Grumman F8F Bearcat US Navy Superprop! 

I recall somebody asking Neil Armstrong what his favorite airplane flown during his career was. Without hesitation, he grinned and simply said "Bearcat." The F8F was by no means a perfect airplane, but it was apparently a great winner of young fighter pilot hearts!

The accounts I have seen of the Bearcat's 94 seconds to to 10,000 feet indicate that two flights were conducted by US Navy pilots flying F8F-1's at the Cleveland air races. The times were something like 96 seconds and 94 seconds. The planes were modified only by defeating some of the interlocks that limited take off power. The planes were further helped by taking off into a 30 mph head wind allowing the gear to be raised quickly. However there was a major difference in the plane's condition compared to the Navy performance test. The actual Navy test report indicates that the plane was in a "combat" condition for a normal fleet defense mission carrying 1110 pounds of fuel and about 300 pounds of ammunition. The rate of climb in this condition at sea level was 5610 fpm. The planes at Cleveland were probably carrying no ammunition and only a minimum amount of fuel. This would save around 1100 pounds of weight and add tremendously to the rate of climb with no major change to the airplane.

Awesome video. On a side note with a dollop of trivia, I've been obsessed with Jimmie Thach for a number of years. His contributions to the Navy from the early 1930s (when he was lent out to MGM to fly what was supposed to be Clark Gable's plane in the film Helldivers - Google Thach and Gable to get a great photo of Thach and other naval pilots alongside Gable and Wallace Beery) throughout the decade as a test pilot, in which role he literally became the first navy pilot to fly a Grumman aircraft in the competition that ended Boeing's previous dominance in producing planes for the service. In the lead up to WW II he both trained and easily out flew all of the pilots who became the leading naval pilots of WW II, including Butch O'Hare (his preferred wingman and only pilot who made him work in a dogfight), David McCampbell, and Alex Vraciu. Prior to the start of the war he developed his Beam Defense (later redubbed "The Thach Weave"), which Bull Halsey refused permission to implement as a standard tactic. But at Midway, with nearly the entire Japanese CAP swarming Thach and the two Rookie pilots flying with him, he ordered them to implement the Weave. For over 15 minutes the entire CAP struggled to shoot down Thach and his two rookies (after the final American torpedo plane had been dealt with), so that when the dive bombers arrived ,they were astonished to discover no defending Japanese fighters. At Midway, however, Thach was 37, and upon returning from combat was put in charge of producing training materials for new fighter pilots. Working closely with Walt Disney (I mean, the studio, but also the man), he wrote, provided technical aid, and narrated ten short films for use in training (most of these films can be found on RU-vid). Late in the war he became Admiral John McCain aide (that's the grandfather of the senator), under whom he planned and oversaw those gargantuan thousand plane raids of Japan and designed the "Big Blue Blanket " defense against the kamikaze. After the war he became a carrier captain, ending that part of his career as captain of the Midway class carrier USS Franklin Delano Roosevelt. From there he went on to create the anti-submarine branch of the Navy (an award with his name is still given to the ship or unit in the branch most exemplifying the goals of the service). So here is the trivia. In the 1960s, in one of Thach's final assignments (he had long been an admiral at this point), he was put in command of the aircraft acquisition department. He had two major achievements in this role. The first was to put the final nail in Defense Secretart Robert McNamara dream of making the F-111 the main fighter for all branches of the US Military. With his background, he was able to explain why the F-111 could never become an effective carrier-based aircraft. And following that, he oversaw the specs for a next-generation fighter for the Navy, to replace the F-4 Phantom. The aircraft that eventually fulfilled the specs was the F-14 Tomcat. Quite a career.

That Bearcat at 29:38 is I believe the one I fueled up when I worked at a small airport in Farmington New Mexico in the the 1970s. That plane and a Mustang stopped there on their way to the Reno air races for fuel. After fueling, they took off and the Mustang was granted a low pass over the airstrip at full speed... Awesome. EDIT: I had a guy ask me to build a model for him of a plane his uncle flew. He gave me a home movie on disk that he had. It was in color and was of an airshow in Texas. It had several Bearcats, Hellcats, Twin Mustangs, Buccaneers and a flyby from an early B-36 (no outboard jets) and other late 40's - early 50s planes in it. It is dated 1950 and all the planes are still in US Navy markings so it may have been from a Navy base airshow. I haver never posted to RU-vid but I might have to do it just to share this video with every one as it is really cool.

