Grumman F7F Tigercat in View (2025-09-03)

Grumman F7F-2N Tigercat.

First prototype of the XF7F-1 Tigercat on the Grumman runway, 12 November 1943.

The XF7F-1 Tigercat during its first fight.

F7F-1 Tigercat, BuNo 80279, after forced landing on 17 October 1945, caused when the hydraulic-powered rudder boost jammed to full right rudder during landing.

A set of experimental blast and flash deflectors attached to the wing-mounted 20mm cannon. The final versions were shorter.

F7F-2 Tigercat over the south shore of Long Island, summer 1944.

A Grumman F7F-3 Tigercat with rear cockpit covered with metal and an 80 gallon tank in the second cockpit, over Long Island, May 1945.

The first two-place Grumman F7F-3N Tigercat, BuNo 80359, with 300-gallon belly tank.

Grumman F7F-3 Tigercat, BuNo 80411, makes the first simulated carrier landing while testing the Mk. IV carrier-arresting gear.

Grumman F7F-3N Tigercat with Grumman F8F Bearcat.

Grumman F7F-3N, BuNo 80549, with a Mk. 13 aerial launch torpedo on the centerline Mk. 51 rack.

Grumman XF7F-1 Tigercat, 03549, had its first flight on 2 November 1943 with Bob Hall at the controls. The spinners were removed after about ten flights because they failed to improve the Tigercat’s high-speed performance.

 A Grumman F7F-3N Tigercat night fighter of Marine night fighter squadron VMF(N)-513 Flying Nightmares at Wonsan, Korea, in 1952. (US Navy photo)

The second U.S. Navy Grumman XF7F-1 Tigercat fighter (BuNo 03550) used by the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), at Moffett Field, California (USA), for flying qualities, stability and control, and performance evaluations from 2 September 1944 to 19 June 1948. The photo was taken on 14 May 1946. (NASA pulication "SP-3300 Flight Research at Ames, 1940-1997")

 A U.S. Navy Grumman F7F-2D Tigercat drone control plane. Note the extra canopy of a Grumman F8F Bearcat (arrow) fitted behind the F7F's cockpit. (U.S. Navy Naval Aviation News March 1949)

 A U.S. Marine Corps Grumman F7F-3N Tigercat night fighter of Marine night fighter squadron VMF(N)-531 on a training flight out of Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina (USA), in April 1950. (U.S. Department of Defense photo (USMC) A135007)

Grumman F7F-3N Tigercat night fighter (U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, 1 March 1946)

 A group of Ohio Marines serving with the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing in Korea are shown with their "Yuletide gift to Korean and Chinese Reds" (original caption) in front of a U.S. Marine Corps Grumman F7F-3N Tigercat in December 1950. Left to right are: M/Sgt. Robert T. Hunt, 1st. Lt. David W. Bowman, M/Sgt. Thomas H. Allom, Lt. Arnold J. Hammons, Lt. Walter J. Waldo, Capt. Leland A. Gaug, Capt. William G. Diar, Jr., M/Sgt. William R. Goodall III, and Maj. George A. Hanna. (U.S. www.defenseimagery.mil photo no. HM-SN-98-06695; NARA file no. 127-GK-4-A132638)

A U.S. Marine Corps Grumman F7F-3N Tigercat of Marine Night Fighter Squadron 542 (VMF(N)-542) "Tigers" flies a close-support mission over Korea, in February 1951. (US National Archives and Records Administration, cataloged under the National Archives Identifier (NAID) 74242771)

A U.S. Marine Corps crew chief of a Grumman F7F-3N Tigercat sends off his plane and pilot for a night mission during the Korean War. (U.S. Navy Naval Aviation News/[1] September-October 2002, p. 36)

Marine Tigercat fighters of VMF (N) 533 contrast the mule-drawn cart of a Chinese field worker at Nan Yuan Field, Peiping, China, operating base of Marine Aircraft Group 24 of Major General L.E. Woods' First Marine Aircraft Wing. The Chinese planes in the background are part of the 22nd Chinese Fighter Group, which operates the field jointly with Marine squadrons. (National Archives 176250452 official USMC photo 127-N-226600 by SSGT R.O. Kepler)

