hope this come out where you can download video--enjoy Ron
1946 Blue Angels - F8F-2 Bearcat
An airplane with a wing span three feet less than the Wildcat and just about
as long with a massive 2,100 HP engine.
Nothing could touch a Bearcat and they were on the carriers sailing to Japan
when Japan surrendered in 1945. A top speed of 447 MPH. A ceiling over 41,000 ft.
Production climb rate was better than 6,000 fpm, the best of any piston-engine fighter.
The Bearcat could out turn any allied fighter and even would turn with an
A6M5 Type 52 Zero. With its fast speed, great acceleration and high climb rate, the
Bearcat was the definitive answer to the Japanese Kamikaze threat.
The Bearcat remained as the Navy frontline fighter into 1952. Why? Because
it out-flew and-out fought the early F-1 Phantom and Banshee jets. Only the Saber Jet,
in its J4 Fury version, could finally catch the Bearcat. Even so, a lightened version of
the F-8-F held the time to climb record from the ground to 10,000 ft. until the
mid-sixties. The Bearcat went from a standing start on the runway to 10,000 ft. in 90
seconds. This rush to altitude was faster than the F-104, the F-100, the
F-102 and all the other early supersonic fighters could manage.
The F8F Bearcat--the last of the big radial engine fighter aircraft!
From brake release, the Bearcat could climb to 10,000 feet faster than the
F-4 Phantom. It took a "stripped down version" of the F-4 Phantom to finally match the Bearcat
climb rate and then by just a few seconds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnMZQATbenM
F8F Fearcat
Moderators: GAHorn, Karl Towle, Bruce Fenstermacher
F8F Fearcat
President 86-88
53 C170-B N74887, people choice 2003, Best original B 2007
46 7BCM champ N2843E Rebuilding stage
Cajun Connection way down south, most of you are yankees to me!
53 C170-B N74887, people choice 2003, Best original B 2007
46 7BCM champ N2843E Rebuilding stage
Cajun Connection way down south, most of you are yankees to me!
Re: F8F Bearcat
no one I know, ever said I could type--pretty much proves it!!!! 
President 86-88
53 C170-B N74887, people choice 2003, Best original B 2007
46 7BCM champ N2843E Rebuilding stage
Cajun Connection way down south, most of you are yankees to me!
53 C170-B N74887, people choice 2003, Best original B 2007
46 7BCM champ N2843E Rebuilding stage
Cajun Connection way down south, most of you are yankees to me!
Re: F8F Fearcat
I once worked with a guy who was a movie stunt pilot, and had flown all WW2 warbirds at one point or another. He said the Bearcat was hands down the best of the bunch. Not only was it the fastest, best power/weight, etc... but it handled the best. Apparently the dirty secret of most of those fighters is that they don't fly very well (heavy on the controls). But the Bearcat uses servo-tabs on the ailerons. The pilot actually "flew the tab", which in turn moved the control surface. This meant the controls were just as light and responsive at 400 mph as they were at 150.
DEM
DEM