The Lumberjack: Grumman's Forgotten F-11 Tiger
Not A Pound For Air To Ground
@notapoundAbout
As a kid I wanted to be a fighter pilot. Poor eyesight, risible spatial awareness and an inability to understand even basic instructions knocked that idea on the head. But even as my career went down a different path, I retained an analyst's interest in aviation. In particular I like to try and understand the military-industrial systems in which aircraft were developed and the doctrines and concepts that governed their employment. This channel is a way of getting ideas and research from my head into some kind of organised form. I really hope you enjoy watching them as much as I enjoy making them. But please remember that this is my passion and my hobby. I am not a professional documentary maker and I am at best an amateur historian. Please forgive the inevitable mistakes!
Video Description
The US Navy took a great deal of risk when it put together its 1950s fighter portfolio. Failure of the Westinghouse J-40 meant that its four fighter projects each failed to achieve the performance and longeivity that the Navy desired. Undeterred, it commissioned two advanced fighters for the 1960s in the form of the F-8 Crusader and F-4 Phantom. But these programmes both contained considerable technical risk. So Grumman, excluded from the roster of 1960s combat aircraft approached the Navy with another option: a less risky supersonic fighter that could be deployed more rapidly and would provide at least a basic level of capability should either the F-8 or F-4 fail. This was the Tiger. It was not a stellar fighter. It arguably wasn't even a good one. But it contained some interesting features and got into some pretty interesting mishaps in a short career. Sources: "Naval Fighters #40: Grumman Tiger" is the essential book on the aircraft. It's written by Corky Meyer and, unusually for the great man, is actually quite easy to follow! "Grumman F11F Tiger in Detail And Scale" is also decent if you can't pick up the other book. It is light on text but excellent on images.
Avionics Essentials for Your Grumman F-11
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