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From: jfb@usgp1.ih.att.com (Joe Baugher)
Subject: Grumman F-9 Panther/Cougar (5 of 13)
Message-ID: <Cxn4Lu.18K@ssbunews.ih.att.com>
Summary:  F9F-5 Panther
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Date: Fri, 14 Oct 1994 02:08:17 GMT
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The F9F-5 was numerically the most important of the Panther variants.  
It had the longer fuselage and revised tail surfaces of the F9F-4, but 
was powered by the Pratt & Whitney J48 turbojet, a license-built 
version of the Rolls-Royce Tay.  

The XF9F-5 prototype was the 100th production airframe (F9F-2 BuNo 
123085), modified and re-engined.  It flew for the first time on 
December 21, 1949.  It actually preceded the XF9F-4 into the air by 
almost half a year.  

616 F9F-5s were delivered to the Navy and Marine Corps between 
November 1950 and January 1953.  They were all powered by the Pratt & 
Whitney J48-P-6 or P-6A, rated at 7000 lb.s.t.  wet.  The F9F-5 had 
four external store pylons underneath each wing, with the three 
outboard pylons being stressed to carry bombs of up to 500 pounds in 
weight.  Maximum external load was 3465 pounds.  

During the course of production, an anti-stall fence was added just 
outboard of the wing roots to control the airflow and reduce landing 
speed.  Many of the F9F-4s were retrofitted with J48 engines and thus
became indistinguishable from F9F-5s. 

The first F9F-5 deliveries took place on November 5, 1950.  Most 
squadrons which had been equipped with F9F-2s were re-equipped with 
the later F9F-5.  

In November 1951, the F9F-5 replaced the F9F-2s of the *Blue Angels* 
flight demonstration team.  This team began to convert to the 
swept-wing F9F-6 Cougar in 1953, but it turned out that these Cougars 
were urgently needed by the fleet and the team had to be hastily 
re-equipped with overhauled F9F-5s.  The F9F-5s served with the *Blue 
Angels* until 1954, when they were finally replaced by F9F-8 Cougars.  

The first F9F-5s entered combat in Korea in October of 1952, serving 
aboard the USS *Oriskany* (CVA-34) with the reserve squadrons VF-781 
and VF-783.  They were also flown by VF-51, VF-52, VF-53, VF-111, 
VF-153, and VF-154 during the latter stages of the Korean War.  They 
provided the backbone of the Navy's carrier-based jet-powered ground 
attack capability during the last year of the Korean War.  

One of the more significant experiments carried out by the F9F-5 was 
the carrying out of early midair refuelling tests.  F9F-5 BuNo 125240 
was fitted in 1952 with a refuelling probe in the nose for trials with 
a North American XAJ-1 attack plane modified as a tanker.  These tests 
were so successful that the Navy eventually decided in September of 
1955 to require that all of its jet-powered fighters and attack 
aircraft would henceforth be equipped for midair refuelling.  

As the Panther began to be replaced in active service by more advanced 
types, surviving F9F-5s were modified as F9F-5K remotely-controlled 
drones or as F9F-5KD drone directors.  In the F9F-5KD, the nose guns 
were removed and were replaced by radio control equipment.  In 1962, 
the Defense Department introduced the new Tri-Service designation 
scheme under which the separate USAF/Navy designations were replaced 
by a new unified designation system.  This required that all existing 
Navy aircraft be redesignated.  By this time, the only Panthers 
remaining in Navy service were the F9F-5KD drone directors, which were 
redesignated DF-9E.  The last DF-9Es were struck off charge in the 
mid-1960s.  

Serials of Grumman F9F-5 Panther:  

123085 		Grumman XF9F-5 Panther 
126000/126256 	Grumman F9F-5 Panther 
126627/126669 	Grumman F9F-5 Panther 
125080 		Grumman F9F-5 Panther 
125082 		Grumman F9F-5 Panther 
125228/125313 	Grumman F9F-5 Panther 
125414/125443 	Grumman F9F-5 Panther 
125489/125499 	Grumman F9F-5 Panther 
125533/125648 	Grumman F9F-5 Panther 
125893/125912 	Grumman F9F-5 Panther 
125949/125999 	Grumman F9F-5 Panther 

Specification of the Grumman F9F-5 Panther:  

One Pratt & Whitney J48-P-4/P-6A turbojet rated at 6250 lb.s.t.  
Performance:  Maximum speed 604 mph at sea level, 579 mph at 5000 
feet, 543 mph at 35,00 feet.  Cruising speed 481 mph.  Stalling speed 
132 mph .  Initial climb rate 5090 feet per minute.  Service ceiling 
42,800 feet.  Range 1300 miles.  
Dimensions:  wingspan 38 feet 0 inches, length 38 feet 10 1/2 inches, 
height 12 feet 4 inches, wing area 250 square feet.  
Weights:  10,147 pounds empty, 17,766 pounds gross, 18,721 pounds 
maximum takeoff.  
Internal fuel capacity 1003 US gallons.  
Armament:  Four 20-mm cannon in the nose.  Eight underwing hardpoints 
which could accommodate a total underwing load of up to 3465 pounds of 
bombs and rockets.  

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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