F9F-8 Cougar Blue Angels '55-57
From Aug 1954 to 1957

The Grumman F9F/F-9 Cougar was an aircraft carrier-based fighter aircraft for the United States Navy. Based on Grumman's earlier F9F Panther, the Cougar replaced the Panther's straight wing with a more modern swept wing. Thrust was also increased significantly. The Navy considered the Cougar an updated version of the Panther, despite having a different official name, and thus Cougars started off from F9F-6 upward.

The F9F-8 was the definitive fighter version. It featured an 8 in (20 cm) stretch in the fuselage and modified wings with greater chord and wing area (from 300 to 337 square feet), to improve low-speed, high angle of attack flying and to give more room for fuel tanks.[1] As a result of the wing changes, top speed was increased to 704 mph and minimum catapult speed was lowered to 127 knots (146 mph). It also was now capable of breaking the sound barrier in a steep dive. All four ammunition boxes were mounted above the guns, in contrast to the split location of most previous F9Fs including the Panther. 601 aircraft were delivered between April 1954 and March 1957; most were given inflight refuelling probes, and late production were given the ability to carry four AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles under the wings. Most earlier aircraft were modified to this configuration.