Before there were cats

Flight Journal, Jun 1998 by Tillman, Barrett

Consider the irony: in large part, America won air supremacy in the Pacific during WW II because a decade earlier, Roy Grumman had grown tired of building pontoons. At that time, he established his own company, building military aircraft, but couldn't have chosen a worse time to take such a huge leap. Within months of opening his doors, the Great Depression slammed down on the nation. Yet, when F4Fs waddled off the deck of the USS Enterprise (CV-6) en route to Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the company had a virtual monopoly on carrier fighters. If a fighter was sitting on a carrier deck, chances were it was a Grumman. One of the more improbable gambles in aviation history had paid off handsomely for Grumman, the nation and history in general.

The Grumman legend is based on feline names. But they haven't always been "cats." From the F4F Wildcat to the F-14 Tomcat, Grumman fighters were called "cats" because the Army/Navy committee began handing out monikers in October 1941. However, of Grumman's nearly 1,200 Navy aircraft preceding the F4F, only 244 were fighters (the rest were mostly amphibs), and there wasn't a "cat" in the bunch. Still, that handful of tiny biplane fighters is noteworthy for the dynasty they founded. Without them, there would have been no "cats."

For a company that had only built aluminum floats for Loening amphibians, Grumman demonstrated an unbelievable sense of optimism in entering the naval aircraft market. Opening for business in January 1930, the long Island factory employed 21 people, including two of vast importance: general manager Leon "Jake" Swirbul and engineer William T. Schwendler. This powerhouse trioGrumman, Swirbul, and Schwendler-would give the U.S. Vary Navy 56 percent of its carrier aircraft during WW II.

From the beginning, Grumman realized his fledgling company needed a landmark product if it was to make inroads into the difficult military-aircraft market. That as-yet-to-be-designed product came to be known as "The Plane."

"The Plane" received the push it needed when, in March 1930, the Navy asked Grumman to quote a price on a "high-performance fighter." As detailed in an 11-page contract, the company gucu-anteed 190mph at sea level, climb to 2,000 feet in 10 minutes and a service ceiling of 22,000 feet. Price for one prototype: $73,975.

The Navy accepted Grumman's bid on March 28, 1931, one year after Grumman's reply. "The Plane" became the XFF-1; "F" for fighter and "F" for Grummnan because "G" was already taken by Great Lakes. A boxy. two-;eat biplane with a 33-foot span, the NFF1 was flown for the first time by Bill McAvoy on December 29, 1931, at the airfield near Valley Stream, New York.

The XFF-1 was an important design for a lot of reasons. For one, "Fifi." as it was known, put Grumman solidly in business. It also broke new ground for the Navy, as it was the first retractable-gear fighter to enter fleet service. It also established the GrummanNavy partnership that still exists six decades later. Subsequent testing at NAS Anacostia, near Washington, D.C., pushed the new fighter up to 5.5G in dive pull-outs, and serviceability factors were rated satisfactory or better

The Navy was impressed enough to purchase 27 production FF-1s during calendar year 1933-enough to equip one squadron. Powered by Wright's 700 hp R1820-78, the "Fifi" jomed Fighting Squadron Five-B (VF-5B) aboard the USS Lexington that summer. This order put the company on firm ground, justifying Roy Grumman's initial optimism. As naval aviation grew, so did Grumman Aircraft. In effect, they came of age together.

From 1966 to 1967, retired Navy captain William E. Scarborough oversaw restoration of the sole remaining FF-1 at Bethpage. Scarborough flew Fifi in regional airshows and ferried it to the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola in June 1967. He recalls the airplane as "handling like a truck," but adds, "It flew reasonably well. It was comfortable without a single bad habit." Stable and well-behaved, the FF-1 had proven itself an excellent carrierlanding aircraft during its short Navy career.

The FF reflected ambiguity in the roles of carrier planes at the time. Regardless of the design, a two-seat fighter with a rear gunner would almost always be outperformed by single-seaters in most areas. However, even though it carried the extra crew member, Fifi still demonstrated superior speed compared to single-seat Naval fighters of the day (201mph to 188mph for Boeing's F4B-4) and stood up well to the rigors of carrier landings. The FF configuration also lent itself to evolution. Initially, 25 airframes were converted to FF-2s with dual controls.

As the FF concept evolved, a nearly identical aircraft, the SF-1, was developed with the same airframe and engine. It was put to work doing reconnaissance as a carrier-based scout During a sixmonth period of 1934, Grumman cheerfully delivered 33 SF-is, bringing total FF/SF production to 60 aircraft, plus prototypes. By 1936, most SF-ls were overtaken by rapidly changing technology and were replaced.