Grumman F8F Bearcat
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- Опубликовано: 19 дек 2021
- The Grumman F8F Bearcat was an American single-engine carrier-based fighter aircraft that arrived too late to participate in World War II.
Still, it was considered one of the best piston-engine fighters ever built, and even test pilot Eric Brown, known to have flown more airplane types than anyone else in history, considered it his favorite American aircraft.
The F8F eventually found its way into the civilian market, but it took one legendary American pilot to put it back on the map, giving people something to talk about in the late 1980s when a heavily modified version shattered a world record that no one saw coming...
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I had a friend (RIP) who joined the US Navy flight cadet program in WWII. He was able to conceal his colorblindness all the way through training to become a qualified pilot. Before shipping out, medical personnel discovered his secret. They saw no sense in a court martial so they assigned him as an instructor at Pensacola where he had extensive stick time in every US fighter plane produced. He told me that hands down, the F8 Bearcat was the absolute best.
Thank you very much for sharing this.
P
That very issue disqualified me from becoming a Navy pilot, during my physical at Belle Chase NAS, I missed one of the colored sequence lights and they brought out the book with the colored dots and asked me what character I saw? I couldn’t identify any 😒. Was very disappointed.
You must be close to what ? 95 years old ?
@@TheSchmed No, my friend was significantly older than me. In fact, I think he was older than my dad.
At the 75th Anniversary of Naval Aviation airshow in Pensacola the Kalamazoo Cats flew with an F14 Tomcat in a tribute to the lost Challenger astronauts. The F4F, F6F, F7F and F8F flew in formation while the F14 flew the missing man climb out. It was the first time I had seen any of the prop jobs in flight. They flew directly towards the crowd (also a first) and the F14 pulled vertical just as they crossed the stands. There wasn’t a dry eye anywhere. It is still the most moving tribute I have ever witnessed.
Bless them all! I remember the day of Challenger and so many since.
Do you know if there is a video of this? I would love to see that formation in flight!
A shockingly good piece, without too many things wrong. One very minor correctly. The Bearcat really wasn't intended as the Hellcat replacement, although that was possible. What it was meant to replace was the then still in production and heavy use FM-2 Wildcat. The later variant of the F4F Wildcat. The Hellcat had replaced the Wildcat on the larger fleet carriers and the Cruiser hulled Independence Light Carriers. But the Hellcat was a HUGE plane. And could not well operate off of the smaller Escort Carriers that were used to support Marine Landings. The Navy needed something with the Hellcat or Corsairs performance that could operate off these much smaller flight decks. Hence the Bearcat. It also did not escape planners that the Bearcat's smaller footprint would allow the larger Essex class Carriers to mount a larger fighter wing in the same space as the Hellcats. By that point in the war Carriers were starting to sacrifice attack planes, especially Torpedo planes in favor of ever larger fighter groups as the main ongoing Japanese threat was from the air.
exactly thanks for correcting I hope people read your comment
“One very minor -correctly- correction, the..”
Also by late in the war, fighters with hardpoints to act as fighter-bombers began replacing purpose-built single-engined bombers, because fighter-bombers were roughly as effective in the attack role, and then having shed their heavy ordnance could defend themselves against enemy fighters far more effectively. And having sunk most of the Japanese Navy's surface units or forced them into port with fuel shortages, the USN was running low on targets for its torpedo bombers. This also led to removing some torpedo mounts from destroyers and replacing them with more anti-aircraft gun mounts, to counter the growing kamikaze threat.
But there is an additional quasi-error in the video. It claims the F8F had the highest climb rate until jet aircraft began replacing it, but according to Wikipedia the F7F had a slightly higher climb rate (4,530 ft/min (23.0 m/s) vs 4,465 ft/min (22.68 m/s)). The much larger F7F could only operate from the Navy's biggest aircraft carrier of the time (the Midway class, completed too late to see action in WWII) while the F8F could squeeze onto the far more numerous escort carriers.
Both the F7F and the F8F pose interesting what-if questions. Since both aircraft used the same R-2800 engine as the P-47 Thunderbolt, both could have in theory been in action about as soon. The F7F's problems with carrier landings wouldn't have precluded a land-based version which might have been quite useful in 1943 over Europe. Instead of sending slow unescorted B-17s to get slaughtered by the Luftwaffe, the USAAF could have sent an aircraft with the range and performance of the F7F to bomb German targets while being much harder to shoot down. The F7F could carry up to 4000 lb of bombs, with one pilot, comparing favorably to the B-17's 8000 lb load and *ten* crewmen. Combined with the likely far lower loss rate for an F7F, the overall efficiency of the F7F would seem to have been potentially much higher.
The F8F along with the F7F (and the Midways) might have seen action had the war not ended with the atomic bomb attacks on Japan. Had a full-scale invasion of the Japanese home islands been necessary, the war might have dragged on for at least another year. Japan had been hoarding thousands of aircraft for kamikaze attacks against what would been the mightiest invasion fleet in history, creating plenty of interception work for the speedy F8F to do. Better to have wasted the potential of the F8F than to have had the 1 million American and 5 million Japanese casualties predicted from the invasion.
If the war would go on a year or two could the Bearcat and Tigercat replace both the Hellcat and even the Corsair? The Tigercat could be a very a potent attack aircraft and maybe some kid of bomber too. Bearcat would be the number one air superiority fighter without a doubt for the next two year if the jet engined enemy fighters wouldn't appear (within a year or two maybe Japan could introduce some of them with German assistance, I think).
