Hi: I had the privilege of flying this very F7F as a fire retardant aircraft when it was owned by Johnson Flying Service of Missoula Montana. It was one sweet machine.. Even with a 900 gallon tank on the belly it handled very well.I could fly it with just 2 fingers on the stick. I would go to a fire at 275-300 knots and come home at close to 400 knots. When dropping the retardant it would tend to pitch up but that was reduced if you dropped with gear down. It is great to see this F7F restored to its original colors and still flying. Cheers Jack Yarnall
John Yarnall Hi John, How many horse power per engine you had on your bird ? And what about shock cooling the engines .....did you have to deal with this issue ? Cheers from France lucky man 👍
Hi: The engines are Pratt & Whitney R 2800 and about 2000 to 2200 hp. You could get another 200 to 300 hp by using the water injection. As for cooling the engines I usually maintained at least 15 inches of manifold pressure during a drop. I also dropped with the gear down to slow down and reduce the tendency of the nose to pitch up during the drop. I used the flaps as well once the airspeed was within limits. I would usually go to a fire at 275-300 knots and come home a good bit faster. It was certainly a beautiful plane to fly. Cheers Jack
John Yarnall Thanks JOHN for your reply.very interesting infos. We would need your expertise down here in France....we are experiencing forest fire everywhere since July ......as usual. Take care . Cheers from France
And best sounding... two big twin-row radials, and in a fighter they're going hard, not just tonking along like a passenger plane. One of these making a fast low pass sounds incredible.
This video is the best looking, sweetest sounding of all Tigercat vids on YT. Thank you, Voodoo, for posting it. For those unaware N700F was an EAA Grand Champion/Warbird Restoration in 1985. I recall working her first flights, post restoration. Very little, if any, expense was spared in the restoration effort. Better than fresh-from-the-factory 40 years prior. I had the privilege of riding shotgun in THIS aircraft back in September of 1998 with a parachute on my back and one BIG grin on my face during a museum open house at Kalamazoo, Michigan. The backseater does not sit on a seat, per se. It's a wingspar and to sit correctly it must be done cross-legged. No flight controls in back and in no way could tall Marines fly in the back of this machine. If one is a 6-footer or more one's head is kissing the canopy. For me, the overall feel of riding in the back of the Tigercat was akin to riding on rails. So smooth and powerful. We were lead ship in a formation flight of 3; P-47 and F6F on the wing. To John Ellis, the man who commanded N700F over Michigan's blue skies for 25 years: Thank you again, for the joy from that afternoon.
So true. They hold an air show at Avalon in Australia and bring an american announcer that won't stfu and play "I went to the danger zone" full volume on a shitty p.a system.
That was Frickin' SEXUAL in stereo!! Gotta change my underwear as I think I happened to "Spot" a little. Or a LOT! EXCELLENT AIRCRAFT and my All-Time Favorite!!
I recognize this one, she came from the airzoo in Kalamazoo. I remember seeing her before she was sold. Happy to see her flying again! Those R2800 Double Wasp engines are music to my ears!
Sure do miss this big beast over the skies of Michigan. Many a time, I watched John Ellis lead the Air Zoo's FLIGHT OF THE GRUMMAN CATS in this very Tigercat.
Beautiful Aircraft! Incredible filming an editing! You had the second best seat in the house it looks like! Couldn't beat stew' s seat. Lol! Great to see Stewart performing. Need to see him perform at an airshow or reno someday. Tigercat has got to be Cadillac compared to the bear. Especially during landing. Lol!
This is my boyfriends computer....... My Dad was a test pilot for this plane in WWII. He flew so many different planes but this was his favorite. because he had training in twin engine planes he was assigned by the Marines to fly this one when it came out. He was a 2nd lieutenant, and his birthday is July 21! So thank you for this it gave me goose bumps the engine sound is amazing! And the barrel rolls!! Awesome.... he's in heaven now but I feel close to him watching this. p.s. I have his flight book , which my cousin who is a pilot is deciphering now and he's amazed at all the planes he flew and taught others to fly!