Taxiway at Nan Yuan Field, Peiping, China, Marines of Major General L.E. Woods, First Marine Aircraft Wing and Chinese Air Force pilots, talk shop while a Marine Tigercat and a Hellcat are serviced between flights. The Marine planes are based with MAG-24. The Mustangs and Warhawks are part of the 22nd Chinese Fighter Group which operates the field jointly with Marine Squadrons. (National Archives 176250454 official USMC photo 127-N-226601 by SSGT R.O. Kepler)

F7F Tigercats from Cherry Point, North Carolina, on 1 January 1945. (US National Archives)

Except for the lowered landing gear, the sleek lines of the F7F Fighter Plane are revealed in this head-on photo taken next to a landing strip at the Marine Corps Air Station here. (US National Archives)

 A U.S. Navy Grumman F7F-3N Tigercat in flight carrying a Mark 13 torpedo that incorporates "box" fins on the tail. Made of plywood, they stabilized the torpedo when it hit the water and broke away when the torpedo entered the water. The nose of the torpedo normally featured a plywood casing as well. (U.S. National Museum of Naval Aviation photo 1996.488.002.011)

 A U.S. Navy Grumman F7F-2D Tigercat (BuNo 80340) drone control aircraft at the Naval Air Test Center Patuxent River, Maryland (USA), on 16 September 1948. (Official U.S. Navy photo NH 89680 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command)

 A U.S. Navy Grumman F7F-2D Tigercat drone control aircraft of Utility Suqdron VU-6 following a Radioplane KD2R drone. (U.S. Navy All Hands magazine January 1954, p. 7)

 Closeup of the cockpit of a Grumman F7F-3N Tigercat night fighter of the U.S. Navy. It was used in the so-called Fleet All Weather Training Program to enhance aircrew navigation skills in adverse conditions. The pilot of this aircraft was Lt. (jg.) E.D. Jones with D.W. Johnson, AL 3, as radar operator. (U.S. Navy Naval Aviation News January 1950)

 A U.S. Marine Corps Grumman F7F-3N Tigercat launches from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Tarawa (CV-40). The Marine squadron had been stationed in Tsingtao, China after the Japanese surrender and was on its way to reassignment at Ford Island in Hawaii in December of 1946. VMF(N)-533 and VMF(N)-541 had been stationed in China. (U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. 2011.003.276.013)

 A Grumman F7F-3N night fighter in pre-1947 national markings. (U.S. Naval Aviation News April 1948)

 A U.S. Marine Corps Grumman F7F-3N Tigercat after launching from the aircraft carrier USS Tarawa (CV-40). The Marine squadron had been stationed in Tsingtao, China after the Japanese surrender and was on its way to reassignment at Ford Island in Hawaii in December of 1946. VMF(N)-533 and VMF(N)-541 had been stationed in China. (U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. 2011.003.276.014)

 U.S. Marine Corps Grumman F7F-3N Tigercat night fighter of Marine night fighter squadron VMF(N)-531 at the former Japanese Nan Yuan airfield, Peiping, China, in December 1945. (Official U.S. Department of Defense photo (USMC) A226616)

 U.S. Marine Corps Grumman F7F Tigercat fighters begin to pull out of their dive after attacking targets with simulated demolition bombs at the Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia (USA). (USMC photo from Harry S. Truman Library photo 97-921)

Grumman F7F-4N BuNo 80611. (SDASM Archives)

Grumman F7F Tigercat, circa 1943. (U.S. Navy BUMED Library and Archives photo number BUMED 09-7921-8) Official caption:  "Tiger Cat - Navy's First Twin-Engine Fighter is from Grumman Brood - The U.S. Navy's New F7F Tigercat, the most powerful fighter and fighter bomber in action today, is revealed for the first time in this series of photographs. A blood brother of other famous Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation products like the F4F Wildcat, TBF Avenger and the F6F Hellcat, the Tigercat is a big plane, half as heavy again as the Hellcat with more than twice its horsepower. This tremendous horsepower combined with Grumman design has produced the Navy's fastest climbing plane. The new plane is faster at sea level than anything the Japs have. At its critical altitude the F7F is in the 425-mile-per-hour class and for short emergency periods the Tigercats rated horsepower may be surpassed considerably. For the next several months, Marine fighter squadrons at advanced bases close to the Jap homeland will be flying the new plane to defend our forces against nearby concentrations of Jap airpower." 

