Grumman F-11 Tiger
Long-Nose Version BuNo. 141790

Interestingly enough, this airplane kept traveling, even after it became a "Ghost." People have sent us photos and stories of finding it in two different locations over the years. See below.

Florence Air and Missile Museum

As we walked around to see what had changed in the last year, we were drawn to the F11F Tiger. It had a few spots of decidedly un-macho powder blue paint on it. When I cautiously asked Lee about it, he made it clear that the painter responsible was no longer a factor. Somebody needs to adopt this plane, it would be gorgeous with a proper new paint job.

As of late July 1997, the Museum has been scheduled to close, to allow the Florence Airport to enlarge an automobile parking lot. This disgusting state of affairs is apparently a done deal. Those of us who care about these old birds need to find homes for them. The aircraft still belong to the Navy and AF, so there are bureaucratic hurdles to leap.

Bob McKellar

CMDR. Bob Aumack helped dedicate the Tiger he once flew.
Boss 1964-1966

The Tiger was the Navy's first supersonic fighter. Tigers are rare aircraft, with barely 200 of them ever built and only a handful left in existence. The museum's Tiger served on board aircraft carriers until it was retired to the "bone yard." It was later resurrected in 1964 to fly for several more years as a Blue Angels plane.

This aircraft was restored here at the Grissom Air Museum in Indiana, where it is now on display? Also, we are a non-profit organization, which is not affiliated with the base or the Air Force, so the plane is technically not on display at Grissom AFB, but at Grissom Air Museum.

Photos taken by Jeff Johnson

Photo taken by
Eric Trent

Photo taken by
Steve Paulson.

Photos taken by and from the collection Rich Monts.

Note: This F11F-1 was flown by the Blue Angels


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