I'm sitting at the 'board' in a recording studio. Huge screen. To-die-for sound system (If I remember correctly, each side has a Crown XTi 2000 watts feeding a custom built crossover in turn feeding: 3 each 24" sub's, 4 each low-mids and 5 each hi-mids, and 8 tweeters. It was built for sound quality, not necessarily for quantity....but it'l do in a pinch for quantity if needed). At 6:08 I think the whole building was going to come down on my head! Watching this specific video was GLORIOUS! No talking, just beautiful 'music'! This system also does a fairly good job with Rush or AC/DC when nothing else is going on. Jus sayin.... Many other vids has music or talking or yuck. THIS is a dang good video!!
IN THE WORLD OF OLDER WARBIRDS THERE NONE FINER THAN THE F7F TIGERCAT, IN MY OPINION , IT WAS SO UNDERRATED , I BELEIVE IT WAS BETTER THAN ANY OTHER TWIN EVER BUILT, THE MOSSIE, THE LIGHTNING , THEY COULDNT HOLD A CANDLE TO THIS BEAUTIFUL BIRD
One thing that confuses me about the F-7F. The engines both spin the same way - counterclockwise. On the P-38 this causes issues with torque during flight, and the solution was to make one engine spin clockwise (left engine from the pilot's seat) while the other engine spins counterclockwise, to cancel out the torque. I wonder why they didn't do this with the F-7F, because it seems like the torque from 2 x 2000HP engines could cause torque issues.
So... Not many people can probably appreciate this, but for a WWII fighter to go from a loop straight into an Immelmann and then into a half Cuban. That is a ridiculous power to weight ratio. I'm not sure any other plane from that era could pull that series of maneuvers off as quickly as this plane did.
Played this thing in war thunder and fell In love with it. Its a beautiful aircraft. It's incredibly fast and really loves to keep it's speed. And in a dive it picks up speed like nothing else and keeps it. And that beautiful sound it makes irl
Some people believe these planes should be in a museum. No one goes to museums anymore. This is and always be the best way to get people interested in our history. Just a quick thought. P.S. I’ve seen lots of planes in museum. Very Sade looking. But never look inside rust and rot..
PRETTY KITTY! In the 60s while I was in college in Santa Barbara there were TBMs and Tigercats at Santa Barbara airport modified as Forest Service borate bombers.
I the 1990's I was working a Fashion Photo-Shoot at Hobby Airport in Houston Texas. Just outside a nearby hangar they had a a F7F Tigercat . They started the engines and it was loud......I mean really REALLY LOUD!!!!!!! I believe it belonged to the Lone Star Flight Museum.
Hi: I had the privilege of flying this very F7F as a fire retardant aircraft when it was owned by Johnson Flying Service of Missoula Montana. It was one sweet machine.. Even with a 900 gallon tank on the belly it handled very well.I could fly it with just 2 fingers on the stick. I would go to a fire at 275-300 knots and come home at close to 400 knots. When dropping the retardant it would tend to pitch up but that was reduced if you dropped with gear down. It is great to see this F7F restored to its original colors and still flying.
Cheers Jack Yarnall
John Yarnall
Dallas Heslet t
John Yarnall
Hi John,
How many horse power per engine you had on your bird ?
And what about shock cooling the engines .....did you have to deal with this issue ?
Cheers from France lucky man 👍
Hi: The engines are Pratt & Whitney R 2800 and about 2000 to 2200 hp. You could get another 200 to 300 hp by using the water injection. As for cooling the engines I usually maintained at least 15 inches of manifold pressure during a drop. I also dropped with the gear down to slow down and reduce the tendency of the nose to pitch up during the drop. I used the flaps as well once the airspeed was within limits. I would usually go to a fire at 275-300 knots and come home a good bit faster. It was certainly a beautiful plane to fly. Cheers Jack
John Yarnall
Thanks JOHN for your reply.very interesting infos.
We would need your expertise down here in France....we are experiencing forest fire everywhere since July ......as usual.
Take care .
Cheers from France
One of the best looking planes to date in my opinion.
Bas L and the f8f
@David Vance how did that happen?
