Grumman Panthers Breakaway

Alfred Owles

British born American painter Alfred Owles flew as an aerial photographer with the British Royal Air Force during World War I. It was here that he saw first-hand the airplanes of that era in actual combat, which he so vividly expressed in his paintings.

He continued to illustrate for various sources for decades, specializing in aircraft. In this watercolor he depicst a "breakaway" of three F9F Grumman Panthers with the sequential numbers of 119, 120 and 121.

It was Grumman's first fighter jet and 1,382 were produced between 1947 and 1948. The Panther was used extensively by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in the Korean War. It was also the first jet aircraft used by the Blue Angels flight team, used by them from 1949 through late 1954. The aircraft was exported to Argentina and was the first jet used by the Argentine Naval Aviation.