Can you imagine being on the flight deck of a carrier with a couple dozen of these things with their engines running?

The last time I saw a Bearcat fly was when Frank Bormann brought his personal Bearcat the Airshow at Davis Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona about 11 years ago. He did a low pass over the crowd…magnificent sight. Have a great day!

@teller121

3 ай бұрын

At 84 years of age?!

@Kw1161

3 ай бұрын

@@teller121 I am not sure of his age at the time…but the announcer called out Bormann since he had lived in Tucson before joining the military. I wish that I had known his plane was parked by the runway, but spent my time looking at SR71 and touring thru several cargo and 747 that carried the Shuttle..That Magnesium belt around the stress points on that aircraft was mind boggling. Have a great day!

The most gorgeous prop plane ever created! IMHO

@BB1951

3 ай бұрын

Not even close. the P51 Mustang and the Spitfire are infinitely better looking IMHO.

@leonardlloyd1089

3 ай бұрын

​@@BB1951 Agreed, hands down!

@patrickshaw8595

3 ай бұрын

Certainly the most pugnacious and therefore as masculine as a bald eagle.

@iceman7273

Ай бұрын

North American P-51D and Lockheed constellation are the 2 most beautiful prop planes ever created. Bearcat hands down climbs better.

I read an interview with a former Bearcat pilot. He thought a Bearcat made a Mustang look like a Hurricane and a Corsair look like a Brewster Buffalo.

@barrybristow4646

7 ай бұрын

how true .

@hertzair1186

3 ай бұрын

Neal Armstrongs favorite plane

@wanyelewis9667

3 ай бұрын

Doubtful.

@patrickshaw8595

3 ай бұрын

Sea Fury has entered the chat . . .

The Bearcat was all frickin' business. And gorgeous to boot.

Was lucky enough to see one fly at a Duxford air show many years ago. What a magnificent sight and sound!

The Bearcat held the time-to- climb record for piston fighters for quite a while- sea level to 10,000 agl in 90 seconds ( at or exceeding 4000 fpm).

@mchume65

6 ай бұрын

I read somewhere that it's about a 1000 lbs. lighter that the Hellcat. They omitted the hydraulics for the folding wings among other things.

@brinsonharris9816

3 ай бұрын

Bearcat could outclimb many of the first jets, and it was Neil Armstrong’s favorite of all the types he flew. When that list includes the X-15 and a Saturn V, that’s a great machine.

@patrickshaw8595

3 ай бұрын

USA was well up into the Century Series Jet fighters before it got anything that was quicker from brakes locked to 10,000 feet. I think it was the 106 that finally beat the Bearcat's 90 seconds. BTW: Lyle Shelton's racing Bearcat called "Rare Bear" was converted to Curtis Wright R-3350 power. It goes to 10K AGL in only SIXTY seconds . . . quicker than the Phantom II jet !

@patrickshaw8595

3 ай бұрын

@@mchume65 Two of the .50 cals also. Let's face the Bearcat is a DC6 engine empennage (French for "enclosure") with a plexiglass bubble wings an a tail.

@ervinthompson6598

3 ай бұрын

@patrickshaw8595 Corkey Fornof- that flew the Bede jet in Octopussy - was trained in the Bearcat, among other warbirds- by his father Bill,an F9F Panther ace in Korea... They had a pair of matching Bearcats and flew airshows with them ; Bill's Cat hit a pinpoint thermal at 350 knots during a performance at Quonset Point, RI ,in 1971- Corkey said ," Grumman and the FAA made a big thing and pretty thorough investigation of it" after the spar failed leading to the loss of a wing( Bill never even had time to open the canopy and was killed).... the verdict was that the thermal put the whole weight of the plane on about three feet of the spar at around -7G. The original design called for breakaway wingtips(don't remember why or what for) but they proved extremely problematic so the wings were redesigned without them.

I had seen one of these coming into Camarillo one fine sunny day. It landed after having turned on a dime with flaps and landing gear down. It did a 180 just like that from 1,000' in the sky.

@oambrosia

3 ай бұрын

The Southern California Wing of the Commemorative Air Force has one. They are based at the Camarillo Airport.

Awesome

Never fails to make my hair stand on end. There's nothing like it.

I believe this one is based at the Chino Planes of Fame Museum.

Another unsung hero of WW2. Great sound of the radial

@sidwalters7455

3 ай бұрын

Bearcats did not see service in ww2

@VictoriaCortes1717

2 ай бұрын

Maybe it was unsung because it never saw combat, it left the experimental stage right when the war ended

Sounds nasty! Not smooth but NASTY! I love it!

Probobly the best fighter of WW2 that really didn't see much action.

@terraoftime

7 ай бұрын

It actually saw exactly 0 action in WWII saddly.

@richardmarshall4322

7 ай бұрын

The first deployment of Bearcats were actualy only days away from theatre when Japan surrendered. Had the surrender been a couple of weeks later, Bearcats would have seen action. Great shame in away. Along with the Hawker Sea Fury, these were by far the best performing piston fighters. Sea Fury saw action in Korea claiming a MiG 15 kill. French Bearcats saw action in Indo China (Vietnam).

@brinsonharris9816

3 ай бұрын

Squadrons were converting to the type when Japan finally surrendered.

@thehellyousay

3 ай бұрын

for reasons.

❤❤

R-2800s can be a little cold blooded and temperamental.

@stevehaller6332

3 ай бұрын

Correct very temperamental, I was lucky to see the start up of a Corsair at an air show once. The R-2800 is used in several WW2 fighter aircraft when it is not temperamental on starting it is a smooth engine

I just saw another KZread "What if" thingy about a Corsair Vs. an F6F Hellcat. Some how this Freakin Beast was left out of that conversation. Strikes me as Odd. never made it to War but what a Lady!

no wonder it was despised by pilots.

Fixed or variable pitch prop?

@davidbell1619

7 ай бұрын

No fighter had a fixed prop.

@brinsonharris9816

3 ай бұрын

@@davidbell1619Early Spitfires and Hurricanes did, but only the ones with the 2 blades props. They were probably constant speed variable pitch by the time they flew against the LW.

If the bearcat was so Superior, then why did they choose the F4U to continue production over the F8f?

@essevaikonpaa5184

2 ай бұрын

Doug - F4 u was also a great ground attack plane, F8f was designed as an interceptor only, built to climb and catch Jap fighters! That's why F4 u's were used in Korea! P 47 was also great for ground attack but not used in Korea, possibly because more complex and expensive, high fuel consumption? Jets were preferred for aerial action. Bearcats were used by Blue Angels, anyway great plane, one of my favorites. Saw one fly with P51B at airshow, very impressive, acceleration was unreal!

@Ford_Raptor_R_720hp_V8

Ай бұрын

F8F Bombload: 1,000 lb. F4U Bombload: 4,000 lb.

*The P-47N was an impressive Warbird*

Great fighter slightly too late to see combat in 45, successor to the Hellcat 5 champion of thr WW2 carrier forces. Bearcat superior still.

💞Wow🤍🤍🤍💛💛💛🤍💛

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