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The Grumman F3F is a biplane fighter aircraft produced by the Grumman aircraft for the United States Navy during the mid-1930s. Designed as an improvement on the F2F , it entered service in 1936 as the last biplane to be delivered to any American military air arm. It was retired from front line squadrons at the end of 1941 before it could serve in World War II , and replaced by the Brewster F2A Buffalo . The F3F, which inherited the Leroy Grumman -designed retractable main landing gear configuration first used on the Grumman FF , served as the basis for a biplane design ultimately developed into the much more successful F4F Wildcat that succeeded the subpar Buffalo.

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30-553: F3F may refer to: Grumman F3F , an aircraft Fun Fun Fun Fest , an annual music festival held in Austin, Texas F3F, a class of competition for radio-controlled model gliders, administered by the Fédération Aéronautique International . The competition involves flying 10 consecutive laps of a 100m course as fast as possible. The course is laid out on

60-408: A biplane , a parasol wing has less bracing and lower drag. It remains a popular configuration for amphibians and small homebuilt and ultralight aircraft . Although the first successful aircraft were biplanes, the first attempts at heavier-than-air flying machines were monoplanes, and many pioneers continued to develop monoplane designs. For example, the first aeroplane to be put into production

90-544: A low-wing, shoulder-wing and high-wing configurations give increased propeller clearance on multi-engined aircraft. On a large aircraft, there is little practical difference between a shoulder wing and a high wing; but on a light aircraft, the configuration is significant because it offers superior visibility to the pilot. On light aircraft, shoulder-wings tend to be mounted further aft than a high wing, and so may need to be swept forward to maintain correct center of gravity . Examples of light aircraft with shoulder wings include

120-441: A pylon. Additional bracing may be provided by struts or wires extending from the fuselage sides. The first parasol monoplanes were adaptations of shoulder wing monoplanes, since raising a shoulder mounted wing above the fuselage greatly improved visibility downwards, which was useful for reconnaissance roles, as with the widely used Morane-Saulnier L . The parasol wing allows for an efficient design with good pilot visibility, and

150-467: Is a configuration whereby the wing is mounted near the top of the fuselage but not on the very top. It is so called because it sits on the "shoulder" of the fuselage, rather than on the pilot's shoulder. Shoulder-wings and high-wings share some characteristics, namely: they support a pendulous fuselage which requires no wing dihedral for stability; and, by comparison with a low-wing, a shoulder-wing's limited ground effect reduces float on landing. Compared to

180-450: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Grumman F3F The Navy's experience with the F2F revealed issues with stability and unfavorable spin characteristics, prompting the 15 October 1934 contract for the improved XF3F-1, placed before F2F deliveries began. The contract also required a capability for ground attack, in addition to

210-442: Is the simplest to build. However, during the early years of flight, these advantages were offset by its greater weight and lower manoeuvrability, making it relatively rare until the 1930s. Since then, the monoplane has been the most common form for a fixed-wing aircraft. The inherent efficiency of the monoplane is best achieved in the cantilever wing, which carries all structural forces internally. However, to fly at practical speeds

240-506: Is where the wing is mounted vertically on the fuselage . A low wing is one which is located on or near the bottom of the fuselage. Placing the wing low allows good visibility upwards and frees the central fuselage from the wing spar carry-through. By reducing pendulum stability, it makes the aircraft more manoeuvrable, as on the Spitfire ; but aircraft that value stability over manoeuvrability may then need some dihedral . A feature of

270-644: The ARV Super2 , the Bölkow Junior , Saab Safari and the Barber Snark . A high wing has its upper surface on or above the top of the fuselage. It shares many advantages and disadvantages with the shoulder wing, but on a light aircraft, the high wing has poorer upwards visibility. On light aircraft such as the Cessna 152 , the wing is usually located above the cabin, so that the wing spar passes over

300-440: The cantilever wing more practical — first pioneered together by the revolutionary German Junkers J 1 factory demonstrator in 1915–16 — they became common during the post–World War I period, the day of the braced wing passed, and by the 1930s, the cantilever monoplane was fast becoming the standard configuration for a fixed-wing aircraft. Advanced monoplane fighter-aircraft designs were mass-produced for military services around

330-537: The " Fokker scourge ". The German military Idflieg aircraft designation system prior to 1918 prefixed monoplane type designations with an E , until the approval of the Fokker D.VIII fighter from its former "E.V" designation. However, the success of the Fokker was short-lived, and World War I was dominated by biplanes. Towards the end of the war, the parasol monoplane became popular and successful designs were produced into

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360-448: The 10th dive, the aircraft's pullout at 8,000 ft (2,400 m) registered 14 g on the test equipment. The aircraft broke up in midair, crashing in a cemetery and killing Collins. A second, strengthened prototype was built, but it crashed on 9 May of the same year following the pilot's bailout during an unsuccessful spin recovery. The second prototype was rebuilt in three weeks, flying on 20 June 1935. An order for 54 F3F-1 fighters

390-405: The 1920s. Nonetheless, relatively few monoplane types were built between 1914 and the late 1920s, compared with the number of biplanes. The reasons for this were primarily practical. With the low engine powers and airspeeds available, the wings of a monoplane needed to be large in order to create enough lift while a biplane could have two smaller wings and so be made smaller and lighter. Towards

420-710: The Grumman demonstrator G-32A, all which were restored by Herb Tischler's Texas Airplane Factory in Fort Worth. The restorations took four years and consisted of rebuilding the G-32A from original blueprints with tooling built at the Texas Airplane Factory. The wreckage of three -2 aircraft which had originally crashed in Hawaii were utilized to complete the other restorations. Data from Great Aircraft of

450-528: The World General characteristics Performance Armament Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes , which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing configuration and

