Specifications:

• Wing Span 34' 6".
• Length 41' 9 ".
• Ht. 12' 3".
• Max Wt. 24,763 lb. with four 500 lb. bombs.
• Armament Four 20mm cannon.
• Power Pratt Whitney J48-P-8A 7,200 lbs thrust.
• Max Speed 675 mph.
• Cruise 537.
• Range Radius 462.
• Service Ceiling 42,500'.

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The F9 first made its appearance in 1951, an outgrowth of the Gruman "Panther". At that time it was called the XF9F-6, the first of the "Panther" series with a swept back wing. The next in the series was the F9F-7, a lower thrust version used solely as a day fighter by the US Marine Corps. Then came the F9F-8, later redesignated as F9 and modified for a variety of uses including photo reconnaissance and target drones.

The F9-8 was the "Blue Angels first swept wing and was used from 1955-1958.

The first production model flew on Jan. 18, 1954 and went into service in Oct 1954.

The F9-6 version set an unofficial transcontinental speed record of 3 hrs. 45 min. 20 sec. April 1, 1954.

The nose boom on these a/c was used for in-flight re-fueling.

This F9-8 was donated to museum by Aurora CO Chamber of Commerce.