The Grumman F11F-1F Super Tiger (company designation G-98J) is a single-seat fighter aircraft originally developed for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

(USN). Based on the USN's

F-11 Tiger The Grumman F11F/F-11 Tiger is a supersonic, single-seat carrier-based United States Navy fighter aircraft in operation during the 1950s and 1960s. Originally designated the F11F Tiger in April 1955 under the pre-1962 Navy designation system, i ...

, the F11F-1F did not proceed beyond the two F11F-1F prototypes.

Design and development

As an improvement to the F11F-1 (F-11A) fighter, Grumman proposed a more advanced version of the airframe known as the F11F-1F Super Tiger. This was the result of a 1955 study to fit the new

General Electric J79 The General Electric J79 is an axial-flow turbojet engine built for use in a variety of fighter and bomber aircraft and a supersonic cruise missile. The J79 was produced by General Electric Aircraft Engines in the United States, and under li ...

engine into the F11F airframe. The Navy was sufficiently interested to authorize modification of two production F11F-1s with enlarged air intakes and YJ79-GE-3

turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, an ...

s, with the result being designated the F11F-1F, indicating a production F11F-1 with a special engine fit. The aircraft first flew on 25 May 1956, reaching Mach 1.44 in one of the flights. After the addition of 60° wing root fillets, a 13.5 in (35 cm) fuselage extension, and an uprated J79 engine, the F11F-1F reached an impressive Mach 2.04 in 1957, thus becoming the first naval aircraft in the world to exceed Mach 2 (two years before the

F4H The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bo ...

, F8U-3, and A3J). This was a surprise even to Grumman, which had expected a top speed of only Mach 1.4 at altitude.Buttler 2008, pp. 114–115. By comparison, the F11F-1 with the

Wright J65 The Wright J65 was an axial-flow turbojet engine produced by Curtiss-Wright under license from Armstrong Siddeley. A development of the Sapphire, the J65 powered a number of US designs. Design and development Curtiss-Wright purchased a license f ...

had had difficulty exceeding Mach 1.1. However, the U.S. Navy did not order the Super Tiger into production. Although the service ceiling of the aircraft was nominally , a test flight on 18 April 1958 at Edwards AFB set a world altitude record of .

Operational history

Marketing efforts

Grumman marketed the F11F to many potential foreign customers, during the late 1950s and early 1960s. For varying reasons, this campaign was unsuccessful, including the fact that the Super Tiger had not been accepted by the US government for any of the US services. In a tender to equip the Swiss Air Force, the Super Tiger competed with the

Saab Draken The Saab 35 Draken (; 'The Kite' or 'The Dragon') is a Sweden, Swedish interceptor aircraft, fighter-interceptor developed and manufactured by Saab AB, Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (Saab AB, SAAB) between 1955 and 1974. Development of the Saab 35 ...

Lockheed F-104 Starfighter The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is an American single-engine, supersonic air superiority fighter which was extensively deployed as a fighter-bomber during the Cold War. Created as a day fighter by Lockheed as one of the "Century Series" of fi ...

Dassault Mirage III The Dassault Mirage III () is a family of single/dual-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach number, Mach 2 ...

, and Fiat G.91. The Mirage was chosen, partly on the grounds that it was cheaper and more secure in terms of replacements and spare parts; however, Swiss assessors reportedly considered that, in terms of overall technical performance, the F11F surpassed the other aircraft considered. The German Air Force,

Japan Air Self Defense Force The , , also informally referred to as the Japanese Air Force, is the air and space branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, responsible for the defense of Japanese airspace, other air and space operations, cyberwarfare and electronic warfare. ...

, and

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

also showed interest. With an eye to the possibility of an order from West Germany in particular, Grumman offered to build a variant with the proven and more powerful

Rolls-Royce Avon The Rolls-Royce Avon was the first axial flow jet engine designed and produced by Rolls-Royce. Introduced in 1950, the engine went on to become one of their most successful post-World War II engine designs. It was used in a wide variety of ...

, instead of the J79. However, following selection processes allegedly marred by the

Lockheed bribery scandals The Lockheed bribery scandals encompassed a series of bribes and contributions made by officials of U.S. aerospace company Lockheed from the late 1950s to the 1970s in the process of negotiating the sale of aircraft. The scandal caused consid ...

,Baugher, Joe
"Grumman F11F-1/F-11A Tiger."
''Joe Baugher's Encyclopedia of American Military Aircraft,'' 30 January 2000. Retrieved: 26 July 2010. all of these potential customers chose the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter.

Variants

;F11F-1F Super Tiger: (G-98J) Two Grumman F11F-1 aircraft fitted with J79-GE-3A engines, (BuNos 138646 and 138647). ;F11F-2: Intended pre-1962 designation of production Super Tigers. ;F-11B:The post-1962 designation reserved for production Super Tigers. ;XF12F: Semi-official designation for a developed version of the F11F-1F/-2.

Operators

; *

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

Aircraft on display

The first F11F-1F (BuNo 138646) was used for fire-fighting practice and destroyed in the 1980s. The second prototype (BuNo 138647) was retired on 10 January 1961 and used as a ground training aircraft. As of October 2020, it is displayed outdoor at the China Lake Museum in Ridgecrest, CA. The aircraft is on loan from the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Specifications (F11F-1F)

References

Notes

Bibliography

*Angelucci, Enzo and Peter M. Bowers. ''The American Fighter''. Sparkford, UK: Haynes Publishing, 1987. . *Bowers, Peter M. ''United States Navy Aircraft since 1911''. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, pp. 183–185. . *Buttler, Tony. ''American Secret Projects: Fighters & Interceptors 1945-1978.'' Hinckley, Leicestershire, UK: Midland Publishing, 2008, First edition 2007. .

External links

{{US fighters F11F Super Tiger

Grumman F11F The Grumman F11F/F-11 Tiger is a supersonic, single-seat carrier-based United States Navy fighter aircraft in operation during the 1950s and 1960s. Originally designated the F11F Tiger in April 1955 under the pre-1962 Navy designation system, i ...

Single-engined jet aircraft Carrier-based aircraft Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United States Mid-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1956