The Grumman XF5F Skyrocket was a prototype of a twin-engine shipboard fighter interceptor. It was a radical advance in shipboard fighters at the time when single engine fighters were just changing to monoplane designs from bi-planes. The U.S. Navy ordered one prototype airplane on June 30, 1938 with the designation XF5F-1. The aircraft possessed a unique appearance in that the forward part of the fuselage didn’t extend forward of the wing. Ultimately the type never went into production, although the F7F Tigercat did benefit from some of the Skyrocket development work.

The XF5F Skyrocket is best known for its appearance in the Blackhawk comic books. The Skyrocket was introduced in the first iisue of Military Comics published in 1941. Skyrockets continued to be flown by the Blackhawk Squadron through the entirety of World War 2 and afterward. It was finally replaced by a jet fighter in 1949. However, in nearly all stories set during and immediately after WW2, even those published as late as 1990, the Skyrocket in the primary aircraft used by the Blackhawks. Over that nearly 50 year time span, the Blackhawks' Skyrockets sported several different color schemes and many different versions of the Blackhawk Insignia. It was even modified with different engines and tail configurations by different artists.