Warbird Information Exchange

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

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

http://www.anaheim.net/AnaheimMagazine/05Winter.pdf

Long before the F9F-6P Cougar’s
current mission in what many people call “Airplane Park,” the Grumman
F9F-6P photoreconnaissance jet, was used by the United States Navy in
the Korean War. The jet, which has a wingspan of 34 feet and weighs just
under six tons, set itself apart from others during the war when it became
the first to deploy a heat-seeking Sidewinder missile and the first to have
a successful pilot ejection at supersonic speed. The Cougar flew numerous
missions over North Korea, taking aerial reconnaissance photos. After the
conflict was over, the Cougar was transferred to a Naval “plane graveyard”
in Litchfield, Arizona. ✪ It remained in Litchfield for several years before
it was rescued by the City of Anaheim. In May 1959, Anaheim officials
contacted the Navy, seeking a jet to display in a City park. The Navy offered
six different jets, but Anaheim only received one of them, the Cougar. By
November of that year, the jet was dismantled and put on a train to Anaheim.
The entire arrangement only cost $250, the price of shipping it from
Arizona. ✪ The jet was placed in what is now Boysen Park with the cockpit
controls intact and the storage areas open for crawling and exploring.
But after several years, the jet began to wear down. Metal had started to
warp and sharpen at the edges, and screws had become exposed. Eventually,
in 1967, it was layered in metal mesh, then covered with a two-inch thick
coat of gunite, a mixture of cement and latex glue. The cockpit controls
and seat were removed, and the crawl spaces were sealed off. Over the
years, the jet has been repainted several times . This summer, City staff
restored it to its original colors, with a star painted next to the cockpit and
red trim on top of the wings. ✪ Forty-two years since the jet landed at its
final destination, children who once played on the Cougar now bring their
own children to the park to fly the jet, fueled by imagination. ✪

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.

The City of Tuskegee does have jurisdiction over the A/C. I was told that the city contacted the Huntsville Verteran's Memorial Museum to see of they wanted it. So I guess they are trying to get rid of it. Additionally, in my research, yes, the instruments are stripped out of the cockpit, leaving basically only the ejection seats, as can be see from photos.

I'm going to try and visit the A/C soon to see it firsthand (soon as I clear it with Household Six...)

Beave