The Tiger was originally intended to be merely an improved version of the Grumman F9F-6 Cougar, but through collaboration between Grumman and the U.S. Navy – which kept making new demands on the aircraft – the Cougar evolved into the entirely new Tiger.

Following the Korean War, the U.S. Navy called for a fighter with greater combat capability and, above all, capable of supersonic speeds. At Grumman, the aim was to achieve this by enhancing the combat capabilities of the F9F-6. For the F9F-7, now known as the Cougar, the British Armstrong Siddley Sapphire engine, which had been improved by Wright, was used. Persistent problems with the air supply meant that the air intakes had to be lengthened and positioned on the side of the fuselage. The wings were completely redesigned and their aerodynamics improved; as a result, the landing gear could no longer be housed within the wings. The wings were fitted with spoilers, slats and ailerons across their entire span. A technical feature of note is that the wings were folded down whilst the aircraft was on board the aircraft carrier.

The landing gear was redesigned to be retractable into the fuselage, which was elongated and given a wasp waist in accordance with the British Area Rule. The design no longer bore any resemblance to a Cougar, so the aircraft was given the new name Tiger.

On 27. April 1953, the U.S. Navy ordered six pre-production aircraft, which were now designated XF9F-9.

On 30 July 1954, the Tiger made its maiden flight in Bethpage, New York; the pilot was Corwin ‘Corky’ Meyer.

The first Tiger was fitted with the 365-W-4 engine, which, however, did not yet have an afterburner; it was only the second prototype that was fitted with the 365-W-7 engine, which did have an afterburner. New problems arose during the test flights, and further improvements became necessary. It was also deemed necessary to redesign the airframe. Among other things, the air intake ducts were fitted with splinter plates.

In this revised version, the US Navy ordered 41 aircraft. Once again, the aircraft were given a new designation, F11F-1; the F10F-1 designation was assigned to the Grumman Jaguar, which, however, never entered series production.

In April 1956, carrier qualification took place on the aircraft carriers CVA-60 USS Saratoga and CVA-59 USS Forrestal. On 8. May 1957, the newly formed VA-156 ‘Iron Tigers’ squadron was equipped with the F11F-1 Tiger. It is unusual for an attack squadron (VA) to be given a fighter aircraft; normally, fighters are assigned to VF squadrons.

The second squadron was the VF-21 ‘Challengers’ fighter squadron; it conducted carrier qualification training for its pilots on the aircraft carriers CVA-59 USS Forrestal, CVA-20 USS Bennington and CVA-61 USS Ranger, but did not fly operational missions from carriers. The final squadron to receive the Tigers was the test and evaluation squadron VX-3. All these squadrons carried out carrier qualifications only and did not undertake any operational missions with the Grumman F11F-1 Tiger.

The U.S. Navy ordered a second batch of 253 aircraft. The Navy requested a number of modifications for these aircraft. Space was created in the nose for a radar, although this was never fitted; the AN/APS-50 radar had been intended for this purpose. The air-to-air refuelling probe, which had been located in the nose, was moved to the right-hand side and was now retractable. The wing roots were angled more steeply forwards, the cockpit was refitted with new instruments, and the engine was replaced by the more reliable J65-W-18.

Miraculously, the aircraft were not given new designations; the first batch was dubbed ‘short nose’ and the second ‘long nose’.

However, of the 253 aircraft ordered, only 157 were produced; the US Navy cancelled this order, as well as further orders for 85 F11F-1P reconnaissance aircraft and 135 F11F-1 fighters. The US Navy had lost interest in the Tiger. The F8U-1 Crusader from Vought was considered the new fighter. Nevertheless, the F11F-1s ordered (prior to the cancellation) were put into service. The new aircraft were delivered to Squadrons VA-156 and VF-21, as well as to the following fighter squadrons: VF-33, VF-51, VF-121, VF-191 and VF-211. Squadron VA-156 was renamed VF-111 in 1958. The Tiger’s service life in the US Navy’s front-line squadrons was not particularly long; by 1961, most had already handed back their aircraft and switched to the Vought F8U-1 Crusader.

The Tiger’s service life in the U.S. Navy’s front-line squadrons was not particularly long; by 1961, most squadrons had already returned their aircraft and switched to the Vought F8U-1 Crusader. The Tiger now spent its days in training squadrons and with the Blue Angels aerobatic team. In 1957, the Blue Angels were equipped with the ‘short nose’ variant and switched to the ‘long nose’ after the 1958 season. The Tiger was very popular with the Angels due to its manoeuvrability and ease of handling. The F8U-1 Crusader was also evaluated by the Blue Angels as a successor but was rejected as completely unsuitable. It was not until 1968 that the Tiger was replaced by the F-4J Phantom II from McDonnell Douglas. Like the Crusader, the Phantom is not suitable for aerobatics, but the ever-increasing problems with logistics and spare parts for the Tiger forced the U.S. Navy to take this step.

