Warbird Information Exchange

The USS Midway Museum in San Diego has a Grumman F9F Panther on display. Its BUNO is listed as 141136, but I do not believe that that is the correct BUNO. I say that because the BUNO comes from a block of Cougar numbers, not Panther numbers.

When the aircraft was taken on loan from the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola Florida it was found that all of the manufacturer’s data plates had been removed from the aircraft. The only way that the BUNO had been supplied was that it was on NMNA’s paperwork as 141136, and the BUNO had been painted on the tail and on the detached nose cone that was supplied with the aircraft.

I suspect that the BUNO on the nose cone belonged to a F9F Cougar, due to the block of Cougar BUNOs that it came from, and the fact that the nose cone that was delivered along with the aircraft had the characteristic antennae bulge on the bottom that differentiated the Cougars from the Panthers. During restoration the Airwing volunteers removed the bulge and transformed the nose cone into one that would have been appropriate for a Panther.

I believe that sometime after the Panther left military service the wrong BUNO was attached to this aircraft, and as it was passed down through the years it became established “fact”. I assume that someone stuck a Cougar nosecone on the front to replace a missing Panther nosecone, so that the aircraft would look more complete as a static display. Perhaps the BUNO for the entire aircraft came from the Cougar that supplied the nose cone that was later attached to this Panther.

Here is a photo that I once found on the web showing 141136 on static display in 1982 at Dick Kleberg Park in Kingsville Texas. I had to retrieve it from Archive.org, as I don’t think that webpage exists anymore.


Does anyone out there know the prior history of this airframe (before it ended up in Kingsville) or have any information that could solve the mystery as to why this Panther has the BUNO that it does?

This aircraft was donated from NAS Kingsville on 15 December 1959 but had unfortunately been repainted by the Navy prior to donation:



If anyone has a list of NAS Kingsville F9Fs then maybe you could pin down those that were donated, scrapped etc and work out which ones it might be. At a guess the Bu No. looks to be in the 1254xx range:

Another piece of the puzzle. I used to play on the Kerrville Panther in the 60's. We'd heard sometime in the 70's it had been hauled off after vandals had made into a hazard. It's interesting to know its origin. I've tried a few times in the past to query old timers there in hopes of finding "where" it went to see if any of it remained. I wouldn't mind having a piece laying around...

_________________
He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
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That's great info in the news articles - now we know where the Panther came from prior to going to Dick Kleberg Park in 1959. I was a little disappointed that the two BUNOs shown in the second photo were not listed on Joe Baugher's BUNO site - I had hoped to find an additional clue there as to what happened to that group of Panthers.

There might be a one in four chance that BUNO 125459 is the one that went to Dick Kleberg Park and was eventually repainted with the BUNO 141136. I say that only because most of the Panthers in the photo seem to be wrecks or perhaps undergoing the scrapping process, whereas 125459 is the only one shown that is still intact. If 125459 was one of the four survivors, it MIGHT have possibly been the one that stayed in Kingsville, being there for at least 22 years before eventually winding up on the USS Midway.

I wonder what Navy command might still have records on the BUNOS of the group of 23 Panthers that were the final ones retired from NAS Kingsville...

What about a number in the cockpit for a call sign?Or maybe an inspection panel with the last 3 stenciled On the inside?

The other F9Fs mentioned were as follows:

Kerrville (Louise Hays Park): F-9F-5 BuNo.126064, donated 18 May 1959
Alice (Anderson Park): F9F-4 (BuNo. not known), donated July 1959
Edinburg (city park): F9F-5 BuNo.125473, donated October 1958

These aircraft all seem to have been repainted in the same generic colour scheme prior to donation. This is the Kerrville jet:



The Museum in Pensacola might hold records of donations - NMUSAF did a few years ago when I asked about F-86s. I'd also contact the town itself: I have had a few lucky hits with towns which kept records and/or the aircraft's log books!

Thank you, Quemerford. You've eliminated three possible BUNOs from the list of possibiliities. If I can find a list of the BUNOs of the four surviving Panthers (out of the 23 that were retired, 19 of which were scrapped), the remaining one could be the one sent to Dick Kleberg Park in Kingsville. The article says four survived as static displays, but also mentions a possible fifth survivor as going to the drive-in theater in San Antonio. That could muddy the waters a little bit on the BUNO list.

I found it interesting that the last photo posted by Quemerford showed the Cougar-style nosecone on the Kerrville Panther. The first photo (from the news article) may also show a Cougar nose cone, though I can't be certain. I think I read somewhere that that particular antennae bulge was added to some of the last Panthers in service, which might mesh with the concept that the 23 NAS Kingsville Panthers were retired in 1959 after a long service life.

Thanks Quemerford! Probably a photo of it just before being lifted over to the concrete pads which were surrounded by a bed of pea gravel...IIAMBRC. We know it was displayed without the canopy. Either the city fathers realized it would be stolen toot suite and removed it...or it was stolen rather quickly after it was set in place.

_________________
He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF