F8F Grumman Bearcat - 1:48 Testors

[Julien]

F8F Grumman Bearcat

1:48 Testors

The story is that the Grumman Bearcat concept came about during a meeting between US Navy Battle of Midway veteran pilots and the then Grumman Vice President Jake Swirbul. Here it was made clear that power and climb rate were important to the pilots. Grumman then spent some time (approx 18 months) analysing carrier warfare in the Pacific before designing the F8F Bearcat.

The specifications for the Bearcat called for it to be able to be operated from the smallest carriers, and to retain the P&W R-2800 engine. The big prop for the engine (measuring 12 4) would require a long landing gear, in order to achieve this the undercarriage used an articulated hydraulic trunion which extended the length of the legs. Additional benefits of this was that when retracted the legs would be housed entirely in the wing, and the wide track helped counteract torque as well as proving a more stable platform for carrier operations.

In order to save weight internal fuel was limited to 160 gallons, and armament was only 4 x 50 calibre machine guns. One unique weight saving concept tried on the bearcat was detachable wing tips. If G force was to exceed 7.5g then the tips would snap off still leaving the aircraft capable of flight, and a carrier landing. Unfortunately while this idea worked under controlled conditions, operationally it was a failure. This lead to situations where by only one tip would come off leading to the possibility of a crash. Grumman tried replacing the tips with ones which could be jettisoned by explosives. This system was stopped after the tragic death of a ground crewman after the tips blew off accidently.

The Bearcat was also the first US Navy aircraft to feature a bubble canopy giving the pilot an unrestricted 360 degree view.

The first production bearcats were delivered in February 1945, with VF-19 going operational in May 1945. However no Bearcat saw any combat in WWII. The first combat would have to wait until 1951 when French Forces were supplied Bearcats for the war in Indochina. When the French left in 1954 28 Bearcats were handed over to the newly formed South Vietnamese Air Force. Another operator in the same area at this time was the Royal Thai Air Force.

A production bearcat would set in 1946 a time-to-climb record of 10,000 feet in 94 seconds from a 115ft take off. This would stand for 10 years before being broken by a modern jet aircraft.

Due to the excellent performance of the Bearcat they became a popular aircraft for air racing. Stock as well as highly modified Bearcats would dominate the races at Reno for a long time after the aircraft were retired by the military. The Bearcat Conquest I broke the world speed record for Class C-1 with a 3KM record speed of 483.041 MPH. This aircraft now proudly rests in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. The Bear cat Rare Bear which was modified with a Skyradier engine set world speed record for Class C-1 with a 3KM record speed of 528.33 MPH in 1989 and broke the 1946 time-to-climb record with 3000m (9842 ft) being reached in 91.9 seconds in 1972.

The Kit
The kit is a re-boxing of an old Hawk kit from the 1960's. As such it is the technology of the time. You get a plastic bag with an assortment of parts in grey plastic. Details are a strange mix of recessed panel lines on the fuselage, raised panel lines on the wings, with recessed areas for the flight controls. The fabric areas for the control surfaces are actually very well done and restrained.

Construction is fairly simple as too be honest there are not a great deal of parts. The instructions would have the modeller first complete the sub assemblies of the drop tanks, bomb, pilots seat, propeller/cowling and wings.

Next the fuselage is joined together incorporating the very basic cockpit (a floor and seat).There then seems to be a step missing from the basic instructions as step 3 shows the canopy being added. Between step 2 and 3 say step 2a the modeller will have to add the wongs and completed cowling to the fuselage.

To then finish off the landing gear and underwing stores are added. Colour call outs throughout are given in FS numbers and Testors own brand numbers.

Canopy
The clear parts are a little thick, but seem fairly clear. In this kit they were just inside the bag with all the other parts so that the canopy became detached from the sprue leaving a chunk missing.

Decals

The decals for the kit are good. They are by Scalemaster and printed by Microscale. They look good solid decals, in register and glossy. Markings are for two aircraft.

The First is a Bearcat F8F-2 used by the Naval air Reserve at Glenview IL in 1953. This aicraft features the orange tailband as used on Naval Reserve aircraft at the time, this will need to be painted by the modeller.

The second is a civilian version of the bearcat, a G-58A Gulfhawk. Markings are for an overall orange aircraft flown by Major Al Williams. To make this version the modeller will need to make some minor modifications to the kit. These modifications are detailed in the instructions.

