Grumman, the people that made the planes 12 SEPT 2010

Great stuff, AJ2!

One of the unique features of Cougars and Panthers is the buno on the detachable nose right below the star and bar (like 2356.) So when you have a decent-quality photo of only the nose, you can still tell the buno of the airplane.

I think we should have a caption contest for 2346 -- the well-worn NATC bird in the school yard.

My entry:
"OK, dear, I let you sell the family car and use that and most of our savings on this Navy jet. Are you going to take me grocery shopping in this?"

[viking73]

Wow, great! Thanks for sharing these. Anyone know if the NATC -6 Cougar is still with us? I checked Joe Baugher's site but there wasn't any info. on it there...

[262crew]

THANK YOU I love the Cougar and Panther More please

[armyjunk2]

Some more Panthers and maybe a Cougar or two. The holidays slowed me down....enjoy


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[The Inspector]

Looks like F11F's moving down the left side of photo 2362

[NC_Rotorhead]

Great photos there "Junk"...............Thank you!!!!

Regards
Steve

[armyjunk2]

You are more than welcome, I'm thinking of posting some Grumman photos of what they did in the different buildings, some of the pics seem boring to me, but maybe not to folks that know what is going on. They referred to the different buildings as Plants. Any opinions on this?

[hawkeye52]

Indeed all GAEC's buildings had numbers and most were referred to as plants, even buildings where no manufacturing or assembly took place. The numbering system pretty much reflects the chronology in which the buildings were placed into service, although I suppose there were exceptions. The buildings situated on the Bethpage airfield were Plants 1 and 4 along the East side with Plants 2, 5 and 25 along the West side. Aircraft assembly was done in Plants 1 and 2; Plant 4 was used for flight development. The pix on this thread showing Wildcat and Goose production were taken in Plant 1. Hellcat, Tigercat and Bearcat production pix were in Plant 2.
Avengers? Not sure, could've been Plants 1 or 2, depending on the date.

Engineering was housed on the upper floors of Plant 5 with component machining (and in the '60s clean rooms for the OAO and LEM) on the ground floor. Practically all the drop tests and stress testing that you've seen in this thread took place in the Plant 5 hangars. Plant 3 was just across the L.I. railroad tracks northeast of the airfield; that is where component manufacturing and sub-assembly took place. The stalwarts of the WW II effort were Plants 1 through 5...plus the dozens of area vendors and sub-contractors.

Plant 25 was the new engineering building which came on-line in '60 or '61. There were myriad buildings in the general area but off-field in Bethpage, with a mid-60's map showing plant numbers up to 31.

Out at Calverton the two principal buildings were Plant 6 to the South and Plant 7 near the apex of the two runways. Final assembly was done in Plant 6 (that's where you see Panthers, Cougars, Tigers, Stoofs and Willies on the production line). Plant 7 was where flight development was done. The entire Calverton complex was a Naval facility constructed and bailed to Grumman after WW II. There were also many additional plants throughout central and eastern Long Island.
- H52

[Bill Walker]

You are more than welcome, I'm thinking of posting some Grumman photos of what they did in the different buildings, some of the pics seem boring to me, but maybe not to folks that know what is going on. They referred to the different buildings as Plants. Any opinions on this?

As a bits and pieces kind of guy, with many years in many different airplane factories - YES PLEASE!!

[raconnel]

Just catching up - As always, spectacular photos. Many, many, thanks!

Richard

[Ztex]

Very nice stuff!



In photo 2363...on the right side is a line of Trackers...I have never seen one with the triple tail.


Ah Ha! Now that I look around...I find it is the WF2 Tracer.

texasbestgrok.mu.nu


Bluejacket.com

Now that I look around...I find it is the WF2 Tracer.

The Willie Fudd or just Fudd for short ought to be the ultimate x-country warbird. Get that big ole pesky antenna out of the top and you've got pretty much unlimited baggage area as long as you can solve the weight/balance problem!

[armyjunk2]

Some Cougars and a Panther for Christmas

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[Glyn]

As ever, a feast for the eyes! Thank you, Armyjunk2.

[Bill Walker]

Does anybody have more pictures or info on the interesting looking A3D on the left edge of photo 2403?