If Grumman made......

[Daryl J.]

If Grumman continued with swing wing development, the Super Prowler could have had a beautiful variable sweep.   

[Weaver]

If Grumman co-developed their aircraft with Hawker as did McDonnell, the Intruder/Prowler would look a bit different.   And in rather a better sort of way.   


If Grumman developed a high altitude reconnaissance aircraft for the Navy, it would have been Panther-meets U2S.  What I'm having difficulty picturing is the Camaro  chase car operating on a carrier deck.   

Souped-up DUKWs? 

[upnorth]

I could imagine Grumman teaming up with Bristol in WWII

If you look at designs like the Beaufort and Beaufighter, they already looked a bit like what might come off a Grumman design table. If you could imagine Grumman getting a license to make Beaufighters for the USN in the Pacific...

Even into the post war period the cooperation could continue if Grumman helped Bristol develop the Brigand. It looked like a built up version of the Grumman Skyrocket from some angles.

A partnership between the two could see some interesting changes on both sides of the Atlantic, for example:

Grumman develops Bristol Britannia for both US military and civil sectors and Lockheed Electra development never gets past prototype stage as advanced variations of the Britannia are in wide service by the time the Electra makes its first flight.

Bristol develops Gruman Tracer and Hawkeye for British service and thus negates the need for the Avro Shackleton to ever be modded for AEW duties.

Bristol miraculously escapes being absorbed into anonymity by the British aircraft industry mergers due to the partnership with Grumman. Grumman threatens to pull out of the partnership if Bristol loses it's independence as a company thus threatening the ability of British forces to maintain key aircraft in their inventory of Grumman lineage that can't easily be replaced but deemed too essential to withdraw from service.

The partnership continued fruitfully for several years and resulted in:

Grumman Liberty
A straight development of the Britannia for US continental routes. The Liberty was sold widely through the Americas.

Grumman Athena/Mercury
Development of the Britannia for he US military. Mercury series denoted transport roles while Athena denoted ASW and AEW derivations.

Important to note is that while the Britannia was also being built and developed by Canadair into the Yukon and Argus aircraft for the RCAF, the Grumman developments of the Britannia were not connected in any way to what Canadair was doing beyond having the Britannia as a base to work from.

Grumman Puma
Grumman development of the Bristol Brigand for USN and USAF COIN and CAS requirements. Re-engined and internally quite different systems wise from it's British counterpart, the Puma narrowly edged out the Douglas Skyraider in competition for the role and performed admirably in USN and USAF service in the Vietnam conflict. Several of the changes Grumman made to the Brigand were incorporated into the British variant and gave later versions a popularity with RAF and FAA crews that earlier version did not enjoy.

Bristol Tracer
A Centaurus powered development of the Grumman aircraft that replaced the Brigand AEW in FAA service.

Bristol Hawkeye
Land based development of the Grumman E-2C design for RAF use.

Bristol Bethpage
The official, though rarely used, name for Bristol developments of the Grumman Gulfstream jet family starting with the Gulfstream II.

The Bethpage was a convoluted and controversial project from the beginning and was the last project the Bristol/Grumman partnership would partake in before disolving.

Civil air transport authorities in Britian successfully placed an embargo on the Gulfstream being sold on the civil market in Britain and were accused of showing favour to Hawker Siddely's 125 business jet. Arguements were raised that, as the the GII already had some British content in the form of RR Spey engines, that there really was no need to place the embargo as it did support British industry to a certain degree. The arguments fell on deaf ears and the embargo stood.

While the Bethpage was barred from civilian service in Britian, the embargo did not extend to military service and the Bethpage did see some limited service in both the RAF and RN fleets.

Most of the Bethpages have been scrapped or sold second hand. The few remaining in RAF service are of a later GIV standard and are assigned to 51 Sqn at Waddington for undisclosed duties.

[tigercat]

Grumman-Bristol Vehicle collaboration would have been interesting  A Bristol Styled Step Van perhaps

[Taiidantomcat]

If you could imagine Grumman getting a license to make Beaufighters for the USN in the Pacific...

Awesome! 



List of all Aircraft (and one space) From Wikipedia:



   * The Cats
         o F4F Wildcat
         o F6F Hellcat
         o F7F Tigercat
         o F8F Bearcat
         o F9F Panther
         o F9F/F-9 Cougar
         o XF10F Jaguar
         o F11F/F-11 Tiger
         o F-14 Tomcat

   * Other fighter aircraft
         o Grumman FF
         o Grumman F2F
         o Grumman F3F
         o XF5F Skyrocket
         o Grumman XP-50

   * Attack
         o AF Guardian
         o A-6 Intruder

   * Bomber
         o TBF Avenger

   * Amphibious
         o JF Duck
         o J2F Duck
         o G-21 Goose some modified as Super or Turbo Goose
         o G-44 Widgeon
         o HU-16 Albatross (Coast Guard UF-1/UF-2, Navy U-16, Civilian G-111)
         o G-73 Mallard

   * Other aircraft
         o C-1 Trader
         o E-1 Tracer
         o S-2 Tracker
         o E-2 Hawkeye
         o C-2 Greyhound
         o OV-1 Mohawk
         o EA-6B Prowler
         o Grumman X-29

   * Civilian
         o Grumman Gulfstream I
         o Grumman Gulfstream II
         o Grumman American AA-1 (1971–76)
         o Grumman American AA-1B Trainer (1971–76)
         o Grumman American AA-5 Traveler (1972–75)
         o Grumman American AA-5A Cheetah (1976–79)
         o Grumman American AA-5B Tiger (1975–79)
         o G-164 Ag Cat

Apollo Spacecraft: Apollo Lunar Module Diagram

   * Space
         o Apollo Lunar Module


The Grumman Firecat:



Learn something new everyday!

[Alvis 3.14159]

Post office trucks?
Oh wait, they do!
This is the smaller of the two, I can't find any images of the larger truck bearing the winged Grumman logo. Apparently, they are based on a standard GM body. Several rattle around town here as tradesman vehicles. I would really really really like to own one, just to have the bragging rights of owning a Grumman.





     

Alvis 3.1

[Mossie]

A radial engine Spitfire sure would be intriguing even without Grumman styling

Have a look at McGreig's ASh 82 powered Spit here:
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,17836.30.html

Kitnut has brought up a theory he's had about before about the Gripen possibly being a descendant of the Hunter.  Now for my money, the F11F is up there with the Hunter for best looking fighter, so how about taking a similar approach with the Tiger?  Larger radar, one piece windscreen, angular intakes,wings from an F-20, maybe an F404 or F110 (cos I like the exhaust petals)?

[Weaver]

A radial engine Spitfire sure would be intriguing even without Grumman styling

Have a look at McGreig's ASh 82 powered Spit here:
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,17836.30.html

Kitnut has brought up a theory he's had about before about the Gripen possibly being a descendant of the Hunter.  Now for my money, the F11F is up there with the Hunter for best looking fighter, so how about taking a similar approach with the Tiger?  Larger radar, one piece windscreen, angular intakes,wings from an F-20, maybe an F404 or F110 (cos I like the exhaust petals)?

Mirage F1 wings would also work, keeping the swept-wing look but with a more modern thin section.