Grumman F7F-3N 'Tigercat' | Planes of Fame Air Museum

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Grumman F7F-3N 'Tigercat'

HISTORY

Grumman's first twin-engine fighter, the XF5F Skyrocket was not ordered into production; however, it led to one of the most graceful propeller-driven fighters ever built: the F7F Tigercat. The Navy ordered two Tigercat prototypes from Grumman in June of 1941 with an eye toward operating them from the Midway Class carriers then on the drawing boards.
Everything about the new fighter was unprecedented: it was bigger, heavier, and more heavily armed than any previous carrier-based aircraft. The F7F made its first flight on 2 November 1943. The first production aircraft were delivered on 29 April 1944.
Tigercats were produced in two basic versions: a single- seat day fighter and a two-seat night fighter. The single- seater was armed with four 20mm cannon in the wings and four .50-caliber machine guns in the nose. The night- fighter dispensed with the machine guns, allowing a radar unit to be fitted.
A Tigercat-equipped Marine Corps squadron was enroute to Okinawa in the summer of 1945 but it arrived the day the war ended. Despite missing out on World War II, the Tigercat more than proved its worth in Korea where F7Fs operated as night fighters and strike aircraft before being replaced by Douglas F3D Skynights in the summer of 1952.
After being withdrawn from military service, Tigercats were used as fire bombers; some were fitted with huge belly tanks that could hold some 800 gallons of fire retardant. The museum's Tigercat was acquired from the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Virginia.