F8F-1 Standard Characteristics... A genuine monster

[DaveBB]

F8F had a strange wingtip design.  They were designed to break off under high-g's.  But in the few instances in flight where they did break, usually only one would break.  So they set about putting explosive charges on the wingtips.  A ground crewman was killed doing maintenance on an F8F so they did away with the explosive charges.  Weird concept.

[Widewing]

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?

The F8F was the fleet interceptor... When the Korean War broke out, the Navy had already accelerated the deployment of jets. When the F9F-3 began to deploy to fleet carriers, the F8Fs were sent ashore or sold off. And yes, there were a lot more Corsairs in service than Bearcats, although the Navy and Marines had 37 total squadrons equipped with -1s and -2s. The French Navy bought about 200 of them and they saw extensive combat in SE Asia, where they were highly effective.

[DaveBB]

An unusual design feature incorporated into both prototypes and production aircraft was the provision for breakpoints at the wingtips. Thus, if a pilot exceeded operating g restrictions, the outboard 3 ft of each wing would fail near simultaneously, thus maintaining symmetrical configuration. Not withstanding earlier tests with a modified F4F-4, the so-called 'Safety Wing Tip' was not as safe as expected. Following a December 1945 accident in which an F8F-1 crashed after only one breakaway tip seperated during violent manuevering, the fittings were modified and brazier head rivets replaced countersunk rivets in the 251st and subsequent aircraft. Notwithstanding a later modification providing for the use of explosive bolts to ensure simultaneous seperation of the tips, the breakaway tips continued to be a source of concern. In 1949, a service change provided for local strengthening of the wing to eliminate the breakpoints."

Grumman Aircraft: Since 1929 Rene Francillon, page 244-245

[BaDkaRmA158Th]

Thank you so much for your wisdom over the years WW, much much appreciated good sir. 


On a secondary note, i call my cat eff' eight eff, bear cat. "his names really smokey the bear, bear for short"
If anyone would ever ask me what aircraft i could take into battle, it would be the F8f.



And shuddup, i have a black and white lab, so im clearly a dog lover too.

[glzsqd]

I want the f4u5 if I gotta deal with this thing.


But in all reality I would love to get a picture of myself in a f4f killing a bearcat.  Almost as satisfying as bringing down a b29 with a p40c or killing a 262 with a ju87.

[lyric1]

[Debrody]

Grumman set out to take Kurt Tank's design concept to the next level, and they surely did....

I dont know much about this plane, but it looks like a love child of a 190 and a Hellcat.

[Saxman]

I want the f4u5 if I gotta deal with this thing.


But in all reality I would love to get a picture of myself in a f4f killing a bearcat.  Almost as satisfying as bringing down a b29 with a p40c or killing a 262 with a ju87.

I wonder what could have been made of the F2G had development continued and Goodyear had the time to iron out the problems in the design.

[Nefarious]

The F8F was the fleet interceptor... When the Korean War broke out, the Navy had already accelerated the deployment of jets. When the F9F-3 began to deploy to fleet carriers, the F8Fs were sent ashore or sold off. And yes, there were a lot more Corsairs in service than Bearcats, although the Navy and Marines had 37 total squadrons equipped with -1s and -2s. The French Navy bought about 200 of them and they saw extensive combat in SE Asia, where they were highly effective.

(Image removed from quote.)

Yeah, just seems like it would have seen success in the same role as the Corsair. Nearly the same payload; It's also smaller than the Corsair, seems like it would be a plus for CV deployment over the Corsair and would be a much harder target to hit.

[glzsqd]

Yeah, just seems like it would have seen success in the same role as the Corsair. Nearly the same payload; It's also smaller than the Corsair, seems like it would be a plus for CV deployment over the Corsair and would be a much harder target to hit.

Corsair was just more available than the f8f by the time the Korean war broke out. Not like you need the latest and greatest when what you already have will be sufficient. You could also argue that the Corsair was a war tested and proven air frame while the Bearcat was a brand new design.

Always loved the idea of the F2G, but I'm not to familiar with it. Anyone have any details on how far prototype designs got or how close it came to production?

[Saxman]

There were five of each type built (land-based F2G-1 and carrier-capable F2G-2). According to Wiki there were lateral control issues and speed wasn't up to expectations, though the civilian racers seemed to have eliminated these issues so it wasn't something that couldn't have been fixed.

However in the post-war climate there wasn't need to further development.

[DaveBB]

One version of the F4U, which was an armored ground attack version, could not even break 300mph.  Edit: Found the name  F4U-AU.

[Widewing]

One version of the F4U, which was an armored ground attack version, could not even break 300mph.  Edit: Found the name  F4U-AU.

The AU-1, redesignated from F4U-6, was capable of 390 mph with all of the external bomb and rocket racks installed. It had less HP that the F4U-5, but a lot more armor.

http://www.avialogs.com/en/aircraft/usa/vought/f4ucorsair/au-1-corsair-standard-aircraft-characteristics-1-june-1953.html#download

[Arlo]

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.)

It would need a whole new arena. The 'World at war 1946' arena.'

[glzsqd]

The AU-1, redesignated from F4U-6, was capable of 390 mph with all of the external bomb and rocket racks installed. It had less HP that the F4U-5, but a lot more armor.

http://www.avialogs.com/en/aircraft/usa/vought/f4ucorsair/au-1-corsair-standard-aircraft-characteristics-1-june-1953.html#download

Pretty sure it carried some of the first air to ground missiles.