Hands down your videos are the most detailed aircraft reference. Viewers do not know how time consuming the research takes to put a video such as this together. Thank you for posting.

It just makes you realise how superior the Corsair was and what they achieved with basically the same engine .I always thought the Bearcat was the pinnacle of prop airplanes ,but it wasn't.

Thanks Greg I was hoping you’d do this plane. I would also love to see one on the F7F Tigercat.

How on earth did i miss this channel. Great content

My Uncle actually joined the marines to fly this badboy. He did, but also went to Korea in F9fs, F2hs, F4u s. He did fly all the ww2 Grummans. His description of the Bearcat's acceleration is obscene.

These videos are great for answering questions that always plagued me, specifically about what was used in Korea and why. Why Corsairs instead of Bearcats? Range, payload, reliability, durability . . . Why P51s instead of the obviously superior P47 for ground attack? Unit cost and availability are what I recall from your P47 series. Outstanding work.

The Bearcat is the plane that impressed me the most at Duxford air show. So powerful and fast

Another ripping episode from Greg .. superb. You know I've often contemplated the pending wonders of Allied airpower had WWII gone on for another 12 months. From the U.S. the Bearcat, F-7, Shooting Star, the F-82, late variants of the P-47 and P-51 etc. From the Brits; the Sea Fury, DH 103 Hornet, Vampire etc. From us Aussies; well not much in the air but on the ground probably more of the same which achieved the first land based victories over Imperial Japan and Germany at Milne Bay and Tobruk respectively. Rock on crew .. rock on.

The F4U-5 had TWIN right angle first stage centrifugal superchargers (one on each side) and both "turned backwards" (opposite the rotation of the landing gear wheels). This necessitated mirror image blower wheels and volutes. Luke Hobbs was the genius in charge of testing and development of the 2800 (when I was little I met him and shook his hand)(Postwar my Dad worked for PW here in KC). In Hartford where and when they were testing the first -34 engine a tremendous amount of racket and heat and hardly any boost came out of the huge fancy supercharger. Mister Hobbs heard the commotion from his office, walked swiftly down to the test cell and motioned the boys to shut it down. "Fellas I think we got the blower wheels swapped side-to-side." was all he said - and he was right : D

Love all the superprops.. Fury , Bearcat , Tigercat , super Corsair , “super” Mustangs.. all of em

Exceptional. I have listened to this multiple times especially whilst reading “Devotion”

The fact that these Bearcats never saw good enough amount of combat in Korea when USN transitioned to the Panther jets as the main fleet air defence fighter. Some even called the Bearcat the rate of climb monster, since the USN emphasized on boom and zoom tactic where the USN fighters would climb into higher altitude than enemy aircraft formation and then pounce on them and then climb up again. I would personally say the true replacement of the F4F Wildcat is the Bearcat, Hellcat was basically a stopgap since the USN needed an aircraft that could keep up with the Zeroes, but there's nothing to brag and not a lot of change from the F4F.

My dad attended an air show in the late 40s an F-80 Shooting Star and a F-82 Twin mustang raced in a dive leveled out over the runway and climbed out off the end of the runway. The F-82 out ran the F-80 until they started to climb out. This proves what you were talking about with the jet, as it accelerated down the runway it's engine got into the power curve and overwhelmed the prop plane. Every time you produce one of these I always learn something usually many things due to the angle of your presentation. Thanks john g

Watching the Rare Bear race at Reno was nothing short of amazing!

Very surprised to learn that the Bearcat has so many compromises, It's one thing to decide naval combat doesn't take place at high altitude, it's really another to decide that the planes max g-loading is going to be 5g's. I guess you said later cats had strengthened wings but the range seems like a real problem even with drop tanks... seems like a kamikazi interceptor design rather than a real fighter.

I thought it was interesting that the F8F was in the same ballpark size wise as the 2 German contemporaries, but had much more wing surface area. Thank you for another great video !

