# Best Grumman 'Cat' plane



## Pong (Apr 4, 2008)

Beginning in the 1930s, Grumman made planes with the name ending with a cat. I thought, what is your favorite 'Cat' that ever flew?


----------



## evangilder (Apr 4, 2008)

My favorite 'cat' is not on the list, the F7F Tigercat.


----------



## Thorlifter (Apr 4, 2008)

Pong said:


> During the 1930s, Grumman made planes with the name ending with a cat.



The F6F, F7F, F8F, and F-14 were not made during the 30's. Not sure if you can through in the F-14 as it's (obviously) a very different plane.

However, since your simply asking which is my "favorite" and not "the best", mine is the Hellcat.


----------



## Wildcat (Apr 4, 2008)

Wildcat.


----------



## timshatz (Apr 4, 2008)

Best was the Bearcat. Personally like the Hellcat, thought the Tigercat was a great bird. But the Bearcat, not my favorite but the best of the fighters.


----------



## evangilder (Apr 4, 2008)

Wildcat said:


> Wildcat.



 I would _never _have guessed!


----------



## DBII (Apr 4, 2008)

I am with Evan, the Tigercat.

DBII


----------



## renrich (Apr 4, 2008)

As was said, the Wildcat was the only one mentioned made in the 30s and that just barely. The XF4F2 made it's first flight in 1937 but the first production airplane did not fly until Feb., 1940. The first airplane Grumman made, the FF1, made it's first flight on Dec. 29, 1931. I guess my favorite of all the Cats was the Tomcat. There were other Cats, F9F-Panther, F9F-9-Cougar, F10F-Tiger. Was not there a F11F?


----------



## ToughOmbre (Apr 4, 2008)

*Best looking* - F7F

*Best combat record* - F6F

*Best air racer* - F8F

But my *favorite* is the F4F. For the same reason I love the P-40. Was all about "holding the fort" until help, in the form of superior types, became available. 

TO


----------



## DBII (Apr 4, 2008)

The F-11 was the Tiger. The Blue Angles flew them for a while. The F-10 was the Douglas Skynight. I like the Grumman in my Avatar. 

Grumman F11

DBII


----------



## Messy1 (Apr 4, 2008)

I agree with Evan. Of the prop jobs, the Tigercat is my favorite. Although the Bearcat is a very, very close second!


----------



## renrich (Apr 4, 2008)

DB, the F3D was the Skynight. My mistake the F9F6 was the Cougar. Thanks for the correction. The F10F was the Jaguar, a swing wing AC, not adopted by the Navy. The F11F as you said was used by the Blue Angels for a while. I remember standing near the runway at Grand Junction, CO with Jim Swope, an ace during WW2 and at one point the program officer for the F111B, looking at the shell of an F11F.


----------



## DBII (Apr 4, 2008)

I agree with TO listing. Back in the 90's the Lone Start Flight Museum focus was the Pacific. At one time you could attend their Fly Day and see a F3, F4, F6 and F7 plus a F4U and a TBM. Talk about a dream. It was a sad day when the collection started to be sold off. Since then a SBD was restored along with a F8. However, the F7F was sold and both the F3 and F8 are for sale. 

DBII


----------



## Zarathos (Apr 4, 2008)

Hellcat. Fitting name for a fighter, not as fugly as F7F and F8F and better then F4F.

Reactions: Agree Agree:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Graeme (Apr 4, 2008)

renrich said:


> DB, the F3D was the Skynight.



Skynights that remained in service after September 1962 were classed as F-10's 



Pong said:


> Grumman made planes with the name ending with a cat.



A potential military Grumman Cat was the G-164A Super Ag-Cat.

There was a plan to militarize the Grumman Super Ag-Cat when America’s involvement in Vietnam was escalating. They were to be shipped out under the guise of a civil aircraft and converted to military status once handed over to the South Vietnamese. This was to be done in a number of ways…
Light machine guns _“strapped”_ to the wings.
Use as a field ambulance with pods _“strapped”_ to the wings.
Small bomb attachment points applied.
Perfect for observation duties, because of its superb flying capabilities which included the ability to turn in areas only 200 ft in diameter.

US Army pilots assessed the plan while flying an Ag-Cat and agreed that it was a tremendous aircraft and quite capable of doing everything that was asked of it,_ “but they could not recommend the purchase of an *old-fashioned looking biplane* to the Pentagon, when they were in a jet-orientated world”. 
_


----------



## evangilder (Apr 4, 2008)

For sheer climbing ability though, the F8F rocks. It would go from a full stop to 10,000 feet in 96 seconds. For a prop, that is insane!


----------



## The Basket (Apr 4, 2008)

Wouldn't the Tomcat have a better rate of climb than that...lol.

The Tomcat could do things that a Wildcat could only dream of...pure science fiction by 1940s standard.


----------



## Hunter368 (Apr 4, 2008)

ToughOmbre said:


> But my *favorite* is the F4F. For the same reason I love the P-40. Was all about "holding the fort" until help, in the form of superior types, became available.
> 
> TO



You must like to underdog in sports allot I am guessing.  

I like the Hellcat.

Reactions: Agree Agree:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## ToughOmbre (Apr 4, 2008)

Hunter368 said:


> You must like to underdog in sports allot I am guessing.



Yeah, but the F4F was a "live dog" with an overall kill ratio of almost 7:1. I would actually rather be in a Wildcat than a Zero. Even if I lost the fight I'd have a better chance of surviving. Same with the P-40.

