Grumman F8F Bearcat US Navy Superprop!

The Grumman Bearcat may have missed the action in WW2, but it took piston engine performance to a new level and held climb records against jets for about 10 years!

In this video we will go over the planes technical features, both the good and the bad.

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[jimmahon]

I recall somebody asking Neil Armstrong what his favorite airplane flown during his career was. Without hesitation, he grinned and simply said "Bearcat." The F8F was by no means a perfect airplane, but it was apparently a great winner of young fighter pilot hearts!

[jimfisher]

The accounts I have seen of the Bearcat's 94 seconds to to 10, 000 feet indicate that two flights were conducted by US Navy pilots flying F8F-1's at the Cleveland air races. The times were something like 96 seconds and 94 seconds. The planes were modified only by defeating some of the interlocks that limited take off power. The planes were further helped by taking off into a 30 mph head wind allowing the gear to be raised quickly.
However there was a major difference in the plane's condition compared to the Navy performance test. The actual Navy test report indicates that the plane was in a "combat" condition for a normal fleet defense mission carrying 1110 pounds of fuel and about 300 pounds of ammunition. The rate of climb in this condition at sea level was 5610 fpm. The planes at Cleveland were probably carrying no ammunition and only a minimum amount of fuel. This would save around 1100 pounds of weight and add tremendously to the rate of climb with no major change to the airplane.

[josephmarciano]

I had a Flight Instructor in the 90s who flew USN Bearcats in the 1950s. He said, you never pushed the stick over on takeoff because the prop clearance was so tight. "Apply power and just let'er fly off . . .and she climbed like a homesick angel."

[klwnkiller]

That Bearcat at 29:38 is I believe the one I fueled up when I worked at a small airport in Farmington New Mexico in the the 1970s. That plane and a Mustang stopped there on their way to the Reno air races for fuel. After fueling, they took off and the Mustang was granted a low pass over the airstrip at full speed... Awesome.

EDIT: I had a guy ask me to build a model for him of a plane his uncle flew. He gave me a home movie on disk that he had. It was in color and was of an airshow in Texas. It had several Bearcats, Hellcats, Twin Mustangs, Buccaneers and a flyby from an early B-36 (no outboard jets) and other late 40's - early 50s planes in it. It is dated 1950 and all the planes are still in US Navy markings so it may have been from a Navy base airshow. I haver never posted to YouTube but I might have to do it just to share this video with every one as it is really cool.

[mannyg]

Hands down your videos are the most detailed aircraft reference. Viewers do not know how time consuming the research takes to put a video such as this together. Thank you for posting.

[whosiskid]

Awesome video.

On a side note with a dollop of trivia, I've been obsessed with Jimmie Thach for a number of years. His contributions to the Navy from the early 1930s (when he was lent out to MGM to fly what was supposed to be Clark Gable's plane in the film Helldivers - Google Thach and Gable to get a great photo of Thach and other naval pilots alongside Gable and Wallace Beery) throughout the decade as a test pilot, in which role he literally became the first navy pilot to fly a Grumman aircraft in the competition that ended Boeing's previous dominance in producing planes for the service. In the lead up to WW II he both trained and easily out flew all of the pilots who became the leading naval pilots of WW II, including Butch O'Hare (his preferred wingman and only pilot who made him work in a dogfight), David McCampbell, and Alex Vraciu. Prior to the start of the war he developed his Beam Defense (later redubbed "The Thach Weave"), which Bull Halsey refused permission to implement as a standard tactic. But at Midway, with nearly the entire Japanese CAP swarming Thach and the two Rookie pilots flying with him, he ordered them to implement the Weave. For over 15 minutes the entire CAP struggled to shoot down Thach and his two rookies (after the final American torpedo plane had been dealt with), so that when the dive bombers arrived, they were astonished to discover no defending Japanese fighters. At Midway, however, Thach was 37, and upon returning from combat was put in charge of producing training materials for new fighter pilots. Working closely with Walt Disney (I mean, the studio, but also the man), he wrote, provided technical aid, and narrated ten short films for use in training (most of these films can be found on YouTube). Late in the war he became Admiral John McCain aide (that's the grandfather of the senator), under whom he planned and oversaw those gargantuan thousand plane raids of Japan and designed the "Big Blue Blanket " defense against the kamikaze. After the war he became a carrier captain, ending that part of his career as captain of the Midway class carrier USS Franklin Delano Roosevelt. From there he went on to create the anti-submarine branch of the Navy (an award with his name is still given to the ship or unit in the branch most exemplifying the goals of the service).

