Grumman F13F-1 Lion

[TomZ]

Grumman F13F-3 Lion



In 1959 the US Navy issued a requirement for a heavy missile armed defence fighter. There was a response to this requirement from Grumman, Boeing and North American. In 1961 the US Navy decided that the entries from Boeing and North American showed insufficient promise and the Grumman entry was chosen for further development and was awarded a contract for three prototypes.



This lead to the Grumman F13F Lion, a delta winged aircraft. The aircraft turned out to be rather heavy and not very manoeuvrable and was totally unsuited as a dogfighter. It did however have a very heavy armament, especially after the AIM-41 Phoenix I became available in 1964. The F13F could carry 8 of these missiles a in combination with Sidewinder and Sparrow anti air missiles.



The Lion was especially suited for fleet defence work providing a water tight anti air coverage for the fleet. In 1970 the F13F-3 was introduced with the AIM-54 Phoenix II which further enhanced the capabilities of the Lion. The F13F-3 also introduced a nose mounted canon for close in combat as experiences in Vietnam showed that pure missile armed fighters were vulnerable when their opponent could close in. In the case of the Lion this proved to be of limited use as the aircraft was not very nimble and remained very vulnerable in dog fights.



Operating the lion from a carrier remained a challenge throughout its career as the aircraft was very heavy. The big delta wing allowed it however to bleed of a lot of airspeed before touching down and there were relatively few accidents.



The Lion was replaced by the McDonnell Douglas F5H Hornet in 1982.



Models:
- 1/48 Grumman F-14 Hasegawa
- 1/72 Avro Vulcan Airfix

TomZ

[Wardukw]

That's is perfect Tom....and giving me ideas on the Vulcan I have at last 
Great build mate 👌 👍
It's damn close to what I'm gonna do with my F-14 

[DogfighterZen]

That looks very good!   
Not that it matters but, being a Grumman product and bearing a feline name, one would say it was a sucessor to the F11F Tiger but your F13F Lion reminds me of the F4D Skyray much more... or even a Cutlass... would've been the perfect ancestors for the Lion. 

[SPINNERS]

Outrageous!

[Vulcan7]

Wow thats a beauty             

[PR19_Kit]

That's got to  be a BIG model Tom, I hope you've got some heavy duty shelves.

It looks like a flying armoury with that loadout, woe betide anyone who comes up against it! 

[uncletain]

Loving it, great work

Got something in a similar vain, but with different donors, sitting at the "need to figure out how to glue the wings on" stage

Thank you for the inspiration

[Martin H]

Just think how many more pylons you can cram under those wings. 

[killnoizer]

Amazing beautiful design , absolute perfect at all !

[Dizzyfugu]

Oh, that HUGE? Wondering about the wing folding mechanism to make it carrier-capable?

[TomZ]

The model is 47cm long and has a wing span of 48cm.
For you Imperial types that is 18.8 by 19.2 inches
In real size that would mean 22.6m long and 23m spam.

An F-14 Tomcat is 19m long with a span of 19.6m (or 10.1m with folded wings)
An E-2 Hawkeye is 17.5m long and has a span of 24.6m
A RA-5 Vigilante is 23.6m long

So, while the Lion is large, it is not impossible to operate one from a carrier

TomZ

[McColm]

Impressive, which has given me an idea for a future build 

[PR19_Kit]

Oh, that HUGE? Wondering about the wing folding mechanism to make it carrier-capable?

Think Gannet (maybe Gannet Squared!) 

[NARSES2]

That is just beautiful   

[zenrat]

Fab.