The Grumman F9F Panther was a mainstay of the U.S Navy and Marines during the Korean War. This was the first jet fighter produced by Grumman and kept alive the tradition of predatory cat nicknames. The Panther featured prominently in the film “The Bridges at Toko-Ri” which was based on a novel by James Michener (though in the novel, it was the McDonnell Douglas Banshee that was the featured jet). The Panther was also the first jet aircaft used by the Blue Angels Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron.

The Panther was flown by such luminaries as Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, and Boston Red Sox great Ted Williams.

This Hasegawa kit went together pretty well, though it needed some filling for the fuselage. The decals were from 1989 and not all of them were viable. I had my first experience with the vagaries of acrylic paint as I found that, without primer, the Testors Model Master Deep Sea Blue did not adhere to the bare plastic and came off in chunks when masking tape was applied. I removed the blue, primed, and then airbrushed the sea blue back on.

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