@@Cuccos19 The Corsair F4U-4 and later were pretty much slotted to replace the Hellcat, since it started to be considered to be viable by the -4, and also then acquired a considerable performance boost. Whether it would have, probably depends upon the intensity of the fighting in a what-if prolonged war. Because the Corsair's non-combat operational losses were hideous, not ideal in a cramped carrier and high sortie rate environment. And Grumman were fiddling with the XF6F-6 at the time, the first uprated Hellcat model since its invention. As it was, the late-model Corsairs went in, in peacetime, but eventually became more of a temporary, attack stablemate of the Skyraider, while the fighter replacement soon became jet propulsion, the Panther.
The Bearcat had too short range and endurance to fill the Hellcat role. It was, as A.T. said, a FM-2 replacement.
The Tigercat was too big, heavy and expensive to be anything than maybe a nightfighter. I doubt it could have competed in the attack role against the Skyraider.
My grandfather was a friend of Bob Kucera, whom Bearcat racers will probably have heard of (N212KA). Kucera's Bearcat was modified to include a fuselage door, a second seat, and a large window for aerial photography purposes. The two flew his Bearcat down to Dallas to visit my parents about a month before Kucera was killed, attempting to land after the engine lost power. Parts of his Bearcat were used to build Rare Bear (landing gear doors and some other parts). Still more parts from his wreckage have been used to rebuild another Bearcat (NL4752Y) by Ezell Aviation in Breckenridge, Texas.
Both Voodoo and Rare Bear were rebuilt after fatal accidents. It's fitting that they get to live on.
Hi SharkVsTree,
My camera systems operator was a guy name of Vernon Gentry. Vern had operated the camera in the back of the Bearcat with Bob Kucera out of Cleveland. They would fly nonstop from Cleveland to photograph phosphate mines down in central Florida. Kucera then opened a branch office in Lakeland FL. I started a career flying aerial mapping flights in 1971. Was an interesting forty one year flying job.
@@thomascharlton8545 I bet it was! Thanks for sharing, Mr. Charlton. Always interesting to hear about people who were associated with Bob. I wish I'd have had the opportunity to know him myself. He seems like a real interesting guy who made a very successful business for himself, one that came with some fun perks! My mother told me that part of the reason he flew my grandfather down to Dallas was because he was on the way to look at a P-51 that he ended up buying out of Brownsville, Texas. No doubt for racing at Reno.
My dad flew Hellcats during WWII, had over 600 hours in them. He also had some time in Bearcats.He said that they couldn't be taken off at full throttle, torque would flip the plane.
Maybe one of the few world war two planes that could still be service into today's world as a drone even as a man aircraft but some modifications that modern military drones have it's possibly that thing could be deadly even in Ukraine I want to talk about arming it with hellfires and stinger missiles I bet I think he carried 20 or maybe 30 stair missiles and maybe equal number of hellfires too
Hawker Fury had contra props to solve that problem.
This was a problem in other planes such as the mustang as well. The engines were so powerful and the planes were so light that you had to ease the throttle up slowly, if you just jammed it forward your stick literally couldn't go for enough over to keep you from flipping.
@@davidelliott5843 Sorry David , but the Later Fury / Sea Fury has a 5-bladed prop The first Fury was an attractive biplane . Some , from the mk xiv he later mk 22-24 R/R Griphon-engined Spitfires and Seafires had 2x3 bladed contra-rotating props , though . Pete
Your dad is a true American hero. God bless him.
Man- these commercials are getting BAD on RUclips
Just a bit of a nit to pick, but mention should probably have been made about Mira Slovak, who won the first Reno National Air Races in 1964 in an F8F, and Darryl Greenamyer, who took a highly modified Bearcat to six (1965-70) Unlimited class wins in a row. Greenamyer hung a Skyraider prop on it that required him to take off and land 3 point to keep from q-tipping the blades. Greenamyer broke the prop driven speed record, that had been held by a German since 1939, in 1969. A lot of Merlins hand grenaded trying to catch his plane. It's in the Smithsonian now.
Burying the prop tips was a common problem with the original Aeroproducts propeller as well. It's also why so many Bearcats get re-engined and/or new props, the Aeroproducts prop being extremely rare now.
Hear, hear. And two more wins to Greenameyer were forfeited to Slovak only because Darryl wouldn't land on the unsafe short dirt strip at the original Reno venue, but we know who won. Also, John Penney flew Rare Bear for many years and others since. They should be congratulated for surviving it.
Thanks for mentioning Slovak and Greenamyer! Went to the Reno Air Races from 64’ to 74’. Always a great time watching the Unlimited Class!
@@bendeleted9155 My first Reno Air Race trip was when they used the short dirt strip, but I can't remember if that was Stead or not. Do you remember where that race was run? 1969 I think.....
@@r2dad282 yep they did '64 & '65 at Sky Ranch dirt strip (hwy 445 north of I-80 I believe) and '66 to the present at Stead. There is a dirt strip at Stead too, but I don't know that it was ever used other than at least one emergency landing by Lyle Shelton in Rare Bear. RWY 18, I think.
Lyle Shelton was a good friend of mine and one hell of an air race pilot. Watching him race was such a thrill. I’m thankful for Steve Hinton’s input as well. Steve has done more for the restoration of WWII aircraft than anyone I know, as well as being a great air race pilot himself! (His son is now the holder of Lyle Sheldon’s speed record for prop driven aircraft). Thanks for the great doc on the Bearcat!
