Travel Town F9F Panther, and missing Panthers

[gary1954]

142985 BuNo F9F-8T Grumman Cougar Redesignated TF-9J in 1962 at Moton Field, Municipal Airport Tuskegee, Alabama. She's a straight wing, has the seats and engine on board, instruments I believe have been salvaged.

[Joe Scheil]

So this one is gone, or just the instruments?

[Andy Marden]

Joe,
Looking first at the Argentine ones:
0425 is ex 127207. It is inside the restoration hangar on base and not on public display.
0452 is ex 127171
0453 is ex 127206
I missed off a fourth:
0421 is pole-mounted at the Puerto Belgrano naval base (last noted Nov05). It is ex 125116.
I don’t think there are any more in Argentina. By the way, your “c/n 425” is actually the Argentine Navy serial, 0425 in this case.

Moving on to your USA swept-wing list:

F9F-6 128109 DEC94 B National Museum of Naval Aviation Pensacola (FL) South Wing
>> last noted Sep09
F9F-7 130802 MAR01 National Warplane Museum Elmira-Corning (NY)
>> l/n Sep04
F9F 131063 DEC02 P Cresson (TX), PATE TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM
>> Now with the Texas Air Museum Caprock Chapter at Slaton, l/n Oct09.
F9F-8 131230 APR95 B National Museum of Naval Aviation Pensacola (FL)Outdoors
>> l/n Sep09
F9F 131232 AUG94 B Seattle (WA), MUSEUM OF FLIGHT
>> l/n Aug09
F9F 141117 OCT95 NEW YORK (NY), USS Intrepid
>> l/n Aug09
F9F-8 141121 FEB95 B PIMA COUNTY MUSEUM (AZ)
>> l/n Oct09
F9F-8P 141722 FEB95 Flying Leatherneck Historical Foundation MCAS Miramar (CA)
>> l/n Oct09
F9F-8B 144275 MAY03 Patuxent River Naval Air Museum (MD) under restoration
>> This is 144276, l/n May09.
F9F-8P 144426 AUG97 B PIMA COUNTY MUSEUM (AZ)
>> l/n Oct09
F9F-8T 147276 OCT94 B National Museum of Naval Aviation Pensacola (FL)
>> This is displayed on the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi (Oct94-Apr09)
TF-9J 147283 AUG96 Kalamazoo (MI) MUSEUM
>> l/n Oct09
F9F 147385 DEC97 B Patriots Point Mt. Pleasant (SC)
>> Actually in the hangar on USS Yorktown, l/n May09
F9F-8T 147397 FEB95 B PIMA COUNTY MUSEUM (AZ)
>> l/n Oct09
F9F-8 ? JUN97 B Pueblo (CO), Memorial Museum
>> This is 138876, l/n Oct09
F9F-8P ? MAR01 National Warplane Museum Elmira-Corning (NY)
>> This is 144402, l/n Sep04
F9F-8 ? JUN06 P Brainerd (MN) Airport in Marine markings
>> Never identified to my knowledge.
F9F ? SEP02 P VFW Hall, Janesville (WI)
>> Already answered
F9F ? AUG98 Kenmore (NY) as playground equipment in a park
>> Surely a reference to the one at nearby Tonawanda (see below)
? ? DEC03 USS HORNET MUSEUM Alameda (CA)
>> Does not have one. The nearest they have is an F-11 front fuselage.