David Vance sorry man, he gave it to me. You can come visit it sometime
And best sounding... two big twin-row radials, and in a fighter they're going hard, not just tonking along like a passenger plane. One of these making a fast low pass sounds incredible.
Agree fully
criminally underrated aircraft if you ask me but Grumman does make some beautiful planes
That are as tough as tanks! Grumman Iron Works.
This video is the best looking, sweetest sounding of all Tigercat vids on YT. Thank you, Voodoo, for posting it. For those unaware N700F was an EAA Grand Champion/Warbird Restoration in 1985. I recall working her first flights, post restoration. Very little, if any, expense was spared in the restoration effort. Better than fresh-from-the-factory 40 years prior.
I had the privilege of riding shotgun in THIS aircraft back in September of 1998 with a parachute on my back and one BIG grin on my face during a museum open house at Kalamazoo, Michigan. The backseater does not sit on a seat, per se. It's a wingspar and to sit correctly it must be done cross-legged. No flight controls in back and in no way could tall Marines fly in the back of this machine. If one is a 6-footer or more one's head is kissing the canopy. For me, the overall feel of riding in the back of the Tigercat was akin to riding on rails. So smooth and powerful. We were lead ship in a formation flight of 3; P-47 and F6F on the wing. To John Ellis, the man who commanded N700F over Michigan's blue skies for 25 years: Thank you again, for the joy from that afternoon.
No wind or announcers?!!? Did you sell your soul to the devil for this footage? :)
So true. They hold an air show at Avalon in Australia and bring an american announcer that won't stfu and play "I went to the danger zone" full volume on a shitty p.a system.
f-off
So true. Got to hear the full glory of those two monster radials..
YES! Dido!!
The sound of big radial engines is music to my ears!!
Tne sound of twin radials is mesmerizing. Mustang and Spitfires may look good but V 12s will never sound as good. What an awsome aircraft.
5:15 is my favorite part. In stereo, through head phones ... Love it! Great sound and quality in this vid.
That was Frickin' SEXUAL in stereo!!
Gotta change my underwear as I think I happened to "Spot" a little.
Or a LOT!
EXCELLENT AIRCRAFT and my All-Time Favorite!!
A 27 inch monitor and surround sound system is pretty exciting !!!!
I had to have another shot of whiskey after hearing that..👍
Phantastic warplane....phantastic sound!!!!!!!! Very amazing!!!!!!!!
Thank you!
My favorite prop Navy plane. Absolutely every thing optimized for Go Fast.
Navy planes SHOULD have 2-engines.
The sound is amazing, like the aircraft. It performs like and early jet
What a lovely sounding Tigercat, thanks for sharing this.
The sound of that aircraft literally gives me goosebumps! TY for the awesome upload!
Brought tears to my eyes...thank you very much!
One of my favorite 3 airframes ever.
Probably my favourite piston engined fighter. Just look at it!
It was a great pity that this wonderful Aircraft arrived too late for service in WW2 it would have been outstanding in the Pacific 1943/45.
4000+ HP in a sleek elegant frame.
Beautiful video, captures all the beauty of this magnificent flying machine.
A couple of those low and close passes gave me that "there goes my hat" feeling! Great video!
I recognize this one, she came from the airzoo in Kalamazoo. I remember seeing her before she was sold. Happy to see her flying again! Those R2800 Double Wasp engines are music to my ears!
The sound of this bird 🤤
It seems as though everything the Grumman folks ever produced were always on the cutting edge. I love this video.
the pinnacle of piston powered fighters.... the power, speed, and sound WOW
Just spent two hours in traffic driving from Destin to Navarre Fl. I really needed this! Thank you.
A real professional display & a superb recording - well done! Really enjoyed it! Thanks for posting!
Sure do miss this big beast over the skies of Michigan. Many a time, I watched John Ellis lead the Air Zoo's FLIGHT OF THE GRUMMAN CATS in this very Tigercat.
Multiple eargasms🤤what a sound and lovely plane too
It had a nice powerful sound to those big old engines only soothing at the same time and nice smooth maneuvers. GREAT short video! 👍😉
AWSOME..Love these Tigercats. Turn the volume full up when watching this cause it is nothing bot beautiful radial rumble.
