Understanding the F8F requires understanding the internal decisions made at Grumman first.
At the time the F8F concept was being formed (long before there was a Kamikazi threat), Roy Grumman, Bud Gillies and Bob Hall made a visit to Britain to discuss fighter designs and get input from the Royal Navy. There Hall and Gillies had test flown a captured Fw 190. Both were very taken with the power management system and the stunning roll rate of the aircraft. Both also liked the excellent system integration of the 190. They didn't like the mixed armament and found the cowl guns an unneeded complication. They were not thrilled with vision over the engine. Neither man cared for the 190s poor stall characteristics, or its tendency to snap stall out of hard turns. Yet both men agreed that the 190 was a remarkably good fighter although clearly unsuited for carrier operation. Both Hall and Gillies felt that the Navy needed a fast climbing, agile fighter that would have superior turn rate to the 190, with better stall behavior (required for safe operation around the ship). Everyone was impressed with the 190's strength and emphasis on designing for easy mass production. Vision out of the semi-bubble canopy glass was also noted as being outstanding.
Upon returning to the Grumman facility, the influence of flying the Focke Wulf deliberately crept into the design process. The result was a fighter small, relatively light and extremely powerful for its size. Improved power controls reduced pilot workload. Initially, Hall found that the prototype was longitudinally unstable and ordered that the stabilizer span be increased by two feet. This improved stability to an acceptable level, although Hall didn't want another Hellcat, he wanted the F8F to be slightly unstable as he thought that this enhanced its agility. Eventually, Grumman adopted a dorsal fillet as well after seeing how much the P-51D improved by its addition (Hall flew the P-51D at the 1944 fighter conference).
Meanwhile, Grumman was proceeding with two examples of the XF6F-6. This was an improved Hellcat, powered by the same R-2800-18W engine and propeller combination flying in the XF4U-4. Performance was very good, out-climbing the XF4U-4 and giving up only about 10 mph in maximum speed. Since the F6F production could be quickly adapted to the revised aircraft, Manufacturing wanted the F6F-6 to go into production immediately. Hall (Director of the Experimental Department) wanted his F8F to get the nod. Arguments were made to Roy Grumman. Grumman, who saw great merit in both aircraft formally asked the Navy to make a decision. Not surprising, there were advocates of both types within the Naval Aviation hiarchy. However, it was determined that the F6F-5 was adequate for the short term as a new production line was set-up for the F8F and the Bearcat was selected.
Had the F6F-6 been selected, Grumman would have been delivering these in large numbers by November of 1944, meaning it would have been in combat no later than January of 1945, months before the F4U-4. Originally, the Navy planned to phase in the F6F-6 as they did the F6F-5, sending them to combat units as replacement aircraft as well as refitting units coming back from deployments. We all know that the F8F didn't see combat, although it was deployed on carriers enroute to Japan at the surrender.
If I had to make the choice between the F6F-6 and the F8F-1, I would have picked the improved Hellcat as this would have placed better aircraft in the fleet sooner. However, I would also have gotten F8F production underway at Eastern Aircraft ASAP, stopping FM-2 production immediately. Of course, the politics of such a decision would not have sat well with Grumman. Eastern did receive a contract for the FM3-1 (F8F-1) in February of 1945, but hadn't yet begun assembly when the war ended (largely because the obsolete FM-2 was consuming much of Eastern's resources). Another reason for selecting the F6F-6 was that the F4U-4 production was slow. Grumman was delivering Hellcats at nearly twice the rate F4Us were being delivered, and the F4U was being manufactured by Vought and Goodyear (and Brewster, until their pathetic delivery and quality control resulted in a cancelled contract). Getting better aircraft to the fleet as fast as possible would weigh heavy in my mind.
My regards,
Widewing
