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The Grumman F8F Bearcat Navy fighter aircraft
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Grumman Bearcat
The Grumman Bearcat was designed during WW2 for use chiefly in the Pacific theatre. Despite a fairly fast and trouble free development period the aircraft came too late to see any action in this conflict. The first prototype F8F Bearcat flew in August 1944 and production aircraft started reaching their squadrons the following year.
The type became a major post-war Navy fighter with the Americans.
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Grumman designed the Bearcat around the well proven and immensely powerful Double Wasp radial piston engine. This engine was used in Grumman's previous Hellcat and by several other highly successful combat aircraft. The airframe was made as small as was practicable for the chosen powerplant, the wingspan was under 36 feet and the aircraft was a little over 28 ft long. This was not only smaller than the F6F, but also smaller than the much earlier and by now antiquated F4F Wildcat. A teardrop style canopy was used which combined with the high seating position offered the pilot extremely good all around vision. Bubble hoods made a late entry in the USN, despite being the norm for most land based USAAF aircraft in the later war years.
The smaller airframe combined with the awesome power of the R2800 engine gave the Bearcat a good rate of climb and top speed, much better than Grumman's earlier but similarly powered Hellcat. Manoeuvrability was also extremely good, so good in fact that the aircraft saw some use with the USN aerobatics team the Blue Angels. In fact the aircraft would surely have proven highly succesful against most if not all aircraft fielded during WW2, if it had it's chance. But we will never know. The Bearcat was not completely unbloodied however as some aircraft were successfully used by the French during the Indo-China war on ground attack sorties.
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Many F8F planes were sold off to civilians after their naval service. Some of these aircraft became highly effective and popular in air racing, often being highly modified for the purpose and capable of level flight speeds over 500mph. These planes would typically carry a bright and eye-catching new set of paint, making them a spectacular sight as they hurtle by.
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