In 1958, following the cancellation of the remaining Tiger aircraft, Grumman had attempted to persuade the US Navy to accept an improved version. The F11F-1F Super Tiger was fitted with the General Electric 379-GE-3A engine, which provided around 2,000 kN more thrust, enabling it to reach a speed of approximately 2,160 km/h – a figure that at the time equated to an unofficial world speed record. However, the U.S. Navy had already decided in favour of the F8U-1 Crusader.

The Super Tiger was also evaluated by Switzerland, but as the U.S. Navy showed no interest, the prospect of production was too slim, so the F11F-1F was ruled out once again.

Although the Tigers had never been deployed in a war, not even during the 1958 Lebanon crisis, one was nevertheless shot down. However, this had a boomerang effect.

It was 21, September 1956 when test pilot Tom Attridge of Grumman Aerospace Corporation flew a Tiger on a test mission at an altitude of approximately 6,800 metres east of Long Island, NY, to check that the weapon system was functioning correctly. To test the cannons, he fired a four-second burst from the four 20mm cannons. He then began a descent and fired a second burst lasting three seconds, after which the cannons were empty. After firing, Attridge accelerated to Mach 1.3 and continued his descent. At an altitude of 2,100 metres, something struck the windscreen; at the same time, the engine lost around 80% of its power. He managed to climb back up to 4,000 metres in the damaged aircraft, but lost speed in the process. He now flew cautiously towards Long Island, where preparations were underway for an emergency landing at the company’s airfield. Attridge began to descend and lost more and more speed; shortly before reaching Long Island, the engine finally gave out. He reached Long Island under gliding power, but was unable to make it to the airfield. A cluster of trees marked the end of his journey. Attridge was taken to the nearest hospital with injuries. The commission of inquiry set up following the crash found that Attridge had crossed the ballistic trajectory of his own 20mm rounds. The aircraft had three impact marks, one of which struck the air intake, and fragments from the round destroyed the engine. Following his stay in hospital, Tom Attridge was ‘honoured’ with an award from Grumman for the first instance of a plane shooting itself down.

As mentioned earlier, the Tiger is armed with four 20 mm cannons, each with approximately 80 rounds of ammunition. In addition, it can carry bombs, rockets and guided missiles on four different weapon stations. The standard configuration consists of two Sidewinder missiles and two 300-gallon fuel tanks, which featured a wasp waist to reduce drag. (These tanks were practically never used; the Tiger rarely flew with tanks, and when it did, it used the standard 300-gallon tanks of the US Navy.)

After serving in the U.S. Navy’s fighter units, the Tigers continued to be used for a long time in training squadrons and the Blue Angels aerobatic team. It was not until 1967 that the aircraft were withdrawn from service.

However, the story does not end there, for in 1973 the System Test Division, a specialist unit of the US Navy, required two test aircraft for a new concept in aerial combat.

The two aircraft were former Blue Angels planes that had been stored at Litchfield Park in Arizona. One of them was fitted with a three-section thrust reverser similar to that found on the Saab Viggen. The second Tiger was left as it was and served as a comparison aircraft. Charles ‘Chuck’ Seawell conducted the maiden flight of the ‘Rohr Tiger’ on 9 February 1973. The ‘Rohr Tiger’ was used to test the use of thrust reversers in combat situations. In just 14 test flights, thrust reversers were tested in flight for a total of 90 minutes; a total of 82 flights were carried out before the programme was abandoned in January 1975 without any tangible results.

XF9F-9

Original designation.

XF9F-9

Orginale Bezeichneung

F11F-1

F-11A

Single-seat fighter version for the U.S. Navy

F11F-1

F-11A

Einsitzige Jägerversion für die US Navy

F11F-1P

designation of cancelled Navy reconnaissance version

F11F-1P

Bezeichnung der nicht gebauten Aufklärungsversion

F11F-1F

F11F-1 fitted with the J-79-GE-3A engine "Super Tiger"

F11F-1F

F1F-1 mit dem J-79-GE-3A Treibwerk "Super Tiger"

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Note:
This article was first published on 4. May 2005 on www.wings-aviataion.ch (then known as www.wings.de.ms) and was partially revised on 20 April 2026.

last update 20. April 2026

written 4. May 2005

Report No. 004