Grumman Ironworks - Hellcat and Tigercat and Bearcat - Oh My!
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- Опубліковано 3 січ 2014
- Made to accompany article here:
allthingsaero.com/general-avia...
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HistoricFlight
FlyingHeritageCollection
Historic Flight Foundation has two incredible Grumman aircraft among its collection of airworthy vintage aircraft, a Grumman F7F Tigercat and an F8F Bearcat. These two aircraft are flown regularly and put on a really incredible show. HFF founder John Session pilots the Tigercat and Carter Teeters pilots the Hellcat and Bearcat.
Literally across the runway, Paul Allen's Flying Heritage Collection flies their newly restored (completed in early 2013) Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat. This aircraft is also flown by Carter Teeters.
Two other aircraft make a couple appearances, HFF's P-51B Mustang "Impatient Virgin?" and FHC's Mitsubishi A6M3-22 "Zero" as flown by Kevin Eldridge. - Авто та транспорт
The Cats of the Navy are my favorite planes from World War 2. All the Pacific Theater aircraft are incredible.
Tigercat and Bearcat what a symphony of awesome sound! Thanks for sharing this aural and visual feast.
JD Duvenhage c"
Watching those two, lifting off from the runway is a pretty impressive sight. For someone with a rudimentary understanding of the workings of the radial engine, it's absolute glory.
The guy that gave me my instrument rating was a hell cat driver in ww2!!. Man was an library of knowledge and I gleaned all I could from him...
Nothing sounds better than that big Pratt and Whitney R2800 radial engine.
I'm a Corsair fan myself, but keep the cats flying!👍🇺🇸
I love the sound of these old war birds.
Well done 👍
Choose your favorite- Augh.. The Tiger is magnificent in every way, BUT she's an enormous silhouette target. The Bear would be the better option, if you were going into a combat mission.
Imagine these as a personal a/c?...
Turn along of heads for sure!
Nice trio
Just missing a Wildcat and an Avenger!
I wonder if when he was alive, if Mr. Grumman knew the huge impact his aircraft has had on the history of Aviation. It helped America Win World War 2. These two Aircraft are WINNERS! I think of the Tigercat and the Hellcat as I would with the F-15 and the F-16. They were ahead of their time, although the Tigercat was a bit late but no less par excellence. The only thing the Tigercat needed to improve on was its landing gear as to Carrier landings and stronger frame. Its a lease to see these two Aircraft take off and land.
Well being from over the pond l would obviously favour the Spitfire , Tempest , Fury and Mosquito. BUT ! The Wildcat , Hellcat, Bearcat and last but not least the gorgeous Tigercat are supreme pieces of American engineering that may be equalled but never beaten ! Were they drop tanks on the Tigercat? Thankyou
Perspective of the pilot is not equal to the perspective of the camera op, on the ground...
F16 is more maneuverable than any other jet out there…they said that the Zero would out turn the F14 Tomcat…but they didn’t factor in the F16…would have made dog food out of the Zero…no competition at all…F 16 is all around best fighter jet of all…
The Bearcat and Tiger cat would have decimated anything from Germany….like shooting fish in a barrel….along with the SeaFury….all too late…
Jesus Loves You
That 'bad kitty' is a bit too pc imho.... :-/
3 of the best fighters. To ever grace the sky. The F6F Hellcat that won the pacific war. THE F7F Tigercat that had more power than it could use . The F8F bearcat that came a little too late to prove it was a top drawer fighter. What do they all have in common.? They all had the AWESOME PRATT &WHITNEY R2800.DOUBLE WASP ENGINE. The very same one in the REPUBLIC P47 T BOLT that broke the luftwaffe back over Europe. NOTHING like a big reliable radial engine. Inline liquid cooled engines pale in comparison.
One of my memorable life experiences happened in 1986 when we were in Michigan on vacation. We went to the Kalamazoo Air Zoo in the morning and saw all kind of interesting things. There was a ladder so we could inside a P 47. That cockpit is Hugh, half again as big as any other fighter. The museum also was the only place at the time where a sample of each Grumman Cat is located. We were invited to come back in the afternoon when they were going to fly them all for a photo op.
