F-9 Cougar

F9F/F-9 Cougar
Grumman F9F-6 Cougar, 1952
Role	Fighter aircraft
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Grumman
First flight	20 September 1951
Introduction	December 1952
Retired	1974, US Navy
Status	Retired
Primary users	United States Navy United States Marine Corps Argentine Navy
Number built	1,988
Developed from	Grumman F9F Panther

The Grumman F9F/F-9 Cougar was an aircraft carrier-based fighter aircraft for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. Based on Grumman's earlier F9F Panther, the Cougar replaced the Panther's straight wing with a more modern swept wing. Thrust was also increased. The Navy considered the Cougar an updated version of the Panther, despite having a different official name, and thus Cougars started off from F9F-6 upward.

Rumors that the Soviet Union had produced a swept-wing fighter had been circulating since 1948 and the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 was widely shown at air shows in 1949. Despite the level of activity taking place with swept-wing aircraft, the Navy was initially not heavily focused on the development of such aircraft. This was largely because the Navy's focus at the time was defending the battle group against high speed and high altitude bombers with interceptors, as well as escorting medium-range carrier-based bombers in all types of weather conditions. Nonetheless the Navy appreciated the importance of getting a capable carrier-based swept-wing jet fighter. Grumman was awarded a contract for the development of a swept-wing fighter jet in 1951. The arrival of the Mig 15, which easily outclassed straight-wing fighters in the air war over North Korea was a major contributing factor.

Prototypes were quickly produced by modifying Panthers, and the first (XF9F-6) flew on 20 September 1951. The aircraft was still subsonic, but the critical Mach number was increased from 0.79 to 0.86 at sea level and to 0.895 at 35,000 ft (10,000 m), improving performance markedly over the Panther. Instead of using conventional ailerons for roll control; the F9F-6 uses spoilers on the upper surfaces of the wing. Wing fences were soon added and the spoilers extended from the fences to the tips of the wing. The rudder pedals controlled the part of the rudder below the horizontal tail surface, while the upper portion of the rudder was controlled by a yaw damper. This allowed the Cougar to fly safely and easily without the upper portion of the tail. The Cougar was too late for Korean War service, however, and thus combat effectiveness estimates of the Cougar against potential foes such as the (likewise subsonic, but not carrier-rated) Soviet MiG-15 necessarily remain in the sphere of conjecture.

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