AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 177 / 341

Plate 177 of 341 · Second World War · Twin-engined carrier and land-based fighter

Grumman F7F-3 Tigercat

F7F-3 BuNo 80373, painted as Grumman F7F-3 Tigercat BuNo 80373 as displayed at the National Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, Florida: a single-seat twin-engined carrier and land-based fighter with two Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radials in long underslung nacelles, a slim fuselage with the cockpit well forward, a tricycle undercarriage, folding outer wings spanning 15.70 m and the enlarged fin of the later F7F-3s, shown level on its wheels: overall Glossy Sea Blue, a white ‘12’ on both sides of the nose and on the nose-wheel door, a blue name strip below the windscreen reading ‘Maj HARRY "SLIM" JOHNSON’, a large white ‘MARINES’ on the rear fuselage with the ‘F7F-3 80373’ stencil behind it, the 1947 star-and-bar under the starboard wing and ‘MARINES’ under the port wing, and black three-blade propellers with yellow tips (shape from AJ-Press F7F-3 and F7F-3N drawings scaled to the published span and length and checked against photographs of this aircraft; the star on the upper port wing follows standard practice, as no photograph of the upper surfaces was found, and the published height of 5.05 m belongs to the short-finned early Tigercats, so the tall fin follows the drawing).

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as Grumman F7F-3 Tigercat BuNo 80373 as displayed at the National Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, Florida: a single-seat twin-engined carrier and land-based fighter with two Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radials in long underslung nacelles, a slim fuselage with the cockpit well forward, a tricycle undercarriage, folding outer wings spanning 15.70 m and the enlarged fin of the later F7F-3s, shown level on its wheels: overall Glossy Sea Blue, a white ‘12’ on both sides of the nose and on the nose-wheel door, a blue name strip below the windscreen reading ‘Maj HARRY "SLIM" JOHNSON’, a large white ‘MARINES’ on the rear fuselage with the ‘F7F-3 80373’ stencil behind it, the 1947 star-and-bar under the starboard wing and ‘MARINES’ under the port wing, and black three-blade propellers with yellow tips (shape from AJ-Press F7F-3 and F7F-3N drawings scaled to the published span and length and checked against photographs of this aircraft; the star on the upper port wing follows standard practice, as no photograph of the upper surfaces was found, and the published height of 5.05 m belongs to the short-finned early Tigercats, so the tall fin follows the drawing). Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (1.4 MB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (F7F-3); engine, crew and dimensions are for the F7F-3 BuNo 80373 modelled here.

History

The Tigercat

In 1941 the US Navy asked Grumman for a twin-engined fighter to fly from the large Midway-class carriers it was planning. Grumman had already tried the idea with the XF5F Skyrocket, and its answer this time was a far more powerful aircraft: two Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasps, the engine of the Hellcat and the Corsair, in long nacelles slung under a mid-set wing, a slim fuselage with the cockpit well forward, a tricycle undercarriage and outer wings that folded for stowage. It was heavily armed, with four 20 mm cannon in the wing roots and four 0.50 in machine guns in the nose, and could carry bombs, rockets or a torpedo. The first XF7F-1 flew on 2 November 1943.

The Tigercat was fast, climbing and accelerating far better than any single-engined Navy fighter of its day, but it was big and heavy for a carrier deck, and its early versions did not pass carrier trials. The Marine Corps, which wanted a heavy fighter to support its troops from land bases, took most of them. The F7F-3, the main single-seat version, had more powerful engines and, on later aircraft, a taller fin, and night-fighter versions carried radar in a lengthened nose with a radar operator behind the pilot. The first Marine Tigercat squadron reached Okinawa just as the war in the Pacific ended, and the type saw no combat in the Second World War.

Its war came in Korea. From 1950 the night fighters of Marine squadron VMF(N)-513 flew F7F-3Ns on night intruder missions against North Korean supply routes and against the slow biplanes that raided Allied lines after dark. Grumman built 364 Tigercats, and they were retired from front-line service in 1954. Many surplus aircraft were sold as fire-bombers and flew against forest fires in the western United States for decades. Survivors are in the United States, several still flying; none is in a UK museum.

This airframe

F7F-3 BuNo 80373 ‘12’

80373The airframe modelled

Bureau Number 80373 is an F7F-3, Grumman constructor’s number C.115. It was struck off Navy charge in 1948 and became the civil N7654C, flying as a fire-bomber in California from the 1960s; a photograph of 1974 shows it in red and silver, already with the tall fin of the later F7F-3s. It has belonged to the National Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola, Florida, since 1980, and is displayed indoors there. No Tigercat is in a UK museum, so the model shows the static example that photographs record best, as it is displayed: overall Glossy Sea Blue, a white ‘12’ on both sides of the nose and on the nose-wheel door, a blue name strip below the windscreen reading ‘Maj HARRY “SLIM” JOHNSON’, a large white ‘MARINES’ on the rear fuselage with an ‘F7F-3 80373’ stencil behind it, the 1947 star-and-bar under the starboard wing and ‘MARINES’ under the port wing, and black propellers with yellow tips. Its shape comes from F7F-3 and F7F-3N drawings scaled to the published span and length and checked against photographs of this aircraft. The published height of 5.05 metres belongs to the early short-finned Tigercats, so the model’s taller fin follows the drawing; the star on top of the port wing follows standard practice, as no photograph of the upper surfaces was found, and the port-side ‘MARINES’ and stencil are assumed to match the starboard side.

Where to see one

Not on charge

Survivors are in the United States, several still flying. None is in a UK museum.

All 341 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.