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F9F-8 Cougar - Strike 4 first supersonic ejection 1954
In 1954 the aerobatic team of the navy the
blue angels received the cougar as replacement for
the panther. The dash 6 cougar was prepared at Grumman
and the members of the team had to fly the new Cougars
to corpus Christi. They took off and shortly after one of the
cougar pilots observed that the nose of the cougar is pitching
down all the time and the speed is raising all the time. All the attempts
to correct the situation didn't succeed. The mach meter showed speed
of mach 1.05 so the pilot ejected. This was the first time that some one ejected
at supersonic speed. Later it was found that the problem was related to the All
flying tail that was hydraulically powered.
After a short while the pilot was recovered and took another Cougar in which the
problem was repaired and flew aerobatics again with the blue angels team.
Yair
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