TO


----------



## Soundbreaker Welch? (Apr 7, 2008)

I voted Hellcat. The Wildcat was good, but the Hellcat was it's tougher big brother. Made the most aces too out of the American planes, that's shows something.

Reactions: Like Like:
1 | Like List reactions


----------



## Marcel (Apr 7, 2008)

The Hellcat and the Corsair were better than the Wildcat, they should be as they entered the war much later. But I love the Wildcat, it looks like a barrel of my favorite Belgian Beer with wings attached and you gotta love the bicycle chain driven under carriage. And it was quite a good a/c in it's time frame.


----------



## ONE_HELLCAT (Jun 24, 2008)

Normally I'd hate to dredge old threads, but I must say, I love everything good and Grumman. I voted, obviously, for the Hellcat, Wildcat would be second, followed by Bearcat. I've gotten pictures of most of the 'cats'. That reminds me, someone mentioned making a gallery or something like that, how do I do that? Or do I just make a thread in the Aircraft pictures thread?


----------



## trackend (Jun 24, 2008)

Deffinately the Tiger cat I took some video a couple of years ago I'll dig it out and post it again on here could that plane climb or what.
The fuslage is not much wider that the pilots shoulders they even had to offset the nose wheel to fit it in, its llike a flying pencil with two bloody great motors bolted on.


----------



## Haztoys (Jun 24, 2008)

evangilder said:


> For sheer climbing ability though, the F8F rocks. It would go from a full stop to 10,000 feet in 96 seconds. For a prop, that is insane!



Big F8F fan..Two birds I was shock once I got up close too ...One was the F7F do to it being so big ..And the curves and the beauty of the F8F made me a fan...And they were all in one room in Palm Springs ...


----------



## drgondog (Jun 24, 2008)

I have a tough time on this one. I have known three or four pilots including Captain Jimmy "Doc" Savage, and F6F ace who swore the F7F was the hottest and most fun to fly recip fighter they ever flew - and all had time in the F6F, F7F and F8F and F4U.

If I had one choice personally to pick to fight with I believe I lean to the F8F.


----------



## parsifal (Jun 24, 2008)

well, I'm the odd man out it seems. i love the Tomcat. They were absolutely awsome to see in the air, and man the things they were capable of... , carried the phoenix missile like wyatt earps six gun, and were mean when it came to carrying ordinace as well


----------



## trackend (Jun 24, 2008)

Found that Tiger cat video I shot at Duxford in 2005 its a bit rough but gives a look of it in the air


----------



## Mitya (Jun 25, 2008)

F6F Hellcat.


----------



## Bigxiko (Jul 4, 2008)

my favourite is the hellcat


----------



## Tao-san (Jul 4, 2008)

Favourite is my cat "Mr Globule", 4Kg feline, so I've voted Bearcat.


----------



## Desert Fox (Jul 12, 2008)

Bearcat is my favourite, not quite as barrel shaped as its predecessors, better looking. But I agree, the Hellcat was one hell of a plane.


----------



## otftch (Jul 12, 2008)

I'd have to go with the Bearcat.What a rate of climb.Too bad it did not see serious combat in WW II.
Ed


----------



## Doughboy (May 30, 2009)

F6F Hellcat...It was a great plane and was good-looking.


----------



## diddyriddick (Jun 1, 2009)

I voted for the F4F. Even when I was a kid, I was intrigued by that funky undercarriage. I know, its silly, but there it is.


----------



## Vassili Zaitzev (Jun 1, 2009)

Well, since this thread is back up, I have to say the F4F. Not the best, but I like the look of the plane, and the fact it held it's own against the zero during 42.


----------



## renrich (Jun 5, 2009)

I picked the F4F as my "favorite" because for a little more than a year and a half, the USN, against a very competent IJN, had no other carrier based fighter and it held it's own. Without the Wildcat, Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal all might have been lost. The Hellcat arrived in August , 1943, but it shared the work with the Corsair. The Wildcat went on and served during the whole war off of CVEs and the corpulent little bird did a workmanlike job in spite of it's looks.


----------



## Lucky13 (Jun 5, 2009)

Agree! Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal..... F4F wins hands down!


----------



## JoeB (Jun 5, 2009)

Wasn't there an older version of this allowing votes for less famous 'cats'? Anyway my favorite is the F9F Panther, first jet fighter to down another jet fighter in combat (where both sides agree that's what happened), and 5:1 overall score (again as counted by each sides' losses) over the theoretically much superior MiG-15. 

Joe


----------



## Cromwell (Jun 5, 2009)

diddyriddick said:


> I voted for the F4F. Even when I was a kid, I was intrigued by that funky undercarriage. I know, its silly, but there it is.



That 'funky' undercarriage is quite interesting

1. I think it was more or less the same as used in the Grumman Duck amphibian

2. Was originally designed by Loening company

3. Was Hand Cranked - and quite hard work apparently


----------



## vikingBerserker (Jun 6, 2009)

Bearcat, it would just be a blast to fly one.


----------



## Pong (Jun 6, 2009)

JoeB said:


> Wasn't there an older version of this allowing votes for less famous 'cats'? Anyway my favorite is the F9F Panther, first jet fighter to down another jet fighter in combat (where both sides agree that's what happened), and 5:1 overall score (again as counted by each sides' losses) over the theoretically much superior MiG-15.
> 
> Joe



Here is the updated poll.

.


----------



## renrich (Jun 6, 2009)

JB, great point, the Panther was a very effective early jet fighter and somewhat handsome also.


----------