Conclusion
Even though its in no doubt that there are more modern and better kits of the Bearcat out there; with some degree of modelling skill this kit should be able to be made into a good looking model. The addition of decals to make a Gulfhawk is a nice touch.

Review sample courtesy of UK distributors for

[Caerbannog]

Cool - Gulfhawk markings are a good reason to buy this...

[Navy Bird]

In the Bearcat volume of the Ginter Naval Fighter series (written by Corky Meyer, Bearcat test pilot) he relates how the design characteristics of the plane were arrived at after Grumman personnel visited the UK in September of 1943 to discuss and fly captured Axis aircraft. The airplane that most impressed them was the FW-190, which became the "benchmark" for the new design to beat. Corky doesn't mention any meeting with USN Battle of Midway pilots - might have happened, but he doesn't mention it in the 217 page volume. Great book, by the way, pick one up if you have some spare cash.

Cheers,

Bill

[Adam Maas]

In the Bearcat volume of the Ginter Naval Fighter series (written by Corky Meyer, Bearcat test pilot) he relates how the design characteristics of the plane were arrived at after Grumman personnel visited the UK in September of 1943 to discuss and fly captured Axis aircraft. The airplane that most impressed them was the FW-190, which became the "benchmark" for the new design to beat. Corky doesn't mention any meeting with USN Battle of Midway pilots - might have happened, but he doesn't mention it in the 217 page volume. Great book, by the way, pick one up if you have some spare cash.

Cheers,

Bill

That meeting occured long after the origins of the G58 project, which dates to 23 June, 1942 and the meeting between Jimmy Thach and other Midway pilots and Jake Swirbull (as detailed above), the actual design work started in early 1943, long before Grumman got to see any captured Fw190's. Frankly the influence of the Fw-190 on the Bearcat design was fairly light to non-existent, the evaluation was more a case of comparing a very similar configuration to the nearly-finalized G58 design. Aside from the close-cowled engine and exhaust configuration and the overall size there's few design similarities between the Fw190A and the much higher performance F8F. The basics of the F8F came from its mission requirements, it needed to be roughly Wildcat sized to operate off Escort Carriers (which the much larger F6F and F4U had issues with) and needed relatively extreme climb performance to allow it to function as a point-defence fighter. Thus the small size, limited armament (on the -1) and limited fuel. Think R2800-powered Super Wildcat more than Grumman Wurger.

The order for F8F production came in November 1943, a couple months after the trip to the UK and it's pretty clear that the basic G58 design was already settled at that point.

Edited April 21, 2013 by Adam Maas

[Navy Bird]

Hi Adam,

Hey, Corky was there during the time the Bearcat was designed. He was one of the test pilots. That alone gives him credibility in my book!

The Wikipedia Bearcat article talks about the meeting with Jimmy Thatch in June 1942, and about Grumman studying air warfare in the PTO for "a year and a half," after which they commenced designing the F8F. That brings the start of the design phase to December 1943, give or take. That jives nicely with Corky's story of the trip to the UK in September. It also fits the order date of November 1943 as well.

Corky states that the design of the "American Focke Wulf" began "immediately on the group's return to the United States." He laments that one feature that was really liked on the FW-190, the automatic, altitude controlled, variable speed, hydramatic supercharger with automatic engine throttle control, was not able to be included on the Bearcat.

He spends several pages in the Ginter volume describing the flight characteristics that the group liked about the FW-190. Corky did not go to the UK, senior tests pilots Bob Hall (who was a test pilot for Gee Bee) and Bud Gillies (former USN test pilot) did, along with LeRoy Grumman. Have you had a chance to read this book? It's really quite interesting. Of course, there were USN requirements to be met, but it's a fascinating story of how the Grumman designers took what they liked best about the FW-190 and incorporated that with the USN requirements (and their own) and created the Bearcat.

This story is also related in the Squadron In Action volume, where it is also stated that LeRoy Grumman personally set the initial design specifications for the new plane. This was done in July 1943, prior to the trip to the UK. LeRoy was most impressed with the FW-190 during the visit to the UK.

None of this seems to support that the design began in early 1943 and was nearly finished in September.

Regardless of the timing of design studies and contract awards, I think it's obvious from Corky's book that the FW-190 had a huge effect on the Bearcat design. When people like Corky, who was there during this time and was himself one of the Bearcat test pilots, makes this case, I have to believe him.

Cheers,

Bill