Grumman F-11 Tiger

The Grumman F-11 Tiger, called the F11F before 1962, was a single-seat supersonic carrier fighter and the first supersonic fighter Grumman put into production. It began in 1952 as a design study to improve the Cougar, though the finished aircraft shared little with it. The first prototype flew on 30 July 1954 and almost reached Mach 1; the Tiger entered Navy service in 1956 and 199 were built, the last delivered on 23 January 1959. Frontline use lasted only about four years, because the faster Vought F-8 Crusader outperformed it and its J65 engine proved unreliable. For a time it held the world altitude record of 76,939 feet.