The Lumberjack: Grumman's Forgotten F-11 Tiger

The US Navy took a great deal of risk when it put together its 1950s fighter portfolio. Failure of the Westinghouse J-40 meant that its four fighter projects each failed to achieve the performance and longeivity that the Navy desired. Undeterred, it commissioned two advanced fighters for the 1960s in the form of the F-8 Crusader and F-4 Phantom. But these programmes both contained considerable technical risk. So Grumman, excluded from the roster of 1960s combat aircraft approached the Navy with another option: a less risky supersonic fighter that could be deployed more rapidly and would provide at least a basic level of capability should either the F-8 or F-4 fail. This was the Tiger. It was not a stellar fighter. It arguably wasn't even a good one. But it contained some interesting features and got into some pretty interesting mishaps in a short career. Sources: "Naval Fighters #40: Grumman Tiger" is the essential book on the aircraft. It's written by Corky Meyer and, unusually for the great man, is actually quite easy to follow! "Grumman F11F Tiger in Detail And Scale" is also decent if you can't pick up the other book. It is light on text but excellent on images.