Al Williams Grumman Gulfhawk 4

[Tony Whittingham]

Hello All,

 I’m just curious. Did Al Williams’ Bearcat have folding wings? I’m told it was stripped of all service equipment, but I’m wondering if the wing folds were just locked down, or was a special fixed wing built without the fold mechanism?

 

TW

[72modeler]

Tony,

 

An interesting query! I did some research, both print and photographic, and I personally don't believe that either of the two G-58's built by Grumman had folding wings. One, because they were civil versions, not military versions of the F8F, they did not need this capability; in fact they were not certified in the 'experimental' category by the FAA, as  almost all ex-warbird single-engined aircraft were. No military equipment was fitted, so both were considerably lighter than their USN cousins- I can only image how much better they performed! Two, in the good quality photos I was able to find of Gulfhawk IV, I could not see any panel lines associated with the folding wing sections- I am guessing the wings for those two civil Bearcats were one piece, from tip to tip. I couldn't find any written confirmation that the folding wing sections were not used, but it's my uneducated guess. Perhaps @Tailspin Turtle might be able to help you with this question. Sure was a beautiful airplane in that orange/white sunburst scheme! 

Mike

[Tony Whittingham]

Thanks 72modeler,

 It also looks to me that there’s no fold. Looking forward to hear any and all opinions on this one. I was planning a 1/32 build. Orange is the new blue! 😊

 

TW

[Tailspin Turtle]

6 hours ago, 72modeler said:

Tony,

 

An interesting query! I did some research, both print and photographic, and I personally don't believe that either of the two G-58's built by Grumman had folding wings. One, because they were civil versions, not military versions of the F8F, they did not need this capability; in fact they were not certified in the 'experimental' category by the FAA, as  almost all ex-warbird single-engined aircraft were. No military equipment was fitted, so both were considerably lighter than their USN cousins- I can only image how much better they performed! Two, in the good quality photos I was able to find of Gulfhawk IV, I could not see any panel lines associated with the folding wing sections- I am guessing the wings for those two civil Bearcats were one piece, from tip to tip. I couldn't find any written confirmation that the folding wing sections were not used, but it's my uneducated guess. Perhaps @Tailspin Turtle might be able to help you with this question. Sure was a beautiful airplane in that orange/white sunburst scheme! 

Mike

I’m just speculating, but I don’t think Grumman would have gone to the trouble (design, stress analysis, tooling, etc.) of making a pair of non folding wings for two civil Bearcats. There wasn’t much weight savings to be had since the wings folded manually (a lever released the locking pins and a bar stuck in a hole in the outboard panel used to fold the outboard panel up). My guess is that the paint shop simply puttied over the joint and sanded the putty smooth before painting. Maybe the inboard and outboard panels were physically attached to each other so the hinges and locking pins could be removed but that doesn’t seem worth the engineering effort involved.

[Tony Whittingham]

Hi tailspin turtle & 72modeler,

It seems to me that the easiest solution would be to assume the wingfold was locked down. It is true that we can’t see the joint on the available photos, but I’m not sure that filling the joint had any benefit, as flexure of the wing would inevitably result in the putty spalling off. 

 

Thanks very much for the input, gents! We’ll probably never know the truth of this unless a Grumman employee of that era has the answer.

 

TW