Rod Dean - Grumman Piston Engine Fighters

Rod Dean returns with the history of the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation’s
piston engine fighters. The first aircraft it built for the U S Navy was the 1931 two seat
biplane fighter FF-1. Despite being two seat, the FF-1 was faster than the current U S
Navy single seat fighter, the Boeing F4B-1, by virtue of it’s Grumman designed retractable
undercarriage. This was the start of a very long association between Grumman and the
US Navy, primarily with fighters – from the FF-1 through to the final F-14 swing wing jet
fighter – but also various attack and support aircraft