The Navy wanted heavy fighters with significant range. The problem was the fighters with that range, Hellcats and Corsairs, were to big to land on the small decks of the escort carriers so the navy kept with the smaller Wildcats for that and found themselves dealing with 3 different fighters. The Bearcat was meant to be a single all-around fighter with as much heavy fighter capability as possible yet small enough to operate off the escort carriers. It's shorter range was seen as a sacrifice made in the give and take of it. In 1947 the Navy retired the escort carriers and the Bearcat was all dressed up with no where to go, that's why production halted and they were given to France. The Navy continued on with the Corsair whose longer range suited the purpose. The Bearcat was a high performance hot rod but it was a plane designed of compromise.
That sounds better than Tom Clancy
tOO, not tO.
Had the plane arrived in squadron size amounts early in the Okinawa campaign, I bet many would have been put on escort carriers to counter the Kamikaze threat. They were better suited there first due to lower range than the F6Fs and F4Us and the much faster climb rate.
My father, the late Col. James L. Neefus, USMC., flew ten sorties out of Hanoi, Vietnam, in 1953 as part of a study group of ten senior U.S. officers, secretly sent to Vietnam by Dwight Eisenhower. This was in response to a request by the French to help them reclaim their control of the country from the Viet Min. The sorties were out to Dien Bien Phu in a ground attack role, trying to push the Viet Min forces away from the French camp. Upon return from Vietnam, the entire study group, in meeting with the President, said, to a man, “Don’t go there.”
Sage Advice......... What a waste of time......, and a lot of other precious assets....
Makes you wonder why they were sent there in the first place if the expert opinion was only going to be ignored ? I do, however, feel that one of the lessons learn from the Vietnam experience was how easily the American people can tolerate the destruction of their own sons & daughters!
@@nelsonphilip4520 the lesson of Vietnam is the 4 million slaughtered, many in the killing fields, after our Left forced us to abandon them to Communist butchers after the Treaty of Paris.
@@nelsonphilip4520 Because there's always some overeager jackass who thinks "I can do better" and succeed where others never dared go
@@ToddDunning ed.: _"our Left forced us"_ Get off your high horse and put your nose in a history book. Nixon was in office for years negotiating the Paris Peace Accords. And in 1968 - Search for this title by the Smithsonian Magazine, 2017: _Notes Indicate Nixon Interfered With 1968 Peace Talks_ ed: Yeah, right, _"our Left forced us"_
I used to be Lyle Shelton’s copilot at TWA, on the MD-80. Hew was full of cool stories, about Reno, his Bearcat and world speed record. He invited me to Reno years ago. Got to hangout at the unlimited s’ pit area, and saw him race and win👍🏻. What a pilot! RIP Lyle…
My grandfather flew the Bearcat, Cosair, and Panther. He loved it, when the Korean War broke out he was scrambled cause the thought Russian Bombers were going to come. Spent 8 hrs in a Bearcat praying nothing would happen. He was discharged 2 months later and his former squadron was changed back to Corsairs for close air support.
My first instructor pilot in the Army back in the 70's was a Bearcat pilot at the end of WW2, still transitioning into them when the war ended. He said he never flew a sweeter airplane
Fantastic power-to-weight, and some of the best ailerons put on a piston-engine fighter.
I've read Bud Davidsons pirep on the F8F, and later talked with him in person about that airplane. He said the civilian one he flew of course had no weapons, armor, or self sealing tanks installrd. So it weighed probably one ton less than a wartime model, and it flew with less than 3-3/4 Lbs per horsepower. About twice the power to weight ratio of a Pitts S2-C stunt plane. The bearcat could climb at nearly a 45° angle.
some ppl don't realize that there were other GREAT planes, not just the P-51 Mustangs....
The first time I was even aware of Bearcats was at an air show in St Charles Illinois in the 1970s. We saw other war birds. P-51, and so forth. Then a pair of Bearcats took off. They flew a sort of mock dogfight, ground attack demo. Let me tell you.....they OWNED the sky. They completely dominated that air show. The flight demo was jaw dropping.....and this after watching a flight demo by a P-51. You have to see a Bearcat fly to believe how powerful and effective they are.
I was fortunate enough to watch Lyle Shelton race Rare Bear many times. My ex was a flight engineer at the Army aviation base inside of the race course and they helped him work on it. Anyway, it's an amazing bird and it's fun to watch it fire up. The wings have been shortened and, looking at it from the front, it's hard to see how it's going to get off the ground but it always does. My personal favorite is the P51. Those engines flying over you at the start is something I'll never forget. I miss living in Reno specifically because of the air races. Great times and cool people.
One of the most beautiful aircraft ever built. No slick under fuselage scoops or bent wings….just a heavily muscled yet nimble brute.
I put the Bearcat and the Hawker Sea Fury together as the most perfect, most beautiful prop. warplanes ever built.
Bearcat and Tigercat are some of the most beautiful planes from the period, and my favourites basically.
@@davidrees7978 The Tempest and Sea Fury are just beautiful too. Those and the italian's Serie 5 planes are up there.
Such a glorious plane. The last generation of piston engine aircraft are still mind blowing.
@ 10:54. Correction/update. Voodoo now holds the record. Steve Hinton Jr. flew a modified P-51 Mustang named Voodoo to a new record of 531.53 MPH on September 2, 2017.
My father started flying for the Navy in '42. During the war while flying in various capacities in the US, including continental defense and as a flight instructor, and late on in the war while assigned as an air officer with the Lexington's air group, he flew anything he could get his hands on, which included F4F's, F6F's, F4U's, SBD's and SB2C's. Sometime after the war, he got the chance to fly an F8. Although he absolutely loved the F4U, he was highly impressed with the F8's acceleration and rate of climb. He said that when you fire-walled the throttle, the acceleration really threw you back into your seat.