So here is the trivia. In the 1960s, in one of Thach's final assignments (he had long been an admiral at this point), he was put in command of the aircraft acquisition department. He had two major achievements in this role. The first was to put the final nail in Defense Secretart Robert McNamara dream of making the F-111 the main fighter for all branches of the US Military. With his background, he was able to explain why the F-111 could never become an effective carrier-based aircraft. And following that, he oversaw the specs for a next-generation fighter for the Navy, to replace the F-4 Phantom. The aircraft that eventually fulfilled the specs was the F-14 Tomcat. Quite a career.

[WarRaven]

How on earth did i miss this channel.
Great content

[TRAjim]

Thanks Greg I was hoping you’d do this plane. I would also love to see one on the F7F Tigercat.

[tonyzender]

These videos are great for answering questions that always plagued me, specifically about what was used in Korea and why. Why Corsairs instead of Bearcats? Range, payload, reliability, durability . . . Why P51s instead of the obviously superior P47 for ground attack? Unit cost and availability are what I recall from your P47 series. Outstanding work.

[patrickshaw]

The F4U-5 had TWIN right angle first stage centrifugal superchargers (one on each side) and both "turned backwards" (opposite the rotation of the landing gear wheels). This necessitated mirror image blower wheels and volutes.
Luke Hobbs was the genius in charge of testing and development of the 2800 (when I was little I met him and shook his hand)(Postwar my Dad worked for PW here in KC).
In Hartford where and when they were testing the first -34 engine a tremendous amount of racket and heat and hardly any boost came out of the huge fancy supercharger.
Mister Hobbs heard the commotion from his office, walked swiftly down to the test cell and motioned the boys to shut it down.
"Fellas I think we got the blower wheels swapped side-to-side." was all he said - and he was right : D

[fondueset]

My Uncle actually joined the marines to fly this badboy. He did, but also went to Korea in F9fs, F2hs, F4u s. He did fly all the ww2 Grummans. His description of the Bearcat's acceleration is obscene.

[martinfriedrich]

Exceptional. I have listened to this multiple times especially whilst reading “Devotion”

[johngilbert]

My dad attended an air show in the late 40s an F-80 Shooting Star and a F-82 Twin mustang raced in a dive leveled out over the runway and climbed out off the end of the runway. The F-82 out ran the F-80 until they started to climb out. This proves what you were talking about with the jet, as it accelerated down the runway it's engine got into the power curve and overwhelmed the prop plane. Every time you produce one of these I always learn something usually many things due to the angle of your presentation. Thanks john g

[mattgbarr]

This truly is the best YouTube channel, and it's not even a close competition either.

[guaporeturns]

Love all the superprops.. Fury, Bearcat, Tigercat, super Corsair, “super” Mustangs.. all of em

[jean-mariejm]

The Bearcat is the plane that impressed me the most at Duxford air show. So powerful and fast

[TMFE]

Great video as always Greg.

The Sea Fury is one of my favourites, but looking forward to a super-prop series

[interman]

It just makes you realise how superior the Corsair was and what they achieved with basically the same engine .I always thought the Bearcat was the pinnacle of prop airplanes, but it wasn't.

[edwardsmith]

I thought it was interesting that the F8F was in the same ballpark size wise as the 2 German contemporaries, but had much more wing surface area.
Thank you for another great video !

[emersoncaicedo]

I love these videos. As a WW2 aviation enthusiast, I thank you Greg for the invaluable insight and knowledge you bring to these videos. I always learn something new.