Grumman OF-1 Mohawk Photo Album

[Mark Nankivil]

Greetings All -

http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-Grumman-Mohawk-OF-1-AO-1-Mockup-Photo-ALBUM-NR-/220770018791?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3366eb25e7

Looks like some interesting images in the album.

Enjoy the Day! Mark

 

[Stargazer]

Here are the six photos that appear on that eBay page:

Added from “Found on Ebay” thread

 

[Mark Nankivil]

Greetings All -

Here are a few photos of an earlier iteration with a T-tail of the design that led to the AO-1 (after 1963, OV-1) Mohawk with the triple fins.

Enjoy the Day! Mark

 

[Pioneer]

Great find Mark!!

The t-tail arrangement surely puts a different perspective on the Mohawk!
I wonder why Grumman engineers opted for the triple-fin tail arrangement? Stability? Weight?

Thanks for sharing mate

Regards
Pioneer

 

[Arjen]

From 'Grumman Aircraft since 1929' by René J Francillon, Putnam 1989

As evidenced by its mock-up, the G-164, designed by a team led by Michael Pelehach, was characterized by a single fin and rudder of large size on which the horizontal surfaces were mounted near the top. Wind-tunnel tests, however, revealed that these surfaces would provide insufficient control during STOL operations. Accordingly, the original tail surfaces were replaced by a conventionally located tailplane and triple fins and rudders.

Image found here.

<edit> From 'The Ironworks - Grumman's fighting aeroplanes' by Terry Treadwell, Airlife 1990:

The mock-up had a distinctive 'T'-shaped tail, but Grumman engineers discovered that, in the event of one of the two engines failing, the tail would require a hydraulically boosted rudder. The aircraft was complicated enough as it was, so by experimenting with different tail designs, engineers came up with a distinctive triple tail. There was an unexpected bonus with the triple tail, it gave a smaller reflection on radar than the larger 'T'-tail.

 

[RAP]

AWST article