Grumman's Ambitious Twin-Engine Carrier Fighter | Grumman XF5F-1 Skyrocket 

Receive an Amazing New Player Pack, only available for the next 30 days! Play Call of War for FREE on PC or Mobile: 💥 callofwar.onelink.me/q5L6/a5sopa3r F.A.Q Section - Ask your questions here :) Q: Do you take aircraft requests? A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:) Q: How do you decide what aircraft gets covered next? A: Supporters over on Patreon now get to vote on upcoming topics such as overviews, special videos, and deep dives. Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others? A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both.

Ah the XF5F. The ye olde Naboo Starfighter.

This plane looks so strange it should have been designed by Blohm and Voss.

that plane looks like what happens when you full throttle into a overtightened arresting cable too often

Engines so powerful they pulled away from the rest of the plane.

Looks like the fuselage is clinging onto its wings for dear life

Rex hates XP-50 in WT? BASED

When I saw the thumbnail, I had a strong nostalgia bump and thought "I wonder why that plane makes me feel so happy?" The Blackhawk appearance is the answer! My uncle collected those comics back in the day, and as a kid in the 80s I read a lot of them whilst visiting my grandmother. Fascinating to learn it was based on a real plane and not pure fiction. :)

Quite an interesting design. I was surprised to see that you knew it had featured in "Blackhawk" comic books.

F7F Tigercat is one of the best looking twin engine prop plane

Rex, Thank you, sir, for taking a little time for the other side of the Atlantic. Like the British and the French, we have had 'strange' stuff, too! As an amateur aviation historian myself, I've always championed the less 'bandwagon'ny designer types like Republic, Grumman, etc. Having worked the F-105 and the F-111 for a 20 year career, I'm used to being part of the "we don't talk about them' group. Anyways, have always had a soft spot for the Long Island 'Mafia', and very versed in the Grumman Navy fighter lines from the FF-1 through F-14D. The F5F was, unfortunately a 'stepchild' in that line. It's ironic how the U.S. Navy could be so silly with Grumman when at the end of the day, before Northrop sucked them up, they pretty much have had a Grumman aircraft on every carrier from the dawn of the fleet carrier force, 1932, until now with the E-2, which I still consider a Grumman legacy aircraft. What's also ironic is the fact that the F5F-1 was 'logically' marginalized by the Navy's with their darling F4U Corsair design when that aircraft ended up as a much better Marine, land-based aircraft due to its horrible forward vision in landing on carriers, something both the F5F and the F7F were exceptional with. The only reason the F7F, (and the Bearcat) didn't go on to greatness, was the dawn of the F9F. Thank you again Sir!!!!

I was just watching a recent Drachinifel video and he mentioned you. And how I'm watching this, and you mention him. Y'all are overdue for another set of crossover videos, they're always fun.

I see a Rex video, I click the video. I don't make the rules.

A friend of mine once said this thing looks like it's trying to eat a banana horizontally instead of vertically. I think that's a very sound description of this things appearance. And now I know a lot more about it, thank you Rex!

The thing I like about the channel is the chance to learn about planes I didn't know about like at all. So I just want to continue doing just that! :)

It is impressive how far back the fuselage sits on the wing. The more I see or play with it, the more to me it looks like a German ME-162 holding into it's wings by it's teeth.

Kind of looks like a Bristol Beaufighter assembled from a kit without instructions. Also those super powerful Wright Cyclones are pulling the wing out the front of the aircraft!

Sky Rockets in Flight, Afternoon Delight

Navy: Why is it over weight Grumman: Because you made it be overweight Navy: Ok but why is it over weight

Grumman: "Hey, can I copy your homework." Bristol: "Okay, just change it a little."

This is what Blackhawk flew in the comics. I had no idea it was based on a real plane.

I have always been intrigued by that design. Nice to have a breakdown of its developmental teething years. Thank you!

This is one of my favorite military aircraft. Thank you for this amazing history video 👏 😊

This looks like something out of crimson skies.

The Good 'Ole Grumman Iron Works P.s.- while the space saving reason is sound and most carrier craft then carried only single engine types, but the Navy has always been open to dual engine aircraft due to it's redundancy over open water.

That plane might as well be the A-10,s long lost cousin… (they look somewhat similar just different engine types and arrangement of them) or maybe a smaller scale ground attack aircraft that could operate in spots where the A-10 is not able to reach.🤔

Im liking the mutual shoutouts between you and Drach

Can't wait for the Tigercat episode. Ever since I was a kid playing Aces over the Pacific the late war Navy fighters have always been some of my favorites, the Bearcat and Tigercat being my top picks.

I have a actually photo of this aircraft. my moms bowling friends dad was an air force photographer from 34’ - 46’ and she gave me most of his photos after his passing

FWIW, I have heard just a bit about Kelly Johnson's _reluctance_ to deal with the US Navy from other sources.

During the Vietnam war, we would occasionally have US and Australian aircraft carriers drop int to Garden Island Naval Dockyard in Sydney and I met the Grumman Tracker there as a teen. I recall thinking how clever Grumman were to have shrunk a twin engine aircraft down to such a size. Great video, thanks Rex!

Your vids paired with great 3d models is such a good combo

Amazing video, lovely delivery and a great history on a wonderful prototype

I love these videos about planes and prototypes with the deep dives into why they were designed such a way and why they failed.

Back to basics. Great job! Love the historical references!

Another Great historical video by Rex. Thank you!

Another excellent deep dive into experimental and prototype aircraft. I'm a huge fan of odd prototypes and experimental designs of any transportation machines

I love that Drachinifel referenced you in a video i just watched so I came to watch some of your stuff and you reference him, it's great.