Late afternoon when the light was low, an elderly slight man with a grey crew cut appeared and got into the F4F. They said he was a WW2 F4F pilot. Some the rest of them came out and fired up the cats. A B25 went first with tail guns removed and replaced by a camera. We saw them all take off in turn and fly away. Pure excitement coming from a Navy family.
First time I was at the K'zoo Air Zoo all the cats were off at an air show somewhere. On my second visit some years later they were all there and they said they didn't fly them anymore as the insurance cost was too high. So glad I got to see them in person, though.
Long live the "IRON WORKS". Mr.Grumman knew how to get his people to build planes and he knew how to take care of his people. F6F - THE ACE MAKER.
Beautiful planes. I love that deep blue color of WW2 naval aircraft.
That Tigercat is just so awesome looking.
Looking at it from head on kind of reminiscent of the P-38 lightning with a very slimmed down cockpit .
What beautiful planes - and extraordinary restorations! Well done.
Can never get enough of those Bearcats, love them.
An excellent video of 3 classics. Thanks for sharing!!!
Outstanding audio and photography. Thank you!
Awesome "cats". Fantastic sound of the low blower on the Hellcat. Great video, thanks.
I confess to being a fan of the V12s, Spitfires, Mustangs yeah and the BF109 too. They sing! But for the sound of raw POWER, you can't beat a big radial- unless of course it's multiple big radials!
And a big tuned propeller like they have on the F 4 U Corsair . Propellers so big they had to put gull wings on it to get the nose up in the air so the propeller wouldn't hit the ground . The radio engine doesn't do much for the aerodynamics but they sure crank out the horsepower.
Fantastic, thanks for posting this.
The Zero and the "Zero Killer" , nice ! Thanks for posting and God Bless .
Well put, I was thinking the same! Look how much larger the F-6 is! Just pure American power!
Beautiful sound!
I love your footage. Always the best.
Thank you!
Love seeing these Old girls strutting their stuff great vid :D
~Really~ nice video. I love going up to PAE to watch all the wonderful restorations based there.
What's not to love? I greatly enjoyed, thnx!
F7 and F8 2 great aircraft that never got the chance to prove themselves in combat
beautiful!
The Hellcat and Bearcat both use the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine. I love hearing the roar of them because it makes me think of some of the greatest air battles in history, which were fought by Grumman aircraft such as the F6F Hellcat and F4F wildcat.
gcwcab1994 p47 thunderbolt same engine with some exra's and f4u corsair same engine
Bethpage Boiler-Works forever! My dad flew S2-s for nearly a decade before they finally retired them....
That freaking bearcat leaps of the line like it cant wait to get back into the air! I love out air heritage!
Horrace Foster the f8f bearcat had the same engine as the f6f Hellcat. The airframe was smaller and significantly lighter. It was really the First Fleet defense fighter ever fielded by the United States Navy. Unfortunately it was just too late for World War II.
If the war had not ended when it did, there would have been several squadrons of Bearcats aboard carriers for the invasion of Japan. Same with the Douglas AD Skyraider, the replacement for the TBF/M Avenger and SB2C Helldiver.
@@JohnRodriguesPhotographer Yeah air war history would have been a LOOOOOt different, I used to be a mustang fanboy till I learned about the cat history, I still love it, but the cats and their develpment is so interesting!
@@patrickmccrann991 The skyraider, during Vietnam war and korea, what a beast!!!!!
SICK!!!!!!!!'
Love it
Bad Kitty OH MY, what a fitting name!
I love jet fighters, sleek and sexy, fast and high tech but the sound of that Pratt&Whitney piston engine or RR Merlin and Grifon in Spitfires is something else...
WOW, DOUBLE WOW!!!
Best cat video on the internet
So cool😃😃
Awwwwwwwww yeeeeah! here in mukilteo :)
Would like to know the history of Bearcat 106. Looks like it is flying the colors of South Viet Nam on its tail. There was a Bearcat that stood guard outside the VNAF Club outside Tan Son Nhut AFB. Heard a rumor that it was back here in the USA and restored. Could it be the same airframe?
Does the tigercat have external wing locks for the things?
Love those Cats.
Grumman; "Let's see what we can do with the R2800..."
Dont forget the grumman g164 agcat. Bad as plane!
I wish they had printed the names of the aircraft on the bottom of the screen as they appeared on the screen.
