One of the last times the training Cougar will ever "fly".
Midway's Hangar
The Restoration Facility for the USS MIDWAY museum
(Currently known as The San Diego Aircraft
Carrier Museum, on the USS Midway CV-41)
Grumman TF-9J Cougar
The
F9F-6/8 Cougar was the swept-wing version of the Grumman F9F Panther fighter. It was first
flown in September 1951, with the Navy receiving operational F9F-6s in November of 1952.
After the Korean War, Cougars served with many Navy and Marine operational squadrons in
succession to the earlier Panthers. They were also the first swept-wing aircraft used by
the Navy's Blue Angels aerobatic team, which flew them from 1955 to 1958. The T9F-J
version was a two-seat trainer aircraft that was still in use in the early Seventies, when
all of the other Cougar variants had already been retired. The last TF-9J training variant
was retired by Squadron VT-4 in February 1974. |
One of the last times the training Cougar will ever
"fly".
This two-seat trainer Cougar came out of the Grumman
Iron Works after the Korean War. Like the other Cougar, it is also missing its landing
gear.
With bright orange markings, the TF-9J is usually the first aircraft that people notice
when they enter the restoration area compound. The hangar and the TF-9J's Cougar sibling
are in the background, and a Phantom nose is in the right foreground.
This aircraft is on loan from the National Museum of Naval Aviation.