Is this an A26 or a F7F

[Lucky13]

Was gonna say that it's an A-26, but it's no need for it now I think. Anyhoo...
Did the F-7 Tigercat see much use in the USN? Or did it just become more or less one of those that you hardly notice...? You don't see much them or the F-8 Bearcat.

 

[JoeB]

Did the F-7 Tigercat see much use in the USN?

The USN itself hardly used the F7F, not zero, a few nightfighter sdns and detachments were very briefly equipped with it, and non operational sdns (drone control, etc), but basically not. All versions until the final handful of F7F-4N's had structural shortcomings for routine carrier landings.

It was basically a USMC plane. The picture is of course an A-26 but there could be F7F pictures from right at the end of WWII, VMF(N)-531 F7F-2N's, which reached Okinawa right after the cessation of hostilities (mid Aug 45), before the formal surrender Sept 2.

The Marines used the F7F pretty extensively in combat in Korea, unlike the F8F which was never used by the US in combat. F7F-3N's in VMF(N)-542 near the beginning of the war, then VMF(N)-513 for most of the war until it was phased out in 1952. 513 claimed a couple of Po-2 night hecklers but the main mission was night interdiction of road and rail traffic, for which by consensus the F7F-3N was better suited than the F4U-5N which the sdn also used. The second engine was highly prized over enemy territory, and the mission was extremely demanding for one man to conduct alone.

Joe