How Would the F8F-Bearcat...

[Rasker]

according to what few things Ive read about the F8F, it was deisgned to turn as well or better than a Zeke

[Glasses]

I heard the F8F bearcat could  feed starving children in Somalia while traveling at five times the speed of sound, fight the Zentraedi ,and still have time to bring toys to the one legged boy in crutches  named Timmy.  

[Montezuma]

Originally posted by Rasker
according to what few things Ive read about the F8F, it was deisgned to turn as well or better than a Zeke

Why would they care about that? The main thing the navy was worried about was intercepting kamikazes.

[Bodhi]

Originally posted by udet
Bearcat is FW190. try it in AH against a Zero.

Yeah, they compare real well... I suggest you look into actual performance before you continue with this line....

[Frogm4n]

think f4u4 with more acceration and 4 20mm cannon that just tear up everything.

[whels]

Originally posted by F4UDOA
Terror,

The F6F set climb records that were not broken until well into the jet age. And I don't mean a modified strip down one either. I mean with a combat load.

The F8F held the time to climb record till the 1970s when a F16 finally broke it.

Standing start  on runway to 10k  in 93 secs by a F8F.



Whels

[maxtor]

Where did the Komet fit into all this record making business anyway?

[joeblogs]

It's all there.  It was designed before the kamikazees but production was delayed by all those the orders for F6f and TBf.

The engineers knew they could build a smaller more agile plane around the R2800 if they had time.  The only penalty was shorter range and it was never really developed as a fighter bomber.

-Blogs

Originally posted by Montezuma
Why would they care about that? The main thing the navy was worried about was intercepting kamikazes.

[HeLLcAt]

Bueatiful Bearcat's

[28sweep]

I have read that the Bearcat was "Optimized for Climb, Speed and Maneuverability."  Range wasn't a top priority like most of the US fighters.  Fleet defense was its primary intended role.  Apparently the French used it as a Jabo ride against the Vietcong in the Indochina war.  They loved it because it was reliable-it could work from very rough airfields- and it could carry a ton-of ordinance.

[GRUNHERZ]

The French loved any vehicle that was capable of running away from a vietminh soldier on a bicycle...

[28sweep]

I think the French got a bad rap.  Like I said in a previous post.  Liyba invaded Chad in the early 80's and France defended Chad.  It was like 80,000 Liybans vs 3,000 French and the French spanked them.  Also, rember when Algerian terrorists hijaked a AirFrance flight.  French commando's stormed it and killed ALL the terrorists w/out one lost hostage.  Delta-force in the US hasn't able to match anything like that (ask the Iranians).

[Imp]

The French lost in Indochina just like the US.

The French Foreign Legion is one of the best trained unit in the world.