*The Skyrocket's boxy twin tail is highly reminiscent of Grumman's later Hawkeye and Greyhound aircraft that are still being used today. You can definitely see the family resemblance. I wonder if the **_Skyhawks_** comics mentioned at the **18:28** mark had anything directly or indirectly to do with the naming of the Hawkeye?...* 🤔

Home dog in the picture 17:53 is absolutely ghouling in the cockpit💀

I love the fact you don’t use music bed. Very refreshing!

At 18:21, the similarity to the future A-10 Warthog comes to mind.

PLEEEASE keep up the longer videos! I live for these

Thanks for your in-depth look at this aircraft. I have seen other reviews, but none explained the aircraft's failings as well as yours. Overheating and gear failure for a carrier based aircraft? No wonder the Navy looked elsewhere.

Impressive airplane. Thank you for bringing this story.

A useful learning exercise for the superior F7F.

The XF5F is one of my favorite plane designs of all time. It's just so funky and unique. Sadly, models of the plane are very hard to come by these days, and the ones that were manufactured weren't exactly impressive.

As always, excellent content.

I have already watched this on Patreon. I will watch it again.

I built a few model kits of this plane years ago, both the short and long nose versions. Awesome looking plane.

Great Job Rex!

Great video. Got yourself a new subscriber

Not to be confused with the Vought XF5U "Flying Flapjack".

I love this goober of a plane so much.

The story of the Tigercat is one I'm looking forward to. Been a fan of it since seeing it at air shows as a little kid.

I swear the 40s through 70s had to be the only time periods were aircrafts looked completely alien. And I couldn't be happier.

What a fascinating aircraft. Thank you! AON: has anyone ever mentioned that you have a very similar accent and cadence to Mike Brady over at Oceanliner Designs?

Me as a player of Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge back in high school: "Does it come with magnetic rockets?"

Love this plane! I have a plastic scale model of it.

love how u took the thumb nal staight out of wt

19:10 “…Recent reappearance in various video games and flight simulators, sometimes displaying questionably excessive performance figures…” * cough * *Warthunder* * cough *

A prelude to the F7F

That mockup was interesting. First fuselage design definitely presages the Hellcat...

Now thats pod racing!

The twin engine configuration is what killed it: engine procurement was the bottleneck.

this plane literary looks like the designers accidentally moved the fuselage back

This is the plane flown by the international squadron in one of the justice league episodes, the one where the league is thrown into the past during an alternate ww2 won by Vandal Savage on behalf of Germany.

The unwritten (15th) Skunk Works rule: "Starve before doing business with the damned Navy. They don't know what in hell they want and will drive you up a wall before they break either your heart of a more exposed part of your anatomy." (Skunk Works, page 272, "The Ship That Never Was")

Thanks Rex

Another plane I'd never heard of. Very interesting.

One of the planes the Blackhawks flew.

Vision over the nose would have been great but off axis in the lower front would be abysmal. Even so, I always liked this little Grumman try.

The Grumman XF5F Housecat.

Awesome thanks rex

I have seen this plane in the animated series Justice League during the altered past double episode introducing the Black Hawk squadron and Vandal Savage

Good subject. But what struck me was the aerodynamic efficiency of the thing. In the opening shots it is generating so much lift even at rest that it can't keep its wheels on the ground!

I was also surprised to see that the F7F was originally an Army concept!

What is name of video made by Drachinifel that is mentioned on 03:40?

Have you done a video on the XP-67 Moonbat yet? It's one of my favorite aircraft that never served and it's story is tragic!

The rapid development of radar put another nail in the Skyrocket's coffin. Extreme climb rates became far less important when you can see the enemy coming long before they arrive.

Now I'm waiting for the Tigercat episode.

I was just watching an episode of the animated Justice league where they had one of these planes show up was wondering what it was

It looks like something that would be flown by one of Don Karnage's lackeys in TaleSpin. I love it.

Ah yes, the XP-50 with ''extra chromosomes'' as dubbed by a certain Dutch Warthunder pilot.

tiger cat is such a good looking plane

I know many don’t like the looks of this plane, but personally, I’m a big fan, with the lot looking like a rather odd Pod Racer. Maybe a nose, like the XP-50 that goes beyond the wing, but stops before the propellers could also be interesting

Saying a specific aircraft design was something never seen before in the 1930s early 1940s does not narrow the field by much. When aircraft were going obsolete in a matter of months, everything was new all the time.

This became the air mount of the Blackhawks. A WW 2 comic book that fought the Nazis.

I don’t know why you get so few likes, I always love your content and the dedication to the history and production thereof

This bad boy is goated in WarThunder

I thought you were going to say A-10, since it resembles one of those with the engines on backwards. Cool plane either way.

This is one of my favorite airplanes,

Ah, the first podracer.

It looks like the Henkel design team working on the tail end of an amphetamine bender

Another great vid on an interesting if obscure aircraft. One point, towards the endyou say the Tigercat out performed all other naval aircraft of the day, but it's contemporary, the Sea Hornet was faster and an all round better performer. Shame it didn't have the time to be developed more. There's very little out there about the Hornet, perhaps a subject of a future vid? Keep up the good work..

When I saw the non-side view of the tailplane I instantly thought of the Miles Student. I wish someone would restore the Miles Student, or build a replica.

I'd call it a "Prop Rocket!" 🐿

can you please do a video on the PB4Y-2

Now I'm embarrassed. I saw this plane in Justice League Unlimited and assumed it was a foolish attempt of the animators to invent a "WWII futuristic plane". I had no idea it was a flying aircraft. 😳

Always a great day watching this channel