Near the end of the war in the Pacific, the Navy was pushing for outfitting our carriers with interceptor aircraft of the highest-performing types 'to combat the threat of low-flying suicide aircraft'. They worked on the F2G Corsair with the R4360 engine, and a few others. The F8F performance from brake release to practical altitude exceeded all others. The frangible wing tip thing sounds zany now, but at one time, ejection seats were killing almost as many pilots as they were saving. I think Grumman got a chance to build the hotrod they craved, and most knew that jets were coming soon. I think it is important to accept that aircraft designers generally know what they're doing, and Grumman built the fighter with the range and performance the Navy specified. I'm guessing as well that with thousands of neophyte pilots in training, the F8F would be easier to learn to fly on and off a carrier than the F4U. I enjoyed this video, quite educational, and even some of the apples-to-oranges comparisons with other fighters that were designed for entirely different tasks, such as, high-altitude, long-range bomber escort, extended maritime patrol/attack, or fleet-defense standing top-cover patrols.

This truly is the best RU-vid channel, and it's not even a close competition either.

Watching this on a weeknight and couldn't figure out why someone would be using a chainsaw at 10pm. Took me a minute to figure out it was background noise in the video. Still a great video though! Definitely one of the most underrated channels on RU-vid for WWII aviation.

I can just imagine some engineer at Grumman going "No no, I can make this work", even after the Explosive Bolt solution didn't pan out 🤣

The R2800-32W actually had two superchargers for the first stage. The other one was on the other side of the engine which can't be seen in your picture. They were called sidewinders. There is a good picture of the -32W in Graham White's "Allied Aircraft Piston Engines of WWII".

Great video as always Greg. The Sea Fury is one of my favourites, but looking forward to a super-prop series

Just love this plane - along with the Sea Fury. Thank goodness that the need for carrier operations kept these lovely ladies flying into the early jet age.

I saw many Bearcats racing at the Reno Air Races. Your description of the compromises to produce a Kamikaze killer make me glad that the concept wasn't tested in battle. I understand the reasons why early jets didn't match the climb rate of the Bearcat--the jets might be faster, but with "angle of attack" issues they had to fly farther to reach altitude (among other reasons). The Bearcat seemed to have been designed to reduce the reliance on flying a continuous fighter CAP over the task force. I'd need to know more about the successful USN fighter CAP tactics to determine if being able to go from deck to 20,000 feet and then dive on Kamikaze was reasonable. The original armament of the Bearcat was four caliber .50 machine guns with 300 rounds per gun or 1200 rounds total. In combat, machine gun ammunition in fighter planes was often reduced for some missions to lighten the airplane--giving it better climb or more loiter time. I estimate 12 to 15 seconds of continuous .50 caliber machine gun fire with the AN/M2 caliber .50 fixed machine guns or putting out something like 56 bullets in a one-second burst. Britain insisted that the later models of the F4F Wildcat have six machine guns and some of the FM had only five--I've read that US Navy fighter pilots thought that four machine guns were just fine, and that the additional two guns were excess weight. Running out of machine gun ammunition happened in USN service during dogfights but doesn't seem to have been a big deal. The larger 20mm cannon had a lower rate of fire and less ammo (by round count--not by weight) but each hit would do more damage. I think that Grumman wanted the four 20mm (which were not ready for prime time even in 1945) but took the advice of US Navy fighter pilots that four caliber .50 machine guns would be better than six, especially when the weight factor is considered. The later AN/M3 Caliber .50 aircraft machine guns had about 30% faster cyclic rate but wasn't standardized until April 1945. www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/systems/m3.htm#:~:text=The%20M3.50%20caliber%20machine%20gun%20%28also%20referred%20to,while%20it%20is%20being%20fed%20into%20the%20gun. So, if the Bearcat had been armed with the uprated AN/M3, the burst fire from four M3 guns would have equaled the burst fire from six M2 guns more or less, with less weight--but duration of fire would have gone down about a third for the same ammunition loadout. Good thing that the Japanese were not using B-29 bombers with guided bombs to target American ships--though the Betty bomber launching Baka manned bombs might have been a real headache.