Now for a “few” others, extracted from my “USA Military Out of Service 2007”:
128150 was at Kissimmee FL (Jul03-Nov05) but is rumoured to have gone to Marengo OH.
128298 is with Leon Cleaver in Clarksfield OH (l/n Nov09).
130763 is at the Cradle of Aviation Museum, Garden City NY (l/n May09).
134451 is under restoration at Reno/Stead NV (Dec09). It used to be at the Canyon State Academy in Mesa AZ.
141058 is at the Historic Aviation Memorial Museum at Tyler Pounds TX. It is sitting stripped outside the maintenance hangar, where I saw it in Dec09.
141152 is at the KAI Aerospace Museum at Sacheon, Korea (l/n Oct09).
141675 is at the Yanks Air Museum, Chino (l/n Nov09). It came from Buckeye AZ.
141702 is on the USS Midway in San Diego (l/n Oct09).
142442 is in the William Krieger Memorial Park at Woodridge NY (l/n May09).
142976 used to sit in the yard of Chesapeake Mini Storage just by Baltimore/Glenn L Martin State Airport. Not been reported since May01 though.
142985 is as mentioned at Tuskegee/Moton Field.
144365 is at a rest stop at I-10 mile 4 just inside Florida (l/n May09).
143388 is with Leon Cleaver in Clarksfield OH (l/n Nov09).
146417 is at the Captain Michael King Smith Evergreen Aviation Educational Institute at McMinnville (l/n Oct09).
147287 was at Kissimmee (Nov97-Nov05) but is thought to have moved on.
147418 is stored at Camp Shelby MS (Mar04-Sep08). It is due to go to the Veterans Memorial Museum at Huntsville AL.
An unidentified F9F-6P is in the Walter M Kenney park at Tonawanda NY (l/n Jul09).

Regards,
Andy Marden

AUTHOR: USA Military Out of Service (2010 edition now in preparation)

[Joe Scheil]

Regards, Andy..and thank you...check your pm.

Its strange, but for a while I thought they were as rare as Hellcats...!

[Second Air Force]

So this one is gone, or just the instruments?

She was still there last summer, Joe.

I don't know what will happen to this one since the restoration of the Moton Field WWII buildings is underway. It's on airport property so I'm guessing that the city would be responsible for its upkeep rather than the U.S. Park Service.

Scott

[Versatile]

About 40 yrs ago there was some type of F9F at the Kansas City Zoo. Down by the Locomotive. I haven't ever found anyone that knows what happened to it.

[bdk]

Was the one on the farm in Minnesota a Panther or a Cougar?

[Second Air Force]

Was the one on the farm in Minnesota a Panther or a Cougar?

I think? it was a Panther--I seem to recall tip tanks. I saw that airplane a LOT of years ago so I could be mistaken.

S

[DaveG]

This one (BuNo 125992) is being restored for display in Bowling Green, KY

http://www.aviationheritagepark.com/new ... inona.html

[GARY HILTON]

Versatile.....The swept wing Cat that used to be at Swope Park Zoo, was moved to Downtown Airport, or whatever they call it now...It used to sit in a little park on the west side of the field....Last I saw of this bird was around 1972, in a scrap yard on the east side of the airport...(Harlem)...largest parts left were about 12"x12"...

[tom d. friedman]

cleaver's cougars are in good shape except around the canopies / windscreens. senseless vandalism by local hill jacks!! my kids used to crawl into the intakes & come out the exhaust area!!

[Jiggersfromsphilly]

Dont Forget Art Wolk's Panther at the DVHAA in Willow Grove PA.

http://www.dvhaa.org/aircraft/f9f-2.html

They used to have another one that was basically a empty airframe that they used for pictures with kids in the cockpit. I saw both together back in 1996.

[old iron]

I am surprised to see that this list does not include the swept-wing prototype, F9F-6 126670, stored at the NASM Garber Facilty.

Kevin

[b747cf]

Their is a F9F Panther at Tico.

http://picasaweb.google.com/b747cf/Figh ... 1296651026

Here is the Cougar on I-10.

http://picasaweb.google.com/b747cf/Figh ... 2945823378

Here are the 2 that were at Kissimmee.

http://picasaweb.google.com/b747cf/Figh ... 0453937794

http://picasaweb.google.com/b747cf/Figh ... 5691987362

Mark Fidler

[gary1954]

So this one is gone, or just the instruments?

Just the Instruments, I looked at her not too long ago.