I was so excited when the thumbnail scrolled into view! This is my #1 fav. It's so beautiful. If the war would've continued on, the bearcat would have easily mopped the floor with anything it came across and absolutely owned the air superiority it was designed to obtain. Thanks!
I used to work for a Beechcraft Dealer at Addison Texas. A northern suburb of Dallas. We had a customer named Howard Pardue. At the time I worked there he owned an F4 Corsair. Later he owned a Bearcat. Sadly this plane killed him in a takeoff when he was 77 in Breckenridge Texas Airport on April 5th, 2012. He was a really nice guy and a former Marine Pilot! Everyone who knew him liked him.
hello dark skies! been a long time fan of your videos way back from your pure text mystery videos. it blew me away to see you do a video that included the bear and lyle. i worked on the airplane and knew lyle for his last few years. thanks a bunch for bringing some mainstream attention to the reno air races and one of the coolest planes ever built. though i do have to echo the sentiments expressed in other comments about not understating the accomplishments of other bearcat pilots like daryl greenameyer, bud fountain, and jack sliker. also, around the same time as the 3k dash record lyle set a time to climb record to 3000 meters in 91.9 seconds which itself was an amazing story to hear lyle tell.
Been waiting for this one ☝🏻
The only RUclips channel that has legitimately informed me about planes I was not aware of, multiple times. Keep it up.
Great video! I love the looks of the F8F Bearcat, but I love the looks of the F6F Hellcat even more, and from certain angles! I pay some tribute to the F8F, and the F7F( another great looking plane), as being veterans of WWII. Both were deployed or in route into war zones. Because they were there, even if war ended before these Fighters fired any shots, they were still a part of Hostile war zones.
One of your best!
I would really love to see you do a piece on the F7F. It's iconic; its sound is haunting; it kicked serious ass.
Oh yeah. My favorite of the Grumman line. The TIGERCAT, Twin Pratt & Whitney R2800 double WASP radial,s . GOD ALMIGHTY, What a beast
WOW! How much I didn't know about Grumman Aircraft. I thought they were the old warhorses that needed replaced when they should have been the top warhorses of the military. They looked like they were intended to be simple everything and they were, but they were tough too. I am impressed! When I think of my Grumman canoe now, I'm going to think back on what I didn't know about Grumman aircraft. VERY KEWEL! Thanx for the video!
My favorite prop fighter of all time, Ive had multiple RC bearcats, just love them!
Correction: my father, an MD from Lancaster, CA, bought a Bearcat from Gene Akers in 1960. It later became Conquest 1, with which Darryl Greenamyer broke the the previous piston powered speed record held since 1939 by Nazi Germany.
Wait, really? What was your father's name? I would love to try and look into it, as it seems a very interesting story... and an incredible feat if so!
Also, what kinda guy was he? As in, if you could sum your father up in a sentence what would it be? (Just out of SHEER curiosity at this point lol)
So what was this 1939 aircraft that "Nazi Germany" had? ....and what about the XP47J? and the 517mph Mustang that preceded Rare Bear?
I worked for Cary Greenamyer (also jammed with him in music sessions), the pilot's son. He showed me the picture of that bearcat. He was rather proud of his father's accomplishment.
I lived in Lemmon Valley Nevada. A mile or so south of the Reno/Stead airport where they hold the Reno Air Races. You knew when the unlimited were about to go at it. You didn't even have to look up. You also knew when "Rare Bear" took the gold. That victory pass was all you needed to hear. I miss those days.
I saw jp4 on take off, cmon, rocket assist.
Jack Parde, from Brownwood,Tx. Had one. He kept it at Meachem Field, in Ft Worth. He and my dad were friends. Used to go over to his hanger. Watch the maintenance goen on. That's the biggest wasp radial I've ever seen!!!! They'd get through with it. Jack would taxie it around. Then a quick fly around!!! Never forget that sounds!!!! So much power!!!! Oh, heck yeah!!! What a gorgeous machine!!!!!
I was in the Boy Scouts in the Mid 1960s and we helped out at an airshow and my job was to stand by a Bearcat and keep people from touching it. I was 12.
Bearcats have an awesome climb rate for an aircraft designed in the '40s, probably the best ever for a piston/prop driven plane. never miss the chance to see one in action at your local airshow..
109k4 with big boost would like to have a word
In their most notable single deployment and action, 6 Bearcats of the French Airforce 1/22 Saintonge Sqn were stationed inside the perimeter of the French defensive position during the battle of Dien Bien Phu, performing ground attack and area defence duties. This should have been covered in much more depth, or actually mentioned.
That lasted until the first viet Minh assault
They were basically there the first day of the siege in march
From there onward based in Hanoi or elsewhere far away and unable stay on station long
screw the French
Grew up watching Rare Bear race at Reno, thanks for including that snippet in your presentation!
Classy documentaries. Gripping to watch.
It just looks badass
Supposedly Bob Hall, who was heavily involved in designing the F8F (as well as the earlier F4F, F6F, and F7F) either copied or was largely inspired by the cockpit of the Fw 190. He flew a captured example in 1944, after he'd been involved in a crash in one of the F6F prototypes.
According to Hall, the Fw 190 had the best cockpit layout he'd ever laid eyes on.
He almost wrecked the 190, though. Supposedly he'd made a flaps up landing--something he was used to doing in Grumman aircraft--and hadn't been notified of the Fw 190s high sink rate by the other pilots or the ground crew. He bounced high into the air and ended up bouncing down the runway to a stop.
The ground crewmen had placed bets as to how high they thought he would bounce, well in advance of the flight.
thank you for providing this video
You put out very high quality videos. Always interesting and something I did not know! Thank you.