Crash of a Grumman F7F Tigercat night fighter aboard the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Shangri-La (CV-38), in 1946. (U.S. Navy photo from the USS Shangri-La (CV-38) 1944-1946 cruise book)

 A Grumman F7F-2N Tigercat, circa 1944-45. (U.S. Navy Naval Air Station Jacksonville website photo CNIC_042516)

A Grumman F7F-1 Tigercat (BuNo 80291) landing aboard the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Shangri-La (CV-38) during a test flight on 15 November 1944. (U.S. Navy photo from the USS Shangri-La (CV-38) 1944-1946 cruise book)

Grumman F7F-3N BuNo 80445 USMC at MCAS Miramar on May 24, 1946. (Bill Larkins - This is the first time that I had seen an F7F)

Grumman XF7F-1 BuNo 03549 at Bethpage on 12 November 1943. (SDASM Archives)

Grumman F7F-2 Tigercat at a post-war public display. SDASM Archives)

Grumman F7F Tigercat flies over the U.S. Naval Ordnance Test Station—NOTS (present day Naval Air Station China Lake) in the mid-1940s, California (USA). (U.S. Navy Naval Aviation News July 1947)

 A U.S. Navy Consolidated PB4Y-2K Privateer drone accompanied by a Grumman F7F-3D Tigercat drone control aircraft in the early 1950s. (U.S. Navy Naval Aviation News March 1952)

Grumman F7F-4N BuNo 80609. (SDASM Archives)

Grumman F7F-3 BuNo 80462 over Long Island in 1945. (SDASM Archives)

Grumman F7F-2N. (SDASM Archives)

Grumman F7F-4N. (SDASM Archives)

Grumman F7F-2D BuNo 80349 from VU-5 UD68. (SDASM Archives)

Grumman F7F-1 in July 1945. (SDASM Archives)

Grumman XF7F-1. (SDASM Archives)

Grumman XF7F-1 on 23 December 1943. (SDASM Archives)

Grumman XF7F-1. (SDASM Archives)

Grumman F7F-2N. (SDASM Archives)

Grumman XF7F-1. (SDASM Archives)

Grumman XF7F-4N BuNo 80548. (SDASM Archives)

 U.S. Marine Corps M4 Sherman tanks and Grumman F7F Tigercat fighters during a parade at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (USA), in 1949. (U.S. Navy All Hands magazine December 1949, pp. 35)

 U. S. Naval Air Station, New Orleans. 1952. Arrival of Undersecretary of the Navy Francis Whitehair (not visible). View of line of automobiles, men in uniform, an a Beechracft SNB/JRB, left, and a Grumman F7F-3N Tigercat' in the background. (US Navy photo via Harry Truman Presidential Library website)

Grumman F7F Tigercat.

The Grumman F7F Tigercat is a heavy fighter aircraft that served with the United States Navy (USN) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) from late in World War II until 1954. It was the first twin-engine fighter to be deployed by the USN. While the Tigercat was delivered too late to see combat in World War II, it did serve in reconnaissance roles. The Tigercat primarily saw action as a night fighter and attack aircraft during the Korean War.

Designed initially for service on Midway-class aircraft carriers, early production F7Fs were land-based variants. The type was too large to operate from older and smaller carriers, and only a late variant (F7F-4N) was certified for carrier service.

Design and Development

Based on the earlier Grumman XP-50 that was eventually canceled, the company developed the XP-65 (Model 51) further for a future "convoy fighter" concept. In 1943, work on the XP-65 was terminated in favor of the design that would eventually become the F7F. The contract for the prototype XF7F-1 was signed on 30 June 1941. Grumman's aim was to produce a fighter that outperformed and outgunned all existing fighter aircraft, and that had an auxiliary ground attack capability.