480-588: The design's fighter role. Powered by the same Pratt & Whitney R-1535-72 Twin Wasp Junior engine as the F2F, the fuselage was lengthened and wing area increased over the earlier design. A reduction in wheel diameter allowed greater fuselage streamlining, eliminating the prominent bulge behind the cowling of the F2F. The prototype, BuNo. 9727, was delivered and first flown on 20 March 1935 with company test pilot Jimmy Collins making three flights that day. Two days later, six dive-recovery flights took place; on

510-413: The early 1930s. However, the exposed struts or wires create additional drag, lowering aerodynamic efficiency and reducing the maximum speed. High-speed and long-range designs tend to be pure cantilevers, while low-speed short-range types are often given bracing. Besides the general variations in wing configuration such as tail position and use of bracing, the main distinction between types of monoplane

540-635: The end of 1941, though 117 were assigned to naval bases (Mainly NAS Miami and NAS Corpus Christi) and used for training and utility duties until December 1943. The G-32 and G-32A two-place aircraft were used by the U.S. Army Air Force as ferry-pilot trainers, under the designation UC-103/UC-103A . A civilian aerobatic two-seat variant, the G-22A "Gulfhawk II," was constructed in 1936 and flown by Major Alford "Al" Williams , head of Gulf Oil 's aviation department. Data from: Aerofiles - Grumman Today, there are four flying aircraft, three F3F-2 models and

570-478: The end of the First World War, the inherent high drag of the biplane was beginning to restrict performance. Engines were not yet powerful enough to make the heavy cantilever-wing monoplane viable, and the braced parasol wing became popular on fighter aircraft, although few arrived in time to see combat. It remained popular throughout the 1920s. On flying boats with a shallow hull, a parasol wing allows

600-487: The engines to be mounted above the spray from the water when taking off and landing. This arrangement was popular on flying boats during the 1930s; a late example being the Consolidated PBY Catalina . It died out when taller hulls became the norm during World War II, allowing a high wing to be attached directly to the hull. As ever-increasing engine powers made the weight of all-metal construction and

630-622: The fuselage skinning forward of the aft cabane strut in order to improve aerodynamics and reduce carbon monoxide intrusion. On 21 June 1938, the Navy ordered 27 F3F-3s, as new monoplane fighters like the Brewster F2A and Grumman's own F4F Wildcat were taking longer to develop than had been planned. With the introduction of the Brewster F2A-1, the Navy's biplane fighter days were numbered. All F3Fs were withdrawn from squadron service by

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660-427: The low-wing position is its significant ground effect , giving the plane a tendency to float farther before landing. Conversely, this ground effect permits shorter takeoffs. A mid wing is mounted midway up the fuselage. The carry-through spar structure can reduce the useful fuselage volume near its centre of gravity, where space is often in most demand. A shoulder wing (a category between high-wing and mid-wing)

690-447: The occupants' heads, leaving the wing in the ideal fore-aft position. An advantage of the high-wing configuration is that the fuselage is closer to the ground which eases cargo loading, especially for aircraft with a rear-fuselage cargo door. Military cargo aircraft are predominantly high-wing designs with a rear cargo door. A parasol wing is not directly attached to the fuselage but held above it, supported by either cabane struts or

720-532: The powerful new 950 hp (708 kW) Wright R-1820 supercharged radial engine, began work on the F3F-2 without a contract; the order for 81 aircraft was not placed until 25 July 1936, two days before the type's first flight. The engine's larger diameter changed the cowling's appearance, making the aircraft look even more like a barrel, though top speed increased to 255 mph (410 km/h) at 12,000 ft (3,700 m). The entire F3F-2 production series

750-585: The side of a hill with the wind blowing onto it. Hence the informal name of F3F: 'slope racing'. [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title formed as a letter–number combination. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=F3F&oldid=864414289 " Category : Letter–number combination disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

780-406: The wing must be made thin, which requires a heavy structure to make it strong and stiff enough. External bracing can be used to improve structural efficiency, reducing weight and cost. For a wing of a given size, the weight reduction allows it to fly slower and with a lower-powered and more economical engine. For this reason, all monoplane wings in the pioneer era were braced and most were up until

810-466: Was adopted for some fighters such as the Fokker D.VIII and Morane-Saulnier AI in the later part of the First World War. A parasol wing also provides a high mounting point for engines and during the interwar period was popular on flying boats, which need to lift the propellers clear of spray. Examples include the Martin M-130 , Dornier Do 18 and the Consolidated PBY Catalina . Compared to

840-516: Was delivered in between 1937 and 1938; when deliveries ended, all seven Navy and Marine Corps pursuit squadrons were equipped with Grumman single-seat fighters. Further aerodynamic improvements were made to an F3F-2 (BuNo 1031) based on wind tunnel studies in the NACA Langley 30' x 60' full-scale wind tunnel and became the XF3F-3 . It featured a larger-diameter propeller, and a complete revision of

870-523: Was placed on 24 August of that year, following the conclusion of the flight test program. The first production F3F-1 (BuNo 0211) was delivered on 29 January 1936 to the test group at Naval Air Station Anacostia , with squadron service beginning in March to VF-5B of Ranger and VF-6B of Saratoga . Marine squadron VF-4M received the last six in January 1937. Grumman, wanting to take advantage of

900-553: Was the 1907 Santos-Dumont Demoiselle , while the Blériot XI flew across the English Channel in 1909. Throughout 1909–1910, Hubert Latham set multiple altitude records in his Antoinette IV monoplane, eventually reaching 1,384 m (4,541 ft). The equivalent German language term is Eindecker , as in the mid-wing Fokker Eindecker fighter of 1915 which for a time dominated the skies in what became known as

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