The F11F Tiger was a supersonic, carrier-based fighter jet developed in the 1950s for the U.S. Navy. Its fuselage used the area rule, giving it a pinched-waist shape that reduced drag and enabled supersonic speed. Only 201 were built between 1954 and 1958, and newer, better-performing designs soon made it obsolete as a frontline fighter, so by 1959 Tigers were being shifted to training and reserve squadrons. Grumman also developed a more powerful F11F-1F Super Tiger, but only two prototypes were built; although it set speed and altitude records, concerns about structural strength led to cancellation. The Tiger continued in service with the Blue Angels from 1957 through 1968, and the airplane on display served as Blue Angel 5 from 1961 through 1963, flown by Lt. Lew Chatham. During a Tiger test flight in September 1956, a Grumman pilot caught up to his own cannon fire during a dive, damaging his plane and surviving the emergency landing. Tigers were flown from Intrepid from 1959 through 1960.