Performance of the prototype and initial production aircraft met expectations; the F7F was one of the fastest piston-engine fighters, with a top speed significantly greater than single-engine USN aircraft — 71 mph faster than a Grumman F6F Hellcat at sea level. Captain Fred Trapnell, one of the premier USN test pilots of the era, stated: "It's the best damn fighter I've ever flown." The F7F was to be heavily-armed — four 20 mm cannon and four .50 caliber (0.50 in; 12.7 mm) machine guns, as well as underwing and under-fuselage hard points for bombs and torpedoes. This speed and firepower was bought at the cost of heavy weight and a high landing speed, but what caused the aircraft to fail carrier suitability trials was poor directional stability with only one engine operational, as well as problems with the tailhook design. The initial production series was, therefore, used only from land bases by the USMC, as night fighters with APS-6 radar.

While the F7F was initially also known as the Grumman Tomcat, this name was abandoned, because it was considered at the time to have excessively sexual overtones; (from the 1970s, the name Tomcat became commonly associated with, and officially used by the Navy for, another Grumman design, the F-14 twin-jet carrier-based interceptor). The first production variant was the single-seat F7F-1N aircraft; after the 34th production aircraft, a second seat for a radar operator was added and these aircraft were designated F7F-2N.

A second production version, the F7F-3, was modified to correct the issues that caused the aircraft to fail carrier acceptance, and this version was again trialed on the USS Shangri-La. A wing failure on a heavy landing caused the failure of this carrier qualification as well. F7F-3 aircraft were produced in day fighter, night fighter, and photo-reconnaissance versions.

The final production version, the F7F-4N, was extensively rebuilt for additional strength and stability, and did pass carrier qualification, but only 12 were built.

Operational History

The F7F Tigercat was produced too late to serve in its intended role in WWII; however, early F7F-1 models saw service in the Pacific Theatre before the end of the war. One Marine Corps photographic reconnaissance squadron equipped with the F7F, VMP-354, arrived in Guam in June 1945, and was quickly transferred to Yontan Airfield in Okinawa in July 1945. In July and August 1945, VMP-354 used the F7F to photograph potential invasion beaches for Operation Downfall in Southern Kyushu.

Marine Corps night fighter squadron VMF(N)-513 flying F7F-3N Tigercats saw action in the early stages of the Korean War, flying night interdiction and fighter missions and shooting down two Polikarpov Po-2 biplanes. This was the only combat use of the aircraft.

Most F7F-2Ns were modified to control drones for combat training, and these gained bubble canopies over the rear cockpit for the drone controller. An F7F-2D used for pilot transitioning also had a rear sliding, bubble canopy.

In 1945, two Tigercats, serial numbers TT346 and TT349, were evaluated, but rejected by the British Royal Navy in favor of a naval version of the de Havilland Hornet.

Variants

XP-65: Proposed United States Army Air Forces pursuit fighter.

XF7F-1: Prototype aircraft, two built.

F7F-1 Tigercat: Twin-engine fighter-bomber aircraft, powered by two Pratt & Whitney R-2800-22W radial piston engines. First production version, 34 built.

F7F-1N Tigercat: Single-seat night fighter aircraft, fitted with an APS-6 radar.

XF7F-2N: Night-fighter prototype, one built.

F7F-2N Tigercat: Two-seat night fighter, 65 built.

F7F-2D: Small numbers of F7F-2Ns converted into drone control aircraft. The aircraft were fitted with a Grumman F8F Bearcat windshield behind the cockpit.

F7F-3 Tigercat: Single-seat fighter-bomber aircraft, powered by two Pratt & Whitney R-2800-34W radial piston engines and featuring an enlarged tail fin for improved stability at high altitudes, 189 built.

F7F-3N Tigercat: Two-seat night fighter aircraft, 60 built.

F7F-3E Tigercat: Small numbers of F7F-3s were converted into electronic warfare aircraft.

F7F-3P Tigercat: Small numbers of F7F-3s were converted into photo-reconnaissance aircraft.

F7F-4N Tigercat: Two-seat night-fighter aircraft, fitted with a tailhook and other naval equipment, 12 built.

Bibliography

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