F8-F

[Stoney]

HTC's criteria are pretty cut and dried: deployed in squadron size and had to have seen combat.  F8F doesn't meet that for better or worse.  Of course, HTC makes the rules and can do whatever they want in the future.

Regardless, there are many more needed aircraft that take priority first.

[Bodhi]

I agree with Humble.

This game is about the era, not the specifics of the war.  Bring the F7F to AH2.  It is definitely worth having.

[moot]

And how much would it cost?  At least as much as a 262..

[Stoney]

I'm not sure that it would be quite that dominant.  Perhaps Tempest price or so.  It wasn't a miracle plane, just technology at the crest of piston-powered fighter development. 

[moot]

You think it'd be only slightly better than a tempest?  By better I mean in terms of MA lethality/survivability.

[Stoney]

Well, armament is better, but only because of the extra caliber .50.  Top speed at altitude--obviously faster.  At typical MA altitudes?  Will not turn or maneuver as well, will have comparable/slightly better rates of climb and comparable top speeds.  Like I said, more-or-less the same perk price as a Tempest--my opinion anyway.

[moot]

It does have 4x 50 and 4x 20mm, right? Do you know how much ammo it carried? I'm surprised it definitely doesn't turn or maneuver as well as something as mediocre (kind of a strong word for it) as a tempest and only be slightly better in climbs.  Thanks.

[humble]

Well, armament is better, but only because of the extra caliber .50.  Top speed at altitude--obviously faster.  At typical MA altitudes?  Will not turn or maneuver as well, will have comparable/slightly better rates of climb and comparable top speeds.  Like I said, more-or-less the same perk price as a Tempest--my opinion anyway.

The F7F would run rings around the tempest. This is a plane that is double superior to the F6F and has the best sight lines ever on a prop. View over the nose is exceptional and with 4x20mm and 4 x .50 cal all center mounted its got exceptional lethality. I'd guess it would be about a 100 perk ride.

[Krusty]

It's the US equivelant of Luft '46.

Screw that. Let Ubicrap (I mean UbiSoft) corner that market all they want.

[moot]

The market on WWII era warbirds?

[humble]

It's the US equivelant of Luft '46.

Screw that. Let Ubicrap (I mean UbiSoft) corner that market all they want.

Actually its USAAF 44. The plane was operating operationally on the squadron level in 1944. Thats the entire problem with this. Grumman had both the F6F and the F8F as well as the upcoming F9F and had absolutely no interest in pushing the F7F, especially since Corky Meyer was slotted to be chief test pilot for the Panther. This is an exceptional plane that became politically expendable, it is the exception to the rule IMO and exactly the type of scenario a sim like this can explore...

[moot]

And it's nothing like the oddball Luftwonder 46 designs.

[TOMCAT21]

Compared to the F-6F, the F8F :was 20 % lighter, 30% better rate of climb and faster by as much as 50mph..visibility was almost 360 because of its canopy...in 1946 an unmodified f-8f-1 the time to record of attaining 10000 feet in 94 which stood for 10 years(broken by a jet fighter)...As for the F7F..it carried around 200/250 rds per gun...the cannon were mounted in the wingroots....

[Krusty]

And it's nothing like the oddball Luftwonder 46 designs.

I disagree.

It's exactly like them. Outrageous performance claims, no combat to prove them, and if the war had raged on for another full year (hence the '46) they would have had an impact. Instead the war ended and these planes planed NO part in that end result. The war was won with Hellcats and Corsairs. THAT "fits" the era of WW2. The F7F and F8F fit the post-war ("korea", I would say) era.

The F7F is no more relevant to WW2's "feel" or "era" than the Do355 Pfeil, the Horten flying wing, the cross-continental Nazi jet bomber, and many other Luft '46 ideas. None had any impact on the war, and none saw any legit action during the war (not counting LW prototypes).

[moot]

The F7F, F8F, Horten IX, Pfeil, Tempest, P80, Ta152 and 190D11+, P51H, F4U4, La9, Sea Fury, etc, are the pinnacle of WWII warbird design. Performance claims were outrageous for the F7F? Is that surprising? Didn't Widewing correct you on that, last time around?  Why isn't the F8F surprising; or do you deny its performance too, just because it was late to action by a couple of days ? 
The Ta152 is a late war design, tho unfinished.. Is that one dismissable too?  There's a difference between off the wall VTOL UFOs with guided missiles and the F7F.