On Memorial Day 1996, the F7F Tigercat flew its only airshow routine with its more modern descendant, the F-14 Tomcat, with Captain Dale “Snort” Snodgrass flying the Tomcat…
Long ago, Grumman and the U.S. Navy created a fighter aircraft that had the potential to dominate its class. It was a twin‑engine design that could be flown by one or two crew members, carried a powerful and flexible array of guns, and could lift the heaviest ordnance used by carrier-based aircraft. This aircraft evolved from an earlier twin‑engine project intended for joint service use, which never went into production because of development problems.
Naturally, the aircraft in question was not the F-14 Tomcat of the 1970s, but the Grumman F7F—a design that was initially going to carry the name Tomcat, in line with Grumman’s tradition of naming its fighters after cats. Starting with the F4F, Grumman introduced the Wildcat and then the Hellcat, names that were far more striking than its earlier FF-1 carrier biplane fighter, which was nicknamed “Fifi” because of its designation. The F2F and F3F were chubby enough to earn the nickname “Flying Barrel,” while the F4F became known as the Wildcat after Britain’s Royal Navy first adopted the type under the name Martlet.
Although the aircraft’s original role as a night fighter led Grumman employees to nickname it “Tomcat,” in line with their usual naming traditions, the U.S. Navy’s World War II–era Bureau of Aeronautics reportedly rejected the name. They felt “Tomcat” implied “feline promiscuity,” and the expression “tomcatting around” suggested conduct unbecoming of officers and gentlemen. As a result, the first would‑be Tomcat was officially named the Tigercat instead, maintaining Grumman’s wartime theme of feline-inspired fighter names.
Grumman test pilot “Corky” Meyer played a key role in the aircraft’s development, acting as Grumman’s project pilot throughout the program. His contributions received a somewhat backhanded compliment from Navy Chief Test Pilot Captain Fred Trapnell, as Meyer recounts below:
“At the end of his evaluation, as we walked out to his F7F-4N Tigercat for his return trip to the Naval Air Test Center, I proudly told him that I was the Tigercat project pilot from 1943 to 1946. He immediately burst into a diatribe about the Tigercats’ many deficiencies: the over-cooling of the engines, a lack of longitudinal stability, an excessively high dihedral rolling effect with rudder input, the high minimum single-engine control speed, etc. He ended his oration with: ‘If I had been the chief of the Test Center at that time, I would have had you fired!’ Each criticism of the Tigercat was absolutely correct. I was devastated and fervently wished that I hadn’t gotten out of bed that day.”
“Just as we reached his Tigercat, I blurted, ‘If you dislike the Tigercat so much, why do you always fly it?’ He explained: ‘The excess power of its two engines is wonderful for aerobatics; the cockpit planning and the forward visibility in the carrier approach is the best in any fighter ever built; the tricycle landing gear allows much faster pilot checkouts; the roll with the power boost rudder is faster than the ailerons; and it has a greater range than any fighter in inventory.’ Again, he was absolutely right. As he climbed into the cockpit, he turned around, grinned, and told me, ‘It’s the best damn fighter I’ve ever flown.’ I realized he had thrown the entire test-pilot schoolbook at me with his succinct tirade, and that we were probably pretty close in opinions regarding the handling characteristics that define a really good fighter. I went home happy that night. (Corky Meyer, Flight Journal, August 2002. end)”
In total, 364 Tigercats were produced, but the aircraft suffered from carrier suitability problems. Structural weaknesses and its tricycle landing gear meant it needed a different barrier system, since the usual steel cable crash barrier—meant to stop aircraft from plowing into those parked on the forward deck—could ride up over the Tigercat’s smooth nose and potentially decapitate the pilot. As a result, only 13 specially reinforced F7F-4s were certified for regular carrier use. The Navy ultimately addressed the carrier issue in its usual way by assigning the type to the Marines, who primarily flew it as a land-based night fighter, although a few F7F-3s were modified into F7F-3N photo-reconnaissance ships.
Marine Tigercats narrowly missed combat at the end of World War II, reaching Okinawa only in August 1945. They did, however, see action afterward in China, supporting Marine units and engaging in several “skirmishes” with Communist Chinese forces during the Civil War. Later, when Marines were sent to Korea following the North Korean invasion, Tigercats carried out a wide range of missions, including night interdiction, close air support, photo reconnaissance, and even interception. In that last role, Marine Tigercats shot down two night-harassing Po-2 biplanes, scoring the only aerial victories credited to the type.
After their military careers ended, Tigercats continued to earn their keep as firefighting aircraft, flown by civilian crews on dangerous missions dropping chemical retardant on wildfires. Their power and agility made them ideal as precise “fire bombers,” able to release their loads in areas too difficult for larger aircraft to reach. This is how the last Tigercats spent their working lives. Despite the highly corrosive nature of the retardant they carried, several examples still survive on today’s warbird circuit, where they are treasured as collectors’ pieces rather than toiling as frontline firefighting machines.
If money were no object, we’d consider the Tigercat the ideal warbird for modern pilots. Its twin engines, tricycle landing gear, and optional second seat would make it an exceptional cross-country aircraft. On Memorial Day in 1996, a Tigercat flew its only airshow routine alongside its more modern successor, the F-14 Tomcat, piloted by Captain Dale “Snort” Snodgrass. In that moment, the story of Grumman’s original “big fighter” came full circle.
Tigercat-Tomcat Airshow:
William Cobb’s Facebook page, Pensacola Aerospace Museum.
Photos by US Navy and RuthAS Own work via Wikipedia