In late 1950s and earls 60s there were two Bearcats at the Asbury Park (NJ) Airport where Asbury Ave met the Garden State Parkway. One was kept in original colors while the other was sporterized and probably used for racing. I ran into another one in 1966 at Ton Son Nhute AB where I was stationed in Viet Nam. It was on display with one of the French FW-190's. Both were in RVN-AF colors.
Grew up in Asbury Park, kept is playing at Asbury Airpark. The two Bearcats you reference belong to Chris Christopher and another gentleman named Russ Hansen, both good friends of my dad. Late 60s early 70s great time to be there also a couple of Mustangs at that same small airport
@@thomasteeters530 The CAP was there too with a classic L-5
@@thomasteeters530If I remember right Hansen was in flight training when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He said that between the sped up training and the war 2/3 of the class that he started with didn't survive the war.
Ps I seem to think his first name was Gilbert. Or he might have been known but Russ, or 2 different people.
I see the Bearcat at the WOH airshow every year, never get tired of it. Is the Tigercat next?
for me the tigercat was always the most intriguing of the Cat series. I think it's a plane that could do it all so to speak.
Thank you for these great Productions without some of them there be things I would have never known about thank you very much and please keep up the great work
At a Pratt & Whitney Airshow back in the 80's, I had the opportunity to see examples of all of Grumman's Cats in the same place at the same time. An unforgettable sight, hat's off to all that flew these planes.
Love to see you do the F7F Tiger cat.
There must be something special about Bearcat. I recall from visiting Duxford air shows. The guy who runs the Legends also flies F8F.
It was the Pinnacle of piston engine aircraft development.
Lucky enough to see one fly a few times. And to hear it.
Congrats on this documentary. She never got to fight her adversary, but the F8F showed her colors in the racing world. Rare Bear with the 3-blade prop sounded like a C-130 in a dive. The pilots she passed knew what was coming. Thanks 💪🇺🇸👍
My grandfather "this" ... by dad "that" ... my uncle "something else" ... SOOOoooo
My friend and I had just finished breakfast at the Waypoint Cafe (Camarillo Airport in Camarillo, CA, unquestionably the best airport meal location in America, where the food is great and the hiring practices are unbelievable). We sauntered over to the Confederate Air Force Hanger (now rebadged with the progress of socialism) to see what the "ole boys" were up to. We rounded the corner of the building to find a Grumman F8F Bearcat undergoing its annual inspection. As expected, the gaggle of vintage 1945 rail birds were sitting on their bench seats that had been long ago removed (nobody knows what century) from a school bus. Some drinking coffee and some having a cold one from the can-feeding Coke machine (loaded with canned beer). As we listened to the Yard Bird Banter (always a gas since they picked on each other insufferably) the A&P asked some of them to prop the engine (P&W R1800 with the spark plugs removed) over so he could lash the rocker arms. Because the A&P was less than age 70, this met with a resounding "up yours ... we're on break ... let these youngsters (my friend and I) prop it through". Most of my life I have heard the phrase "youth and vigor are no match for old age and treachery" ... I never understood it, until that day. While my friend poised himself for the next blade in rotation, I jumped off the ground to grab the area near the tip so my weight would start the engine rotation. To my amazement, even with my 215 pounds and with the plugs removed, the engine didn't budge. I just hung there while the Yard Birds belly laughed. The trick is ... you have to use the starter to get one blade near vertical, then one guy can muscle it about 1/8th rotation so the next guy can engage. It's really an impressive motor and prop arrangement. We were then invited for a beer and listened to the war stories from guys who were ground crews and armorers in WWII. Today (2021) that plane is still around but your kids can't get near it. So much has changed, but not one thing for the better. I still call it the Confederate Air Force just to piss off the male Karen's within hearing range. Works every time.
YESSS THE BEARCAT!
Thank you. Wonderful content!
I saw the Rare Bear at Reno twice. The first time, 1990 I think, Shelton maydayed due to a seized engine while trying to break 500 mph.
I had a pit pass and when they finally towed the plane back to the pits, one of the mechanics grabbed the prop and tried to turn it. It moved about 6" back and forth and that was it. Clunk!
I'll bet they had to do a helluva lot of work on that beast to get her running again!
It sure was a beautiful plane!
I think though that its prop was from a P-3 Orion at that time.
As I understand it the F8F wasn't intended to replace the F6F, it was intended to replace the F4F/FM2 which still served aboard the smaller escort carriers.
The "Dark Skies" error Gremlin strikes again!;)
Still, what would be the point of keeping F6F on the Fleet carries when the Bearcat, flying off of escort carriers had superior performance. The Bearcat also used a R-2800 piston radial that had a single variable speed supercharger, something the Germans were using on their fighters from earlier in WWII
@@leonardmiyata482 F6F was really a strike fighter. It could carry far more offensive war load, and travel much farther, and operate as a fighter after the bombs were dropped.
@@leonardmiyata482 I don't think the Bearcat had the range or load carrying capability as the F6F.
@@vclamp Though if you're talking about carrier based strike aircraft, the F4U Corsair and F7F Tigercat were both superior to the F6F and proved themselves for close support work during the Korea war. And for high altitude work, the F4U-5 was superior, using the 'sidewinder' pair of superchargers, pushing compressed air through those intercoolers into the engine primary supercharger.
The only offensive use of the F6F in Korea was as use as a radio controlled flying bomb, used for suicide diving attacks against hardened point targets such as bridges.
Yet, the F-4U Corsair maintained its dominance and continued production into the 1950s because of its adaptability.
