F8F-1 Standard Characteristics... A genuine monster

[Widewing]

421 mph at sea level, better than 5,600 fpm climb with full fuel load... If it were introduced in Aces High, it would need a huge perk price.

[GScholz]

I want it... Badly!

[bozon]

421 mph at sea level, better than 5,600 fpm climb with full fuel load... If it were introduced in Aces High, it would need a huge perk price.

(Image removed from quote.)

You forgot to mention 4x20 hizookas...

[mbailey]

Give one of those to Greebo......It would be like Bruce Bannor turning into the Incredible Hulk 

[Wiley]

Give one of those to Greebo......It would be like Bruce Bannor turning into the Incredible Hulk 

 

Although it's a plane I'd love to see, it would be a horror show for anything else and definitely need to be perked, probably even higher than the 262.

Wiley.

[-ammo-]

Tempest killer.  That thing would be a hoot in the MA but would never find a slot in an event.

[BnZs]

I bet the torque if you slammed on full-WEP while slow would surprise and throw a lot of people off though.

Bring it, perk it, hot rods attract the masses and people need more stuff to spend points on anyway.

[Widewing]

Mike Williams has the entire document up on his site....

http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/F8F/F8F-1_Standard_Aircraft_Characteristics.pdf

[Widewing]

One other fact to keep in mind... The F8F-1's turn radius was just a few feet greater than that of the FM-2. It's actually a bit smaller than the FM-2.

The best description of flying the Bearcat that I've heard, was that it was like flying an angry Bumblebee.

My friend, Chris Fahey, who flies for the Planes of Fame, says that no other prop fighter comes close to the Bearcat in terms of overall performance. He flies the F6F, P-38J, P-51D, P-47G (Curtiss built), P-40 and F4U-1A on a regular basis...

Just think, the Bearcat was in theater aboard ship, just about a week from combat ops when Japan tossed in the towel. Four squadrons of F8F-1s flew the surrender fly-over during the signing aboard Missouri in Tokyo Bay. F7F night fighters were on Okinawa, and the first P-51H Mustangs were beginning flight ops from Iwo Jima at the surrender. More and more F4U-4s were entering combat. I can only imagine what the air war over Japan would have become had the Emperor not decided for peace....  

[Lusche]

Four squadrons of F8F-1s flew the surrender fly-over during the signing aboard Missouri in Tokyo Bay. F7F night fighters were on Okinawa, and the first P-51H Mustangs were beginning flight ops from Iwo Jima at the surrender. More and more F4U-4s were entering combat. I can only imagine what the air war over Japan would have become had the Emperor not decided for peace....  

I guess there would have been very little actual 'air war' anyway. Mostly massive ground pounding by Allied air forces with occasional slaughter of kamikaze waves with a handfull escorts (for the most part badly trained ones).
Even the good old Hellcats, Thunderbolts, Mustangs, Lightnings and so on would have had little trouble to clear the skies. I doubt those new wonder birds would had made that much of a difference in the air war at that time as there was hardly an enemy left for them to shine against.

[Cthulhu]

It was the Bearcat's climb to 10k feet record (from brakes off) that always blew me away.

[Widewing]

It was the Bearcat's climb to 10k feet record (from brakes off) that always blew me away.

A few more facts gleaned from the data sheet...

2,750 HP at sea level in WEP!

Two 1,000 lb bombs on the wings and one 1,600 lb bomb on the center line... 3,600 lb!

I don't think there's a prop fighter in Aces High that has any chance at all against this thing... Assuming equal pilots.

[BnZs]

I don't think there's a prop fighter in Aces High that has any chance at all against this thing... Assuming equal pilots.

What about the Sea Fury?

[Widewing]

What about the Sea Fury?

Toast....  

Sea Fury is rated at 380 mph at SL, and 1/4 less climb rate than the F8F. There's nothing it can do with it down low. Even at altitude (20k), it's only a little faster than the F8F-1, (450 mph, vs 434 mph) and about even with the F8F-2 (447 mph).

Speed is just one part of the equation. The tiny Bearcat makes 300 hp more than the Sea Fury, and weighs 3,000 lb less. Turns circles like the FM-2, but a much faster rate of roll... Grumman set out to take Kurt Tank's design concept to the next level, and they surely did....

[Nefarious]

I'm curious why the USN and USMC gave up on the Bearcat but kept the aging Corsair going into the Korea conflict. Any ideas?

Simple reason, because they had lots of Corsairs left over?