I guess that in the last seventy years there hasn't been a US navy pilot that hasn't been associated with Grumman made aircraft in one way or the other.
Grumman was known as "The Iron works" a nickname they got for producing durable aircraft. And the one that wore that badge the proudest of them all was without a doubt the TBF Avenger, which was named the safest carrier operated aircraft of all time.
Royal Netherlands Navy Avengers as they were operated from the Carrier "Karel Doorman" well into the fifties. The jets are Hawker Sea Hawk fighters.
But ask aircraft enthusiasts about Grumman and the Avenger, the S2F Tracker maratime patrol aircraft and the A6 Intruder bomber will not be named. Instead the aircraft that will be named are more feline in name.
So I figure it to be fun to name all the "Cat" fighters that Grumman made.
First up, here's the Grandaddy of them all, the pleasantly plump
F4F Wildcat.
The Wildcat was obsolete when the war broke out but it could still dish out some serious punches and could take a serious beating as well. The comparable Brewster Buffallo was easy meat for Japanese pilots who shot them down by the dosens but the Wildcat was a different story, one Japanese pilot remarked that he emptied out his cannons on a Wildcat but the thing never even caught fire. It was all torn up but it still brought the pilot home safely.
Take the Wildcat, add a BIG honking engine, add some serious muscle and you'll end up with the
F6F Hellcat.
The Hellcat improved on the design of the Wildcat by having a wider undercarriage, thus making it safer to land on aircraft carriers. It also had the 2,000 hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine which gave a much wider range than it's smaller sibling. The Hellcat was loved by its pilots for being a powerful but easy to fly plane.
Then there's the
F7F Tigercat.
The tigercat came to be when the US Navy did research on two engined long range fighters like the Lockheed P38 Lightning. The Tigercat arrived too late though to play a significant role in the war and was withdrawn from service soon after the war ended.
That also was the case for the
F8F Bearcat.
The Bearcat was meant as a lighter version of the Hellcat, it was meant to fly from small escort carriers that still had the old Wildcats on board, the war ended before that came through though. The Bearcat made a name for itself in air racing, being one of the fastest Propellor driven aircraft ever. The Bearcat was the last piston fighter that Grumman produced. And for a while the last that had the word "Cat" in its name.
With Jet technology at their disposal, it was no surprise that Grumman's "Iron works" legend was firmly re-established when they presented the
F9F Panther and the swept wing version the
Cougar 
Again these aircraft proved to be popular by their pilots for being durable and easy to fly, in Korea a Panther was the first Navy fighter to shoot down an enemy plane.
I can't have a topic like this without the
XF10F Jaguar.
The Jaguar was Grumman's first attempt to produce a swing-wing fighter (something they pulled off much more gracefully several decades later) but the technology of the time didn't really bring out the full potential of the idea and the idea was shelved.
Then there's the unsung hero the
F11 Tiger 
The Tiger was Grumman's first supersonic aircraft, it saw very limited service with the Navy and was soon replaced by the Vought F8 Crusader and the McDonnell-Douglas F4 Phantom. The US Navy flight display team "The Blue Angles" however flew the Tiger longer than it actually was in service from 1957 to 1969.
The last on the list, the one that brought it all together, the one that brought the "Iron works" back on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier and that brought the "Cat" series to glorious close and did it with a show of unashamed masculinity.
The F14 Tomcat 
What can I say about the Tomcat? It was teenage poster boy material. Sleek, strong and cool. Tomcat pilots wore badges that said "Anytime baby" with which they referred to the Tomcat's all weather capability.
The Tomcat also became a movie star when it featured in the movie "Top Gun"
A Tomcat in "Top Gun" showing the swing wing action that the Jaguar couldn't pull off, technology had created a winner.