Grumman‘s insistence on using the dangerously impractical break away wings reminds me of Ferdinand Porsche's insistence on producing a highly experimental and temperamental electric drive for his super tank in the middle of a war when trying such experiments was totally impractical! It just shows that you can't let the engineers run the show!

Great choice for a video Greg. The Bearcat is a straight up BEAST! Hot, uncomfortable, and about as practical as a funny car. lol But Geez, that thing can climb. A couple of facts: Grumman was so obsessed with weight savings that there was no re-stow mechanism for the arresting hook. It was a simple spring-loaded plunger that ground crew had to shove back into the tail after landing. Also, the windscreen on the F8F-2 was lengthened compared to the -1. Probably to accommodate the new gunsight. It's about as subtle as the changes to the vertical fin, but if you look close you can see it.

I love these videos. As a WW2 aviation enthusiast, I thank you Greg for the invaluable insight and knowledge you bring to these videos. I always learn something new.

Having read the articles by Walter Boyne on the Bearcat. One of the anecdotal story he tells is of a race between the Bearcat and the Mustang as to which was a better plane. They ended up wingtip to wingtip on a runway with both planes at max throttle and, on a pre-arranged signal, both planes released their brakes. Before the Mustang could even get his wheels up, the Bearcat had made one gunnery pass over it and was turning to make a second pass. Lots of money changed hands that day! I believe the Hellcat was the perfect aircraft for its time during WWII. It was fairly easy to fly with no nasty habits. Since many of the pilots coming out flight school only had flight time in planes without the performance of the Hellcat. Thus stepping up to the Hellcat, with its easy of use and no nasty habits gave the young pilots a lot confidence in their planes to ease into carrier training. Plus landing on a carrier was much easier in a Hellcat. Lastly, the Bearcat came out at the perfect time to provide its now experienced pilots with a true air superiority aircraft. I almost wonder what would have happened if the war went on long enough for an invasion. Japan had been hoarding planes enough for massive Kamikaze attacks.

I’ve seen a lot of current warbird pilots fly different WW2 fighters at various fly-days and airshows. John Sessions, Carter Teeters to name a few. The smile on their faces and joy they express after after the high performance of flying the Bearcat is second to none. An ear-to-ear grin doesn’t describe it. Hearing them talk about getting near 70 inches of manifold pressure with awe in their voices is something indescribable.

It was mentioned in another article about the Bearcat, one main reason for its smallness was to replace the F4F Wildcat on the Navy's much smaller "escort carriers" that were fairly extent by the end of WW2, more then totally replace the USN's inventory of its larger fighter-bomber F4U's, etc.

There are anecdotal claims that the Bearcat was seen as a direct replacement for FM-2s on the USN's escort carriers where a shorter take-off run and smaller size was preferred. The lack of range and payload would not have been a practical detriment as apart from fleet defence, the lack of space means you can only take a light external load for CAS missions which escort carriers extensively provided for during amphibious operations. The end of the war saw the mothballing of most of these ships so there was not that much need for the Bearcat in an environment where fleet carriers dominated.

Great video, the Bearcat is one of my favorite planes. One thing that I think should be pointed out about the Bearcat is the wing loading, it is relatively high. The Bearcat's wing area is only 244 sq ft, compared to 314 sq ft in the Corsair, and 334 sq ft in the Hellcat. Even accounting for the lighter weight, the Bearcat still has a higher wing loading than either of them. I strongly suspect that this was yet another design choice made to improve rate of climb. A lot of people don't know that wing loading feed into the equation for maximum rate of climb speed, and consequently see a low wing loading as being a purely good thing. But like everything in aircraft design, it's a compromise. A low wing loading helps with the turn rate, but hurts the climb rate, and vice versa, and it's clear in the case of the Bearcat that they put more emphasis on the climb rate.

Corky Myer, Grumman test pilot, discusses the wingtip explosive testing in his excellent book. It is a fantastic read, he flew everything from wildcats to 60’s jets. He is a great storyteller and has a chapter on flying all of the major types US, English, German and Japanese.

Now that was another high density information video… again. Well Greg, excellent work! Thank you very much! Go ahead and dig in deep into the glorious age of propeller driven marvels.