Also mainly because it could carry a 2000+ Pound weaponload over a radius of 400+ Miles. Thats why in Korea they where used for mud pounding. The Bearcat on the other hand was less stable as a bomb platform and had a radius under 220 Miles with a 500 Pounder under each wing and the French only had 5 mins on Station for their CAS sortie before having to Return because of fuel
Dark Docs Dark Skies...Awesome content, well researched and edited..! Keep on producing these vids please..!
Thanks for updating and clarifying the history of this fighter.i first read of it in a fighting marines comic,where it supported USMC in the korean war.Great work .
Like the F8F, but would like to see something on the F7F Tigercats
Now lets see one about the tigarcat
Another great vid....cheers.
I have been going to watch the Reno Air Races every September since since is ‘97, and hearing the Rare Bear buzzing over our rent because we camped out on one of the tracks turns changed my life. It’s an amazing feeling when they fly over.
I think the Bearcats would have shot the heck out the Japanese. But the Hellcat already did that job well. The Bearcat is impressive to see fly, it will climb like a bat outta hell. My dad was on Windham Bay that took Bearcats to French Indochina. Got his photo album!
F8F is my favorite .I witnessed it in flight at the opening of the Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas. And the first flight of the Boeing 747. Blue angels also 💙 flew at that airshow. I believe it was 1967.I could be off by a year. I will never forget that day. It would be nice to know who else got to witness that day and please comment.
Great job...thank you
Always great shows, thank you.
As 'what if's" go, this one is right up there with the Sea Fury, only the Bearcat is more potently so. All the technology to build it was available while the Hellcat entered production. It could be argued Bearcats could have been designed and built a year or more ahead of schedule. About the only reason why it wasn't can be chalked up to the success of the Hellcat.
The Sea Fury, by contrast, had to wait on its engine to mature which cost it a lot of time. I'll grant you a Saber-engined Sea Fury was possible, but I'm gratified they didn't try in in the Royal Navy. From what I understand of the performance of the two planes, the delay for the Centaurus was worth the delay. It seems a touch unfair to constantly compare the Bearcat to the Sea Fury, but it's really a compliment to both. Unlike other types where the compromises are added up against the superlative qualities (the P-51 Mustang compared to the F4U Corsair for instance) the Bearcat and Sea Fury are a near equal sum of solid technologies combined into exquisite airframes. The race is so close, the better plane can be debated, but never definitively proven.
It is quite remarkable that the 2 aircraft are so similar but were designed and built following lessons learnt in two completely different theatres. But also goes a long way to explain why the Sea Fury is armed with 4, 20mm cannons and the Bearcat with the 0.5in machine guns.
Had the A bombs not been dropped and the allies had to invade the Japanese mainland probably the biggest problem both aircraft would have faced would have been the lack of aircraft to shoot down, the the effectiveness of the naval blockade cutting off the supplies of raw materials and fuel, then adding in the fire bombing campaign of the cities destroying everything in their path from the housing, manufacturing and the people who built the fighting equipment.
@@andrewtadd4373 : What's wrong with .50 cals? With a higher rate of fire than cannons, no one said that those guns were lacking in any way.
There is an impeccable Hawker Fury at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. (I believe it is privately owned). From my understanding, the craft was designed in direct response to the FW 190. The plane I saw didn't even have national insignias because it was apparently intended to fool Germans into thinking it was one of theirs.
@@andrewtadd4373 The third aircraft to add to this discussion is the DH Sea Hornet which would have brought a different type of capability to carrier fighter capability.
Gave you a like and a reply to boost your comment above the scammers comment that stole yours, hopefully others will do as well.
I absolutely love this channel! It is the only channel on RUclips where I keep up with every new video within a week or so. Fantastic work!
Would you please make a video on the F7F? The WWII aviation museum in Colorado springs has several of them and, aside from what they look like, I know nothing about them. I'm very curious.
Thank you for all the awesome content!
That A-1 footage is awesome!
Nice 1. Been waiting for some more super props. Cheers bruv.
Although we’ll never know I am of the opinion that the Bearcat would have been the nemesis of any enemy piston engine fighter it encountered. Climb rate, maneuverability and the all important speed I think would have made it king. An interesting match perhaps would be against the FW-190 D9 or D13. The Bearcat has obviously received accolades from many of the British pilots who have flown it. I wonder how it’s maneuvering compares to the Mk5-9 Spitfire? Some of my favorites as far as our British cousins are concerned. My favorite Grumman cats? Well While I like them all my favorites are the F7F Tigercat a graceful yet masculine looking aircraft whose lines bespeak the power, speed and punch of a light heavyweight boxer able to move yet deliver that punishing knock blow. The lines of that twin engine Tigercat so eye catching. Then the F8F Bearcat. A fighter pilots machine. Nimble, fast, powerful. Able to outclimb it’s contemporaries. I’ve heard it called a piston engined rocket ship in the climb regime. The lines of this cat very appealing. What a racer this plane was. Powered by the R 2800 P&W during it’s military career and the re engined with the R 3350 Wright Cyclone as an Unlimited racer I can only imagine what flying this aircraft would have been like. In his pilot’s review of Planes of Fame’s recently rebuilt F8F on RUclips Steve Hinton spoke in glowing terms of flying this airplane. Oh to be a pilot and fly this one!
Not mentioned: The German Focke-Wulf 190 was at least as big an influence on the design of the F8F as was the F4F. Compare the airframes and operational objectives, including climb rate, maintenance simplicity, 360-degree visibility, powerplant reliability, wide-track landing gear, roll rate, and general maneuverability. Further, F8F development was somewhat slow-tracked after the Battle of the Marianas wiped out almost all of Japan's remaining carriers and experienced aviators in June of '44, well before the advent of the kamikaze attacks.
