What a pity. Or was it?
In 1945, two Tigercats, serial numbers TT346 and TT349, were evaluated, but rejected by the British Royal Navy, who preferred a naval version of the de Havilland Hornet. Alleged what killed the Tigercat in the eyes of the RN was its single-engine handling in landing configuration, it was seen as unacceptable for carrier ops, at least early on. The USN apparently agreed.
Only two Tigercats were assessed by the Royal Navy and none saw service with the Fleet Air Arm. The single aircraft, TT349(Bu Aer No 80293) was received at the naval unit at A&AEE Boscombe Down in December 1944 and another, TT346 was sent for trials with 787 squadron in February, 1945.
Assessment by the naval test pilots at Boscombe Down indicated that the cockpit featrures were regarded as poor, due to a lack of rear view. The aircraft was regarded as suitable for deck operations which was aided by good view, absence of take off swing, low power- on stall and good lateral stability. However, the type was rendered unacceptable to the FAA as tested due to poor elavator response at approach speeds.
Manufacturer: Grumman
Primary function: Fighter
Powerplant: Two Pratt&Whitney R-2800-22W engines
Thrust: Two 2072 hp, Two 1545 kW
Crew: One
Wingspan: 51.5 ft, 15.7 m
Length: 45.4 ft, 13.85 m
Height: 16.6 ft, 5.06 m
Wing area: 455 sq ft, 42.27 sq m
Weight empty: 15957 lbs, 7238 kg
Weight max: 23656 lbs, 1030 kg
Max speed: 427 mph, 687 kph
Ceiling: 36090 ft, 11000 m
Max range: 1790 miles, 2880 km
Armament: Four 20 mm cannon, Four 12.7 mm machine gun 300 rounds each), Two 454 kg bombs or six rockets; alternative under fuselage one 21inch torpedo
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Royal-Navy Grumman F7F-2N Tigercat Parked, As Flown by Test-Pilot Captain Eric Melrose 'Winkle' Brown, Cbe, Dsc, Afc, Fraes, Rn