Air Tanker 32 and 40, an F7F-3

F7F-3 N7195C, air Tanker 32
F7F-3, N7195C, air Tanker 32 at Santa Rosa, Calif. May, 1973.

We are adding four more photos today from the Flight Test Museum at Edwards Air Force Base — F7F-3 (N7195C). It was operated by Sis-Q Flying Service as Tanker 32  in May, 1973, and as Tanker 40 in August, 1975.

F7F-3 N7195C, air Tanker 40
F7F-3, N7195C, air Tanker 40 at Lancaster, Calif. August, 1975.
F7F-3 N7195C, air Tanker 40
F7F-3, N7195C, air Tanker 40 at Lancaster, Calif. August, 1975.
F7F-3 N7195C, air Tanker 40
F7F-3, N7195C, air Tanker 40 at Lancaster, Calif. August, 1975.

From Wikipedia:

The Grumman F7F Tigercat is a heavy fighter aircraft that served with the United States Navy (USN) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) from late in World War II until 1954. It was the first twin-engine fighter to be deployed by the USN. While the Tigercat was delivered too late to see combat in World War II, it saw action as a night fighter and attack aircraft during the Korean War. Armament was heavy: four 20 mm cannon and four 50 caliber (0.50 in; 12.7 mm) machine guns, as well as underwing and under-fuselage hardpoints for bombs and torpedoes.

The F7F-3 Tigercat variant:

Single-seat fighter-bomber aircraft, powered by two Pratt & Whitney R-2800-34W radial piston engines and featuring an enlarged tail fin for improved stability at high altitudes, 189 built.

Grumman F7F-3N Tigercat
Grumman F7F-3N Tigercat, 2007. Photo by Dziban303.

Surviving aircraft:

Beginning in 1949, F7Fs were flown to the then-U.S. Navy storage facility at Naval Air Station Litchfield Park, Arizona. Although the vast majority of the airframes were eventually scrapped, a number of examples were purchased as surplus. The surviving Tigercats were primarily used as water bombers to fight wildfires in the 1960s and 1970s and Sis-Q Flying Services of Santa Rosa, California, operated an F7F-3N tanker in this role until retirement in the late 1980s.

About the Pratt & Whitney R-2800-34W radial piston engines

The Pratt & Whitney R-2800 (US military designation) Double Wasp (civil designation) is an American twin-row, 18-cylinder, air-cooled radial aircraft engine with a displacement of 2,800 in³ (46 L), and is part of the long-lived Wasp family.

The R-2800 saw widespread use in many important American aircraft during and after World War II. During the war years, Pratt & Whitney continued to develop new ideas to upgrade the engine, including water injection for takeoff in cargo and passenger planes and to give emergency power in combat.