Amazing airplane that doesn't get the credit of many others but when Leroy Grumman was told to take those early WW-II lessons and build the best fighter he could to beat the A6M5 he did so in spades. Can you imagine the surprise of the Japanese if the F8F had made it to the war?
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Man, I wish! The closest I got to that was about 700 hours in the T-28B. The Trojan had less horsepower (1450 or so IIRC) but due to lighter weight was pretty close in some performance parameters but fell well short in top speed.
Those 1400+ HP saved my bacon when one day when, like an idiot, I flew up a blind canyon in Hawaii. It was close and I mean REAL CLOSE, like less than 50' close! To this day I remember the max climb angle airspeed..110 kts
Last edited by navlav8r; 09/04/17.
NRA Life,Endowment,Patron or Benefactor since '72.
For the Hellcat, I always thought it was a real tribute to the design, that unlike other planes that had constant new models to adjust to combat needs and performance...
in the numbers built, the F6F stood alone as the one, that was already "good enough"
for WW 2, you have the F6F-3 and F6F-5....
Combat kill ratio: 19 to 1!
Developed when our country had their Schitt Together.... unlike currently..
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Amazing airplane that doesn't get the credit of many others but when Leroy Grumman was told to take those early WW-II lessons and build the best fighter he could to beat the A6M5 he did so in spades. Can you imagine the surprise of the Japanese if the F8F had made it to the war?
Back in the mid-90s I had the pleasure of working with an ex-F8F pilot... The stories he told.......
Ex- USN (SS) '66-'69 Pro-Constitution. LET'S GO BRANDON!!!
In he mid-1960's, I worked with 2 guys at Mobil Oil in NY. During the war, one flew Grumman F-6Fs in The Pacific and the other flew North American P-51s in Europe. the (good natured) arguments were endless. I always wondered if both planes flew against each other , who'd win!