in NKX when I got there. Flew the two seat plane a lot during my first half of my career. The plane was a brick and that's why the company got its name the Grumman Iron Works. Don't remember an over stress on the F9. Had to play it cool to get it over the number from about 40,000 feet in a good dive. Pretty reliable though. Other than shearing off start dogs at AFB's and some radio problems, it did well for itself. It was used as an instrument trained in VF-126 until replaced by the TA4 version which also made a better laser marker in VN too. Had to wrap your cross country bag over the guns in the nose on cross countries. We had one F9 photo det out when I arrived at NKX in 1959. Loved the two seat version and saw a lot of the US in it. Not many in NKX can say that for a Crusader jock. Made a good radar target for the F8 radar training since the F8 was so hard to see on fighter radar.
The two seated version of this ole bird (TF9J) provided me with 40 combat missions in 1966-1967 as a TACA (Tactical Air Commander, Airborne) with Marine Aircraft Group-11. Same number of take-offs and landings.