I will second that. I lived in Ventura CA and yearly attended the nearby Wings Over Camarillo airshow. The CAF wing there has a Grumman F8F-2 and I was able to talk to the pilot, whose name I cannot remember. He said pretty much the same thing; that the performance and wide landing gear of the FW-190 were major influences. Showing how things move in a circle I have also heard that the wide landing gear of the FW-190 was inspired by Howard Hughes H-1 racer, so it's a small, and widely copied, world.
I think a lot of other influences from other aircraft, including the Fw 190, was put into the Bearcat
I've always wondered how the Bearcat would have performed against the FW-190, both with experienced pilots
This and your other channels are superb watching fodder. Thank you.
And the Lyle Shelton reference. Fantastic
When the war ended the first Squadron of Bearcats were on board USS Midway off Hawaii
The Bearcat missed operational deployment by about a week
I did'nt think Midway was launched til after the war.
@@rogersmith7396 Nope. Just late to the party.
There were two of them at an airshow in New Iberia in about 1970. Owned and flown by Corky Fornoff and his son.
Actually, Corky was the son. The father was Bill Fornoff. Bill was later killed when the wing of his Bearcat came off during a flight demonstration with Corky flying in formation. Bill had an amazing trick where he would make a low pass down the center of the runway then pull up into a loop. While upside down in the loop he would deploy the landing gear. Coming out of the loop he would land the plane.
Great video. Great aircraft. Thanks again for all you do! God bless you and yours always. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
The F8F was indeed an exceptional aircraft. I was born and raised in New Haven, CT, just down the street from Tweed New Haven Airport. Russel Hansen was a Marine Corps pilot in WWII and flew a Corsair. He continued his aviation interests after the war. He became a college professor in History and Philosophy of Science during the 1950s. He made his way to Yale University in New Haven in the early 1960s and continued flying his AT-6 Texan trainer. He then obtained a war surplus F8F that he flew often out of Tweed New Haven Airport. His take-offs were a sight to behold compared to the GA aircraft and Convair 340s that flew out of New Haven at the time. I recall a time when we were out in the family boat in New Haven harbor when "The Professor" roared a couple hundred feet overhead at a high rate of speed, did a barrel roll, and climbed into the clouds. He was a great pilot and a character and Yale needed more like him.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwood_Russell_Hanson
He was in flight training when the U.S. entered WW2. He said that between the sped up training and the war that 2/3 of the guys he started training with didn't survive the war. I wish more had made it back home.
I had the privilege of seeing a pair Bearcats fly in an air show at The Spirit of St.Louis Airport in 1969. They were piloted by a father and son team, I don't remember their names, but it was an amazing performance. They were fast!
If they were kind of a funky pinkish gold color it was bill and corkey fornoff bill died in a crash i dont remember the year the son corkey flew in over 1000 movie scenes corkey flew the jet in one of the james bond movie corkey sold his f8f after his fathers crash
If they were kind of a funky pinkish gold color it was bill and corkey fornoff bill died in a crash i dont remember the year the son corkey flew in over 1000 movie scenes corkey flew the jet in one of the james bond movie corkey sold his f8f after his fathers crash
@@altonkenne579Bill called it a bronze color. I saw him fly at St Petersburg Florida in 1966. Talked to him a bit. I was so sad when I heard he'd been killed when his wing spar supposedly failed. Warbirds were not designed to have a long service life. If you use them a lot or for aerobatics, you now will have to fabricate replacements. I knew (not well but a bit) a guy who put off (against advice) replacing ailerons. They failed in flight, leading to a fatal crash.
Ps In a P38 not a Bearcat.
@@carlwessels2671 I glad to hear someone else that saw and loved the old warbird. I didn't know bill or corky. But I loved to watch them do thier aerobatics. Yes it's sad when they don't upgrade the crucial parts that keep them airworthy. I didn't know the actual color. I think corky had repainted his before he sold it. The pictures I saw looked like a very light purple. Not sure I'm a little color blind on reds and browns
The story I heard or read was that Grumman upper mgt. had obtained & evaluated both a Bf-109 & a FW-190. They didn't think much of the Messerschmitt but they really thought the Focke-Wulf was something else & tried to copy it the best they could.
Excellent Video !
Nicely done! Well presented. Thank you!
Indeed, one hell of an airplane. The F8F used no rivets in the skin of the fuselage. The skin was spot welded to the frame, leaving a glass smooth exterior. The Bearcat came from the factory with NACA speed brakes installed under the wings. The airplane could, from brakes locked, engine running, from brake release reach 10,000' in 94 seconds. The Iron Works could be proud of their little bird!
I posted this comment previously on this page but it is worth repeating: I read a story that shortly after WWII a US Army P-51 pilot landed at a US Navy air station for fuel. The P-51 pilot boasted to the Navy fuel personnel about his P-51 climb performance. After fueling the P-51 pilot taxied to the runway and took off. The Navy refuelers finished fueling an F8F after the P-51 took off then watched the F8F taxi, takeoff, and climb past the P-51 that had taken off a few minutes earlier.
Was the F-14 Tomcat part of the 'Cat' series? I'd say so. After all, it was another Navy fighter built by Grumman.
I had the honor to witness this aircraft on more then one occasion at the Reno Air race's. Rare Bear was a very fast and awesome sight as it roared around the circuit at over 500MPH.
