Grumman Sapphire Cougar

History of the Grumman Sapphire Cougar

As the jet fighter era dawned, longtime fighter jet supplier Grumman presented the United States Navy (USN) with a new concept for a ship-based solution that would later be dubbed "Sapphire Americas" Lion", referring to its earlier F9F "Cougar" and his engine of choice, the British Armstrong-Siddeley "Sapphire" turbojet. The engine is a locally licensed Curtiss-Wright model designated "J65". The fighter was intended as a compact product to serve on the decks of Essex-class aircraft carriers in service with the U.S. Navy at the time, where space was limited.

As such, it will have features for carrier operations such as wing flaps, reinforced bottom and snap hook devices.

This aircraft certainly mimics every aspect of the F9F and subsequent F11F "Tiger" developments released by the same company. A swept, high-mounted main aircraft form was used, along with side-mounted air intakes. The pilot's position is very forward in the design, just above the nose.

The rear has a single wing with two horizontal planes - all swept back. The tricycle landing gear completes the modern feature list.

It is assumed that the Sapphire Cougar will be equipped with 4 x 20mm guns to meet the needs of the fighter. This would match the carrier fighters of the late 1940s and early 1950s. The elevated main aircraft also opened up designs for carrying underwing items, such as early air-to-air missiles (AAMs), conventional bomb-drops, and missile podsthe latter two providing inherent strike capability and doubling the design's tactical utility. [/p ]

The U.S. Navy ultimately had no interest in the Sapphire Cougar concept, and the design ended up in military aviation history.

At least one wind tunnel model was completed for testing to match the design drawings, marking the Sapphire Cougar as a stepping stone to the upcoming F11F Tiger - which the US Navy has adopted in useful quantities (200 units).

Since the Sapphire Cougar was never built and flown, Grumman engineers still estimate performance figures as part of the USN proposal. These include a top speed of 725 mph, a top flight altitude of 51,000 feet and a combat radius of 320 miles.

Specification

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