Article 5040 of rec.aviation.military:
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From: jfb@usgp1.ih.att.com (Joe Baugher)
Subject: Grumman F-9 Panther/Cougar (13 of 13)
Message-ID: <CyMB5n.FBy@ssbunews.ih.att.com>
Summary: Operational history of Cougar
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Date: Wed, 2 Nov 1994 02:05:47 GMT
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The Cougar first entered squadron service in November 1952, when VF-32 
converted to the F9F-6.  F9F-6s and F9F-7s subsequently re-equipped 
some twenty Navy fighter squadrons.  Eight of these squadrons later 
converted to the F9F-8.  

The Cougar was too late to fly combat sorties in Korea.  Immediately 
following the Korean War, large numbers of Cougars entered service 
with carrier-based Navy fighter squadrons, and Cougar-equipped 
squadrons made numerous deployments to the Pacific, Atlantic, and 
Mediterranean.  By the mid-1950s, the Cougar was the most numerous 
carrier-based fighter serving with the US Navy.  The Cougar was 
popular with its crews, who admired it for its pleasant handling 
properties and its strong airframe.  However, the Cougar was destined 
to have a short front-line operational life because of the rapid 
development of more advanced supersonic carrier-based fighters such as 
the Vought F8U Crusader and the Grumman F11F Tiger.  In the late 
1950s, the Cougar was replaced in the fighter and reconnaissance roles 
by the Tiger and the Crusader, and Douglas A4D Skyhawks replaced the 
Cougar in the light attack role.  The last F9F-8 and F9F-8B Cougars 
were phased out in the Pacific and Atlantic Fleets in 1958 and 1959, 
respectively.  However, some F9F-8Ps were retained by VFP-62 until 
February 1960.  

Following their removal from active-duty fleet squadrons, the Cougars 
remained with reserve units until the mid-1960s.  Surplus Cougars also 
served as drones and as drone directors.  Surviving Cougars were 
retired to the boneyards at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona in the mid to 
late 1960s.  

The *Blue Angels* flight demonstration team flew F9F-8s from 1954 to 
1957, when they converted to the F11F-1 Tiger.  The team still 
retained an F9F-8T until they converted to Phantoms in 1969.  

The F9F-6 Cougar did not serve with any Marine Corps fleet squadrons, 
but F9F-6s were assigned to at least twenty Marine Corps reserve 
squadrons following their phasing out by Navy fleet squadrons.  
F9F-6Ps served with VMJ-2 at MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina, and 
F9F-8Ps served with VMCJ-3 at MCAS El Toro, California.  In the late 
1950s, F9F-8s and F9F-8Bs were flown by VMCJ-2, VMF-311, VMA-533, and 
VMFT-10.  VMIT-10 used F9F-8Ts as instrument trainers, and 
Headquarters and Maintenance Squadrons (H&MS-11, -13, -15, and -37) 
used F9F-8Ts for a variety of duties.  In 1966-67, four TF-9Js of 
H&MS-13 were used in the airborne command role to direct airstrikes 
against enemy positions in South Vietnam.  This marked the only use of 
the Cougar in combat.  

The only foreign air arm to use the Cougar was Argentina's Servicio de 
Aviacion Naval, which had also used the Cougar's straight-wing 
predecessor, the F9F-2 Panther.  Argentina obtained two ex-Navy 
F9F-8Ts in 1962.  They were assigned the serials 0516 and 0517 and 
served with the 1a Escuadrilla Aeronaval de Ataque, 3a Escuadra 
Aeronaval, based at NAN Comandante Espora.  They were withdrawn from 
use in 1971.  

Sources:

    United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911,  Gordon Swanborough and
    Peter M. Bowers, Naval Institute Press, 1990.

    The American Fighter, Enzo Angelucci and Peter Bowers, Orion, 1987.

    Grumman Aircraft Since 1929, Rene J. Francillon, Naval Institute
    Press, 1989.

    American Combat Planes, 3rd Enlarged Edition, Ray Wagner,
    Doubleday, 1982.


Joe Baugher			  **************************************
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