A real gem, as with all of Gregs' videos, they are very well thought out and presented with an authority that leaves no room for doubt about their accuracy.

Always a joy to listen to your in depth analyses

Another superb video! I have been waiting for this one, and the explanation about the relative costs of Hellcat vs Bearcat is very revealing

I love this channel for these videos. I can not wait to see more! And I admit, I have watched a few of your older videos more than once just to keep things fresh for newer videos.

Great presentation as always. Love to see you do the F7F.

Greg. I can never say Thank You enough. I am a huge fan of WW2 aviation. There have always been gaps that I didnt understand. But your videos have closed these gaps and given me a much better appreciation and understanding. Thank You.

I was thinking the "insane" aspect was the lack of AC not the exploding wings. Lol Edit: yet another excellent video, Greg.

been hoping for this vid, so excited to watch!

Great video. I still love the Bearcat but this makes me realize why it wasn’t used longer. Thank you

Beautiful as always, Greg. Great information and insights. Tickled to see two videos this week. Great work, thanks so much. Grumman was making some serious decisions changes...I think it all worked out okay with the Tomcat...but there were some bumps in the road. Again, great work!

With the growing popularity of this video maybe it's worth doing a series on super props much like your p47 series. I think allot can be learned from the attempts to push propeller driving aircraft to the max and why they have a brick wall in terms of performance. I would love to have more info on the p51h. If I remember correctly with WEP it was pushing over 90inhg manifold pressure. Contra props are a interesting topic that's never discussed in a in depth manor and I would love to learn more about turbo props as well. Great content Greg I will be joining your patreon and I highly recommend any other enthusiast do the same. This info really makes your sims come to life.

My father was a naval aviator winged in 1941. He never flew carrier aircraft but knew many who did. He lost two good friends flying the Bearcats. Both accidents were in -1 and both were essentially the same cause. You had to be careful about power settings on takeoff. The plane would flip over within a few feet of the ground due to excessive torque. My dad says that’s the reason for the -2’s 12” taller vertical tail. Torque control at lower speeds.

45:23 Delivering is missing the V. Excellent episode

Love your videos Greg. Thanks for all your hard work.

Excellent work as always. Thank you

Love the F8 bearcat to bits. Really the apotheosis of piston engine fighters. As a real world pilot I would love the chance to fly one of these. One can imagine an alternate history where the Pacific war lasted into 1946 and these were used for their original purpose: Killing kamikaze’s.

I don't know much about engineering and all, but I love ww2 planes and always love to just listen to you ramble on about this stuff while doing some chores or whatever. Thank you for making these and giving me a fun and relaxing time while listening to you.

Luv the Super Prop info! Thanks Greg

The time and effort that goes in to these videos is superb, Greg is knowledgeable guy.

Perfect timing to watch for dinner this evening, just gotta make something nice.

Whenever I visit the IWM Duxford Museum Greg, I always take time to check out the flying Bearcat in the workshops. I find the cost equation of aircraft quite an interesting subject. I know this might be a little academic in WW2 USA. In Europe it might be a little different. For instance, it is often said the ME109 cost half a Spitfire, a Jumo jet engine half to a third of a V12 ICE engine.

Fantastic video. Thank you Greg!

Love these Super prop vids, thanks

Rock on! Thank you for sharing your time!

Great content, thanks for posting!

When I read the book Devotion by Adam Makos, I was surprised that the squadron originally operated Bearcats, but they changed to Corsairs before going to Korea. It makes sense now. Thanks, great content.

Trivia answer: Japanese pilots, used the generic term ’Grumman’ (グラマン）for the F6F and F4F, but the Mustang was called 'mustang'. In the same way that many American pilots called most of the fighters they saw 'Zeros' the Japanese called most U.S. fighters 'Grumman's. F8F must've been a blast to fly. Closest I ever got to experiencing Bearcat-like climb rates was late one afternoon in a hot-rod Cessna Caravan jump plane. The stock 675 HP Pratt and Whitney turbine had been replaced with 850 HP Garret and the stock 3-bladed prop with a bigger 4-blade unit. The plane's interior was also stripped, so it was both much lighter than stock and much more powerful. This particular flight was the last of the day, there were only two jumpers in back and I had just enough fuel for the one run to 14,000', our normal jump altitude. Anyway, I don't know what the record is for jump planes to 14K, but if I didn't set it that day it was pretty close, as the 'Van was going almost straight up. Can't remember the fpm but it was way more than I'd ever seen before. Flying jumpers is a great job for Walter Mitty-type, wannabe fighter pilots....