I met Lyle Shelton at the 1992 Reno Air Races at RENO Stead Airport. At that time, the team was running a modified three-bladed paddle propellor set-up with gear reduction from a P3 Orion. While the engine and propellor combination were Very High Perfomance, the engine itself tore itself apart in the Gold Race on Sunday. Lyle landed the Rare Bare "Deadstick" quite hard. There wasn't a square inch on the plane that didn't have a wrinkle or crease in the skin. Restoration and repairs resumed thereafter. What a very interesting time to watch and witness Air Racing.
The F8F Bearcat could probably outperform all the competition in WWII. I always thought that if the war in Europe dragged on it could have given US Navy pilots the ability to take on the Me-262, which would have been interesting but history went differently, perhaps for the best. Good video.
P51 MUSTANG best fighter of WWII, today they are used as COIN aircraft.
flying TANKS.
If Japan had lasted into 1946 could have fought Japanese Kikka's, J7W2, and Ki-201 Karyu
@@Anlushac11 - my grandfather was a SEI RAN pilot.
@@markplott4820 ????
@@markplott4820 that's a rather bold statement.
Can we have the Westland Wyvern next?
In the early 1980s I worked at a small airfield in New Mexico after school, gassing up airplanes. One day, while sitting on the ramp two aircraft flew in and taxied up for gas. One was a P-51 Mustang and the other was a Bearcat. After fueling them up, both planes flew off. The Mustang did a low pass over the strip before they both left. They were heading to the Reno air races. Ill never forget that sound... Also, I read that the F2G Corsair was the model designed (modified from a regular Corsair) to be the "Kamakazi Killer", not the Bearcat.
Enjoyed the video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
F8F would have probably performed well against late war Japanese aircraft but the KI84s AND KI100s were formidable aircraft with max speeds of 427 and 360 mph respectively, they both had a fairly potent armament of 12.7 mm machine guns and 20mm cannon each aircraft having two of each, the maneuverability of both aircraft were very good the 84 was supposedly better than the P51D and P47 I think the problem would have been pilots, the allied pilots by this time in the war were very experienced and their tactics honed razor-sharp the Japanese had a lot less experienced, pilots due to attrition and lack of fuel for training it was fortunately for the allies a lost cause
Although the Ki-84 and 100 were certainly formidable, it wasn't just the lack of pilots or fuel that led to Japan's demise. The performance of the "Frank" certainly could give a Mustang or Thunderbolt troubles, yet it still didn't have the armor, self-sealing tanks, and the most important issue.... production.
There were only 3500+ Ki-84s and only a handful of Ki-100s. Meanwhile, the U.S. produced more than 15,000 P-47s and Mustangs. By comparison the Tiger IV was considered the best tank of WWII but that doesn't matter much when it's surrounded by Shermans.
@@inominate2024 Good call! It's obvious I've been a big fan of the Hawker series, hence the name.
The Kangaroo would have certainly been a welcomed fighter but in reality production numbers would have been few. With it's performance, it really wouldn't have been a "game changer" when you already had the likes of the Corsair.
Your point is valid nevertheless.
Japanese pilot training was worse than that supposes; the western powers all made a habit of rotating their best pilots back to train their new recruits so they could pass along their hard-won experience. The Japanese just kept throwing them straight back into the grinder until the inevitable happened, a combination of bad luck, fatigue, and surrounded by FNGs.
I heard the Japanese could'nt keep them running due to material shortages and poor quality.
@@tempestfury8324 True no way to outproduce the allies especially the U.S in 1945 the allied bombing raids on Japan were relentless but I still admire in a way the Japanese philosophy on aircraft design and fighter tactics you go to war with what you have on hand.
My great grandfather was colorblind and went to enlist but failed... He asked "what should I be seeing" the guy told him, so he went a town over, started everything over for the Navy and of course he passed with flying colors... He had to learn how to hide his color blindness, he said it was a card game that gave him the idea and he used it the rest of his life
I seem to remember reading somewhere else about another colour blind Pilot ; I think the guy was flying support missions in P51`s out of the UK in WW2 ; & was repeatedly identifying & destroying ground targets concealed under camouflaged netting. When is squadron commander questioned him on his technique of course he then had to reveal that his colour blindness was behind it & that to him the man made camo colours stood out like a sore thumb
@@asdeaffI've heard the same that color blind people see through camo better, and that late in the war it was known and used.
So Coooool! Well done!! 👍👍
Well done and informative. Thanks!
The Beercan
Plane might have been a Zero killer, if there were any left to fight.
Unbelievable aircraft! The only shortcoming I see small operational range.
I never heard of the F8F and there was Rare Bear in Phoenix in late 1990's - at the only 2 air races at the time in the old Williams AFB. The planes were called the GOLD Class and speeds were over 400 MPH. Rare Bear was a CONSISTENT 461 MPH on a 9 mile radius track. P51s were passed with ease. Awesome site. I wish videos were like they are today. If you could imagine.
I wonder how it might have performed against another what if plane... the F2-G1 Super Corsair?
Rare Bear must have weighed a bit with all those new coats of paint. Wow, 530 knots.
I think it s MPH because 530 knots would be well over 600 mph and I'm not sure thats possible in any piston engine plane even a Tu-95 Bear bomber
@@mikepette4422 Umm yes, ground speed mph I should said, whoopsies. 😎
Because the earth revolves, you go faster in one direction than the other, choreolis effect.
@@mikepette4422 I think you meant prop equipped, rather than piston engine. The Tu-95 variants turboprop powerplants range from the prototypes at around 9,000 to over 15,000HP.
*528 mph with a Wright R3350*
Absolutely stunning plane. There were many beautiful planes during WWII-
Thank you, I never knew about the F8F Bearcat.