F7F Floatplane

Man, that seems unlikely, considering the USN was phasing out float-equipped aircraft by 1946. Maybe a civil conversion? I'd love to see photos too.

Mark Schynert

Yeah, being that the F7F is one of my all-time favs, I'd love to see pics or something!

Tom, this is the first I heard of it. As the Tigercats were used as firebombers, maybe the floats acted as water scoops and water tanks? That's the only practical use I can think of for a F7F floatplane, unless someone was trying to revive the Schneider cup. Kim M

It would have been a major engineering feat to effectively fit the F7F with floats, given its tendency towards tail-heaviness. For the purposes of taking up landing stresses, it would have been best to bring the float pylons down out of the engine nacelles, but unless the floats were amphibious, in the style of the C-47C (and therefore with more weight forward), the floats would probably have to be too big and stretch too far foward, causing hydrodynamic and stability problems. the nose might have to be ballasted too, to take into account the guns and landing gear stowed there inthe service version.

Mark Schynert

Personal sport plane?

Bill Banaszak, MFE

The one and only source that I have found to date:

The Aircraft of the World, Wlliam Green & Gerald Pollinger, third edition,

Grumman F7F-3 Tigercat

"Although designed as a shipboard interceptor, the Tigercat was only issued to shore-based elements of the U.S. Marine Corps, the first production aircraft appearing in April 1944, and the type was too late to see operational service. Both single- and two-seat versions of the Tigercat were manufactured, and thirteen examples of the single-seat F7F-3 and two-seat F7F-3N currently appear on the U.S. Civil Register, seven of those being active, mostly in the fire-fighting role. (my CAPS now) ONE OF THE INACTIVE TIGERCATS HAS BEEN MODIFIED AS A TWIN-FLOAT SEAPLANE.

This was followed by a lst of specs and a photo of an all red Tigercat with white lightnng bolt from nose to tail and white lettering.

I just completed a rework of the entire Tigercat file, going through hundreds of F7F photos and tons of text. This is the only mention that I could find.

I doubt if it got much past the planning stage, but I would just love to be proven wrong.

Tom

Hmm, definitely not mentioned in the 2nd edition, ca. 1956. The picture is of a -3N from Anacostia with '486' nose number. Must have been a later idea. Were there any 4th editions?

Bill Banaszak, MFE

I was happy to find mine in a secondhand bookshop but it reeked of cigarette smoke for a long time. I remembered a copy being in my junior high school library but I couldn't guess what edition that was. Most of the books were at least 10 years old which is why I completely missed the designation change in '62.

Bill Banaszak, MFE