Fantastic video! Your presentation has really improved from pure information to dang fine entertainment.

Amazing content Greg! you are truly the GOAT man. I can't wait for the British super props like the Sea Fury, Supermarine Spiteful and SeaFang !

Excellent video with much new information on a plane I thought I knew well. Remember the famous picture of a Bearcat upside down with gear, flaps, and hook down on a waveoff. With all that power and short wingspan, torque roll was an ensign killer. Believe the one in the photo simply completed the roll and kept flying.

There is a Bearcat based at the Duxford Imperial War Museum, UK. If you catch it on a flying day you are in for a real treat!

Another absolute exceptional video!!! Thank you so much!!!!!

This was my favorite plane in Heroes of the Pacific

Can’t wait for mor super-prop videos. Just a fascinating time in aviation and some amazing aircraft.

Loving the super-prop theme, great videos.

I love your deep details!You shall always get my vote!!!!!

I worked for EATON for 10 years. Yes, they did make sodium filled valves for aircraft engines during WWII. I have one stashed in a box somewhere. They also made sodium filled exhaust valves for the aftermarket automotive high performance engines.

As usual, excellent video

Love your work man!

WOOOOOO! I have been waiting for this one

Fantastic video thx a lot for putting these together !!

Yet another informative video Greg. Learned alot more about the Bearcat than I ever could have expected. A hotrod of an airplane but one that was ultimately too little, too late to be of much use beyond it's designed goals. Still its nuts what Grumman did to get what they could out of that airframe.

Thank you for these wonderful videos

@Greg, you need to add Corky Meyer’s “Flight Journal” to your sources, you’ll find the Hellcat to Corsair speed comparaison and the FW-190 influence on Bearcat design.

the variable speed supercharger drive perhaps spawned the later automatic trans used in cars. maybe even the same engineers, so much lost history. thanks for preserving some of it.

Great video. I really enjoyed the way you presented the topic.

Another excellent presentation! Thanks! 👍

I wonder if Grumman should have spent more time developing the F6F-6 (four-propped version). Maybe, even an F6F-7 with a bubble canopy, 4x20mm cannon, uprated R2800, and a four-blade paddle prop would have been excellent for post WWII use.

Your videos and narration is superb. Thank You

Simply an amazing video about a crazy airplane

This channel is ridiculously fantastic.

Excellent job as usual..

More fascinating stuff, Greg. Thanks.

As always, great presentation of a good subject, Greg. I always get a laugh out of your "you will never guess how the engineers solved this problem" segments. I always wonder about the first guy who discovered something like, "the wing tips didn't break off symmetrically, and there was no time to recover." Thank you for this and your many excellent videos.

(28:15) it gets EVEN CRAZIER! LOL! Just a second ago I thought - 'yep, they may link explosives to both wekaneded zones, to ensure they fall off at the same time'.

I grew up on Long Island and Grumman was the largest employer, with Fairchild Republic and with all the parts suppliers, almost everyone had someone in the family that worked in the airplane industry. Today there is nothing left, terrible.

Another great video. Looking forward to the upcoming discussion on British super props and their sleeve valve engines.

Another exellent video, Greg! I must say, I'm sometimes a bit overwelmed with all the knowledge you throw at us. There are multiple video's I had to watch more than once to understand everything you explain. Though I'm enjoying every video you put out there, so please keep it up!

I learned years ago they did something similar with the spitfire. They glued peas to the fuselage to work out where it needed flush riveting and where it didn't. This may have been done initially one the earlier float equiped versions but that's how they did it

Nice work! Well done as usual.

Jeezus Greg, you are a total nut for detail.! With love and best wishes from Oz. And thanks.

Now I really want to see a Cockpit Layout discussion, best and worst. As always, you do a fantastic job!