Rod Lewis's Grumman F7F-3P Tigercat "Big Bossman"

Rod Lewis, of San Antonio, Texas, is the owner of this beautiful Grumman F7F-3P Tigercat (Bu No. 80503), which is available for airshows, flybys, film.

In early 1941, Grumman began design-work on a new twin-engine fighter for the War Department, for use on a planned larger Midway-class aircraft carrier. On June 30, 1941, Grumman was awarded a contract to build two prototypes, the first of which flew in December 1943. The XF7F-1 Tigercat was unusual for a fighter, built around two R-2800 engines, with its shoulder-mounted wings, all-metal construction and tricycle landing gear.

Before the prototype even flew for the first time, Grumman was contracted to build 500 of them for the US Marine Corps, to be used as close-support aircraft for the massive landing operations then underway in the Pacific. Delivery began in April 1944. The first 34 F7F-1s were similar to the prototypes, then 30 two-seat night-fighter variants (called F7F-2Ns) were produced. Next, 189 single-seat models called F7F-3s were built which featured slightly more powerful R-2800 engines, slightly larger vertical stabilizers, and a 7% increase in fuel capacity.

Much of the original order for Tigercats was cancelled after VJ-Day, and they never saw operational service in WWII. Less than 100 Tigercats were built after the war as night-fighters (F7F-3N and F7F-4N), electronic reconnaissance (F7F-3E) and photo-reconnaissance (F7F-3P) platforms, but higher-performance jet-powered airplanes soon replaced the Tigercat in the US Marine Corps. During the 1960s and 1970s, a few were gradually sold as surplus and converted to fire bombers or aerial photography ships.

The Grumman F7F Tigercat was the first twin-engined fighter aircraft design to enter service with the United States Navy. Designed for the new Midway class aircraft carriers, the aircraft were too large to operate from earlier decks. Although delivered to United States Marine Corps combat units before the end of World War II, the Tigercat did not see combat service in that war. Most F7Fs ended up in land-based service, as attack aircraft or night fighters; only the
later F7F-4N was certified for carrier service. They saw service in the Korean war and were
withdrawn from service in 1954.

Armament on the Tigercat was heavy: four 20 mm cannons and four 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns, as well as underwing and under-fuselage hardpoints for bombs and torpedoes. Performance met expectations too; the F7F Tigercat was one of the highest-performance piston-engined fighters, with a top speed well in excess of the US Navy's single-engined aircraft - 71 mph faster than a F6F Hellcat at sea level. The opinion of Captain Fred M. Trapnell, one of the Navy's premier test pilots, was that the "It's the best damn fighter I've ever flown."

Named "Big Bossman (Bu No. 80503)," Rod Lewis's F7F-3P is the photo-recon version of the aircraft. Obtained from the Lonestar Flight Museum in 2002, the fighter's military history included stints at MCAS Cherry Point, Miramar, and El Toro with VMD-954. Sold surplus, the Tigercat's history is picked up in 1989, where R. Waltrip registered her as N800RW after a ground-up restoration. Mike Brown bought the plane and based it in Ione, California until it was purchased in 2008 by Rod Lewis.

"Big Bossman" is now one of five flyable Tigercats in the world, and the first to ever race at the National Championship Air Races, "the world's fastest motor sport", held every September in Reno, Nevada, as race number 1.

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