We love radial rumble !
Beautiful Aircraft! Incredible filming an editing! You had the second best seat in the house it looks like! Couldn't beat stew' s seat. Lol! Great to see Stewart performing. Need to see him perform at an airshow or reno someday. Tigercat has got to be Cadillac compared to the bear. Especially during landing. Lol!
Oh, this is great. Thanks for sharing... What a machine!
This is my boyfriends computer....... My Dad was a test pilot for this plane in WWII. He flew so many different planes but this was his favorite. because he had training in twin engine planes he was assigned by the Marines to fly this one when it came out. He was a 2nd lieutenant, and his birthday is July 21! So thank you for this it gave me goose bumps the engine sound is amazing! And the barrel rolls!! Awesome.... he's in heaven now but I feel close to him watching this.
p.s. I have his flight book , which my cousin who is a pilot is deciphering now and he's amazed at all the planes he flew and taught others to fly!
The footage and sound quality in this vid is terrific. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you very much!!
That thing is all wings and engines and very little else. The performance stats must be spectacular.
Really loved the close-up footage!
5:12
6:04
the low fast passes has great sound.
Absolutely stunning beast!
absolutely SUPERB !! I love Tigercat's and WOW flying!! Thank you for SUPERB video!!
Excellent video. Another great product from the famed Grumman "Ironworks". Thanks for sharing.
Ohhhh, that pass at 5:15, cranked loud gave me goose bumps! Eargasm!
What a display, awesome!
I'm sitting at the 'board' in a recording studio. Huge screen. To-die-for sound system (If I remember correctly, each side has a Crown XTi 2000 watts feeding a custom built crossover in turn feeding: 3 each 24" sub's, 4 each low-mids and 5 each hi-mids, and 8 tweeters. It was built for sound quality, not necessarily for quantity....but it'l do in a pinch for quantity if needed). At 6:08 I think the whole building was going to come down on my head! Watching this specific video was GLORIOUS! No talking, just beautiful 'music'! This system also does a fairly good job with Rush or AC/DC when nothing else is going on. Jus sayin.... Many other vids has music or talking or yuck. THIS is a dang good video!!
I wanna see this thing in person so bad!!! Thanks for making me drool. Haha
Sounds like P 38 Lightning.
MrRichof It uses Radial Engines which aren't even distinctively close to a Allison V-1710
The planes of fame air show is the first weekend of May. There will be at least 50 warbirds that will fly in. Top viewing experience in the country!
I love the big loops and the Immelmann!
Beautiful video and one really amazing plane. Thanks for posting and big salute from Slovenia, Pilot Robert
Give Capt. Blaz hello
Wildcat, good plane, Hellcat, Great plane, the Tigercat, I can only imagine how good she would have been in combat. Great engine sound. Good video.
Why was it not used in Korea? Corsairs still were!
@@johnnygnoneeded I think, that not enough where made. Plus, the USN was phasing out prop jobs for Jets. But yes, would have been a great plane.
What a great sound. Love it. Thanks
Wow, when starts up that first engine it just sounds like power.
At 5:07 the Tigercat does a flyby that I had to replay with the sound up - absolutely wicked with power and speed.
F7F, the quintessence of power and elegance
man I would love to have seen this in person. I can only dream of what flying it feels like.
5:12 GOOSEBUMPS , what a powerful beast !
Jaaoood haha sane. The props and speeds of this bird make the 2800s sound more like traditional online engines for some reason.
Looks like it’s close to stalling multiple times. Good handling. For being less advanced than other newer planes this is impressive
Gotta love the tiger Grumman made some incredible aircraft
IN THE WORLD OF OLDER WARBIRDS THERE NONE FINER THAN THE F7F TIGERCAT, IN MY OPINION , IT WAS SO UNDERRATED , I BELEIVE IT WAS BETTER THAN ANY OTHER TWIN EVER BUILT, THE MOSSIE, THE LIGHTNING , THEY COULDNT HOLD A CANDLE TO THIS BEAUTIFUL BIRD
Perfectly edited. Looks like it's thrilling to fly.
