Two Warbird F9F Panther jets???

[K5DH]

Please forgive if this has been discussed elsewhere, but I could swear the late Howard Pardue had a dismantled Panther or Cougar airframe stored at Breckenridge back in the day. What happened to it?

[mike furline]

Please forgive if this has been discussed elsewhere, but I could swear the late Howard Pardue had a dismantled Panther or Cougar airframe stored at Breckenridge back in the day. What happened to it?

F9F at Breckenridge was Howard Pardue's Bu 127487 Now with USMCAM at MCAS Cherry Point
//viewtopic.php?f=3&t=72311&start=15

And this one supposedly came out of Texas, F9F-5 125467 - in storage by private owner in Bulverde, Texas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_F9F_Panther
Now at Warhawk Air Museum, Nampa, ID. https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/inde ... rs-wheels/

Paul Allen F9F, https://www.aircraft.com/aircraft/20493 ... -2-panther
https://www.twz.com/40829/a-squadrons-w ... p-for-sale

[Warbird Kid]

Slightly changing the airframe topic but - I wonder who ended up with those two Panther airframes that Platinum Fighters had for sale a year or so ago? It would be great to see someone bring the type back to life!

Tom P.

I am equally as curious about those two planes disposition as well. I hope whoever acquired them brings at least one back to flying condition.

[JohnB]

Re the damaged Panther illustrated at Quonset
Point....

I hope that finds a home, aside from the nose it doesn't look in that bad of shape.

I wonder how difficult it would be to find a new nose section? Are there many parts out there?
Would a Cougar assembly work for static?

[kalamazookid]

Re the damaged Panther illustrated at Quonset
Point....

I hope that finds a home, aside from the nose it doesn't look in that bad of shape.

I wonder how difficult it would be to find a new nose section? Are there many parts out there?
Would a Cougar assembly work for static?

There is a photo of it on this page that shows it with a new nose and paint scheme as of 2017:

https://photorecon.net/quonset-point-ri ... -lot-more/

I saw the aircraft after it was wrecked in Kalamazoo. Before the museum sold it at auction, there was talk of creating a crash diorama from it. Obviously, that never happened. From what I remember, the nose and cockpit were ripped to shreds and the wings were in bad shape. The last time I saw the aircraft was probably 20 years ago and I didn't have a camera then.

[Archer]

Here's the Cavanaugh Panther (photo from a few years ago):

DSC_2769_resize by Jelle Hieminga, on Flickr

[JohnB]

kalamazookid..
Thanks for the link.
Is it me...or maybe the angle...but the nose on the Panther looks weird.

[sandiego89]

I always though the Panther wing fold was odd, with it not going to the vertical, or past the vertical, to allow tighter parking. I assume this was allow for an overall folded height to still fit under the hanger overhead, but anyone have any insight on why it did not go past the vertical? I would further assume wing folding/unfolding would be rare in the hanger deck so even if during folding it went past the maximum hanger deck height it would be manageable (ie only fold on deck)

[mike furline]

I always though the Panther wing fold was odd, with it not going to the vertical, or past the vertical, to allow tighter parking. I assume this was allow for an overall folded height to still fit under the hanger overhead, but anyone have any insight on why it did not go past the vertical? I would further assume wing folding/unfolding would be rare in the hanger deck so even if during folding it went past the maximum hanger deck height it would be manageable (ie only fold on deck)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/my_public ... 0449117184

[kalamazookid]

kalamazookid..
Thanks for the link.
Is it me...or maybe the angle...but the nose on the Panther looks weird.

It is an odd shape. I went looking through my only Panther reference at home and couldn't find anything similar.

Maybe they grafted on a nose from another type of aircraft?

[Tailspin Turtle]

The wings were originally designed to fold vertically but tip tanks had to be added for more fuel. The carrier's hangar height then required them to be angled out. See https://thanlont.blogspot.com/2010/03/missed-it-by-that-much-v.html

[sandiego89]

The wings were originally designed to fold vertically but tip tanks had to be added for more fuel. The carrier's hangar height then required them to be angled out. See https://thanlont.blogspot.com/2010/03/missed-it-by-that-much-v.html

Thank you Turtle, my question answered, I first thought them odd about 1980 when building an old box scale model. I spent hours playin....ah.... conducting aircraft spotting drills on the flight deck.