Anybody ever see or hear an F7F Tigercat pilot report?
Mon Feb 14, 2011 10:19 am
It would be neat to read. I've read the many comparisons of the P-38 to other fighters, but never anything on the F7F.
John
John
Re: Anybody ever see or hear an F7F Tigercat pilot report?
Mon Feb 14, 2011 12:10 pm
In the book FIRE BOMBER INTO HE**, by Linc Alexander, there is a chapter on him flying one as an airtanker pilot. It is quite interesting and the closest thing I have seen for what I think you may be looking for.
Re: Anybody ever see or hear an F7F Tigercat pilot report?
Mon Feb 14, 2011 1:04 pm
I have certainly never flown one, but I looked up the stats.
It is really heavily armed, maybe overkill on that. It claims to be as fast or faster than mosy all other piston planes of the Korean era., and has good range.
It's climb is up there near the best, it is a little below in service ceiling.
It"s hard to believe that it was supposed to operate off carriers, it failed it's acceptance trial for that, then when a revised version came out, it failed the trial again.
They flew in Korea, don't know if they had any kills at all.
Lookswise. when you see them up close, they are very tall, don't look much like a fighter or much like anything else. They are narrow from the front, sort of slab sided, not so round like many other planes. The fuselage seems small, the wing bigger, and the tail very tall, as if the parts were from 3 different type planes and just put together. I'd guess the tall tail was to offset some handling problems, like some other twins.
It is called a fighter, but It really has almost twice the guns needed to destroy any plane. I'd guess it was more for ground attack, maybe against ships. All those guns and ammo would be very heavy, probably noisy too!
It is really heavily armed, maybe overkill on that. It claims to be as fast or faster than mosy all other piston planes of the Korean era., and has good range.
It's climb is up there near the best, it is a little below in service ceiling.
It"s hard to believe that it was supposed to operate off carriers, it failed it's acceptance trial for that, then when a revised version came out, it failed the trial again.
They flew in Korea, don't know if they had any kills at all.
Lookswise. when you see them up close, they are very tall, don't look much like a fighter or much like anything else. They are narrow from the front, sort of slab sided, not so round like many other planes. The fuselage seems small, the wing bigger, and the tail very tall, as if the parts were from 3 different type planes and just put together. I'd guess the tall tail was to offset some handling problems, like some other twins.
It is called a fighter, but It really has almost twice the guns needed to destroy any plane. I'd guess it was more for ground attack, maybe against ships. All those guns and ammo would be very heavy, probably noisy too!
Last edited by Bill Greenwood on Mon Feb 14, 2011 1:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Anybody ever see or hear an F7F Tigercat pilot report?
Mon Feb 14, 2011 1:08 pm
My father has a photo of one he took on Guam in August 1945. What a cool looking aircraft!
Re: Anybody ever see or hear an F7F Tigercat pilot report?
Mon Feb 14, 2011 1:47 pm
Try Wings of the Weird and Wonderful by Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown, CBE DSC AFC RN. The latest edition of the book was recently publsihed by Hikoki, distributed by Crecy Publishing...
http://www.crecy.co.uk/product_info.php ... cts_id=502
http://www.crecy.co.uk/product_info.php ... cts_id=502
Re: Anybody ever see or hear an F7F Tigercat pilot report?
Mon Feb 14, 2011 2:00 pm
His F7F pilot report is also in the first edition of the book which you might be able to find used....Wings of the Weird and Wonderful, 1983 published by Airlife. ISBN 0906393 30 2.
The new edition seems to combine the first book with the later Wings of the Weird and Wonderful, Volume 2 from 1985.
Not to give away too much, here's a brief quote...
On the hole the Tigercar was a delightful high performance aircraft to fly, with the exception of the heavy aileron control at high speeds.
Brown has flown more aircraft types than most of us have seen...
aside from Frank Tallman, I 'd be hard pressed to think of someone with more experience in a variety of types.
The new edition seems to combine the first book with the later Wings of the Weird and Wonderful, Volume 2 from 1985.
Not to give away too much, here's a brief quote...
On the hole the Tigercar was a delightful high performance aircraft to fly, with the exception of the heavy aileron control at high speeds.
Brown has flown more aircraft types than most of us have seen...
aside from Frank Tallman, I 'd be hard pressed to think of someone with more experience in a variety of types.
Re: Anybody ever see or hear an F7F Tigercat pilot report?
Mon Feb 14, 2011 2:09 pm
Get the book "Grumman F7F Tigercat" by Corkey Meyer & Steve Ginter. # 74 in the red cover "Naval Fighters" book series.
He test flew(Corkey) the first one and did most of the test flying for the type and in it he describes many "adventures" in the process
.
ISBN # is: 0-942612-75-2
It is heavily illustrated and the end has some on the civilian and fire bombers, plus a modeling section. I highly recommend it
He test flew(Corkey) the first one and did most of the test flying for the type and in it he describes many "adventures" in the process
.ISBN # is: 0-942612-75-2
It is heavily illustrated and the end has some on the civilian and fire bombers, plus a modeling section. I highly recommend it