Best video I have seen of this aircraft. Thank you!
Beautiful bird!
Thank you for sharing
Beautyful display. This guy seems to have a lot of fun :o)
Similar to the dehaviland Mosquito in beautifully crafted airplanes
this is like an orgasm in my ear. never woulda thought it could sound so good. love this twin engine design
Like an orgasm in your ear?????, sounds like you have some strange sex life.
Beautiful Cat, That ❤
What a gorgeous aircraft.
The Tigercat and Bearcat are on my wishlist for DCS World.
One thing that confuses me about the F-7F. The engines both spin the same way - counterclockwise. On the P-38 this causes issues with torque during flight, and the solution was to make one engine spin clockwise (left engine from the pilot's seat) while the other engine spins counterclockwise, to cancel out the torque. I wonder why they didn't do this with the F-7F, because it seems like the torque from 2 x 2000HP engines could cause torque issues.
Or contrarotating props.
So... Not many people can probably appreciate this, but for a WWII fighter to go from a loop straight into an Immelmann and then into a half Cuban.
That is a ridiculous power to weight ratio. I'm not sure any other plane from that era could pull that series of maneuvers off as quickly as this plane did.
I just love the looks and power of F7F....
The tail looks exactly like a B-17
Giving it great Stability.
Love hearing those Piston Engines come alive, no other sound like it in the world
Played this thing in war thunder and fell In love with it. Its a beautiful aircraft. It's incredibly fast and really loves to keep it's speed. And in a dive it picks up speed like nothing else and keeps it. And that beautiful sound it makes irl
what a cool plane, great upload thank you
God, the sound coming from those engines at idle and taxi is 100% eargasm inducing.
While not this bird, I saw two separate ones fly and 1 race at Reno Stead air races several years back. Talk about awesome!
What a beautifull plane
The sexiest aircraft ever built. Thank you so much for this video.
I think that the beauty of FW-190 A-4 was off the charts.
Beautiful plane. Excellent video.
No better sound than a radial engine!
Gotta be one of the sexiest planes made. I love that narrow fuselage. Definitely my favorite Grumman.
Just a truly beautiful aircraft.
What an aircraft and that sound just perfect.
F4F, F6F, F7F, F8F, I love them all.
Grumman made the best piston airplanes. Although the Corsair is pretty BA
Him and his brother, the F8F, both astonishing ! 😲
The pilot is having the best time of his life.
Gorgeous sound!
Got to love that IO360 Lycoming
LOL
R-2800 makes such a beautiful sound..
Some people believe these planes should be in a museum. No one goes to museums anymore. This is and always be the best way to get people interested in our history. Just a quick thought. P.S. I’ve seen lots of planes in museum. Very Sade looking. But never look inside rust and rot..
PRETTY KITTY! In the 60s while I was in college in Santa Barbara there were TBMs and Tigercats at Santa Barbara airport modified as Forest Service borate bombers.
Really FUN looking plane to hang onto! XCTV wants to try!
I watched this like a small child seeing an Airplane fly for the first time.
I think I just saw this fly over my house the other day. It's in town for the radials and rivets fly in.
6:55 what kind of speed can she pick up in this pass? 350kts? 350mph?
Awsome video!
Good Video--NOT cluttered up with inane comments from announcers who know so very little of what they speak.
...and no stupid rock music or hip hop.
one badass Machine Once warmed up sounds like A 6 second Drag Car . Very Nice !!!
A lovely beautiful aircraft and we'll flown might I add. Be nice to get the p38 lightning and the dehaviland mosquito with it my God what a sound
Grumman nailed it with the cats!!
Bravo .Thenks
I the 1990's I was working a Fashion Photo-Shoot at Hobby Airport in Houston Texas.
Just outside a nearby hangar they had a a F7F Tigercat . They started the engines and
it was loud......I mean really REALLY LOUD!!!!!!!
I believe it belonged to the Lone Star Flight Museum.
Slick looking aircraft