Hello,

I'm trying to figure out the tail number of John Glenn's F9F-5 Panther from VMF-311. Plane #20.

I've already looked here: http://cgibin.rcn.com/jeremy.k/cgi-bin/gzNavySearch.pl?target=F9F-5&series=3

I can see in pictures that it begins with a "21...." And the above link shows a cluster of 311's serials that are "2160** - 2162**"

Are there additional resources? I thought I'd ask here before I just guessed at it.

Thanks!!

- Steve

You could ask him, (or rather someone who could ask him) I'll bet he remembers.

There is this photo:
https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/handle/1811/50339

It doesn't show much. This site:
http://acepilots.com/korea_glenn.html
Has specifics about his F-86, but nothing on the F9F. States the one with the hole in the tail and him standing by the side was shot up again and written off, so he flew another. He wasn't a big enough star to merit the attention that Ted Williams received, and it was "just ground attack" so nothing glamorous. I hope you get a better answer.

Thanks guys,

Russ, there's this one too: https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/handle/1811/50350 Luckily the plane was not hit hard enough to be in loss reports.

Jonathan, I actually work a the Glenn College at OSU. I'm trying to make all of his planes. The Senator comes in sometimes, but (at 94) he's still doing more important things than to be bothered with my stuff. Even the artwork around the building blurs out the tail serials... so, maybe I'm not the only one who had trouble finding it.

I'll take a look, I did his wing man's plane, Ted Williams
F9F-5 Panther that he crash landed. 1/72 old Matchbox kit.
Will see what I can find.---John
Panther 6 by jvandeu53, on Flickr

Glenn's plane was WL-16 side number and William's was
WL-10 on the mission Ted crash landed. Match side numbers
to Bu numbers maybe? But that is not side number 20. Did
he also fly F9F-2s in Korea, thought VMF-311 also had
the earlier -2s. Joe Baugher's site says F9F-5s were 123085-125999, and F9F2s were 122475-127215---John

A bit confused,I reread OPs post, how can an F9F-5
serial start with 21-----don't they start with 12?
My fault I was all over the place with the -2 idea.
Glenn flew in 1953 with VMF-311 and they had F9F-5s
by then. Sorry for the confusion.---John