It's all part of the aircraft recognition challenge. F7F Tigercat is the twin, F8F Bearcat has the bubble canopy, straight wing and white "A" on the tail, and the F6F Hellcat has the gull wing, turtle deck, and white ailerons and stripes on vertical stab. The one with the big red circle is the Zero. ;-)
Hello - I'm interested in licensing some of your footage. What is the best way to contact you? Thank you!
+Andres Rocha Hi Andres... I responded to your e-mail earlier this afternoon. Looking forward to working with you.
cub cat growls
Curious that this TigerCat 'Bad Kitty' does not have counter-rotating props.
Off the top of my head right now, the only one of this era that did was the P-38. The blades turned up and away from the cockpit, making it a very stable shooting platform, but unpleasant in the case of a single engine failure.
they say the p-38 was a little harder to maintain But they said it was quiet in the cockpit ,,,being quiet means alot P-38 would be one of the best to own for civilian... we can only dream right! my dad and uncles and there friends were in the war my dad seen alot of planes.. South Pacific U.S Navy 1942 ****====
Philip Chou simple, the only twin engine WWII fighter aircraft to utilize counter-rotating props was the P-38. not even the Black Widow had them.
the tiger could lift as much as a B-17 but nowhere to put the load...
F-6 Hellcat shot down more enemy aircraft than any other U.S. fighter in WWII! Remember the Marianas turkey shoot? Mostly F-6 Hellcats, and complete domination by the U.S. Navy! Usually the F-4U Corsair got all the credit because of the Gull wing and how awesome it looked. The Japanese did call it the whistling death and for good reason! P51,P38,P47, F6, F7F, F8, F4U were all great American fighters of WWII! We sure started out with some losers though! For you veterans out there, remember the A-1 Skyraider? It came out the last year of the war, and went on become one of the most successful air frames of all time! Americans have always known how to make the best aircraft! I know the P51 had the British Merlin engine, but the air frame was ours. What do you think America, with the planes listed above, who would win in a fight? The U.S. Navy, or the U.S Army? The Army went up against stiffer competition, and that P51 sure was fast! The P47 could take a licking and keep on ticking and had eight fifty cals. The P38 wasn't called the fork tailed devil for nothing, both the Japanese and the Germans hated that plane!
I didn't know that @ soaringtractor, thank you for the info! You learn something new every day! Best regards to you sir!
I even like the p 40 warhawk with a good pilot it did a Nice job
The Hellcat often takes top honors with me, as being about my favorite looking and sounding Aircraft. Yes that's right, The F6F Hellcat, by me, "always counted amongst the more glamorous and nostalgic Fighters of WWII"! Check out that view of it landing!
F6F Hellcat and F8F Bearcat are the correct designations not F6 and F8. The Army and Navy had two different designation systems for aircraft until 1962 when the current system was created. The first "F" indicates the type of aircraft, fighter. The number indicates the company model number of the type. The second "F" indicates the manufacturer of the aircraft, "F" being the letter assigned for Grumman Aircraft. Hence; F4F, F6F, F7F, F8F, and TBF. FM1, FM2, TBM were Wildcat and Avengers built under contract by General Motors, "M" the letter for GM.
Wasn't the A-1 when first built as that was the new designation after 1962. The original designation was AD, built by Douglas, to replace both the TBF/TBM Avenger and the SB2C Helldiver. It could serve as both a dive bomber and torpedo bomber with superior performance in either configuration. The Skyraider never saw combat action in World War II, but served extensively during Korea and Vietnam.
Grumman: Because pilots don't need to see behind them
I just realized the F7F is the american version of the Ki 45 or ki 102
*BEARCAT*
EscapeforMankind Thanks for that.
Let's see... 100 mph slower, 10,000# lighter and could not defend itself against the P-40 - - Not likely that Grumman chose the 'Nick' to emulate !
Tiger cat was a night fighter that saw Pacfic service late in the war. It had a load of firepower...2,20mm and 4,50cal BMGs.
I have been a ran of Grumman A/C for too long to acknowledge. I have been wondering how much action did the F7F see during WW2. I know it came out late in the war, so I'm not certain it saw a lot of action.
Ran? Ran? How in the world did my fingers hit the r instead of the f key. I meant to say fan of Grumman A/C. LOL.
drivernjax
Hate it when I do that too... because it was taking so long for carrier qualifications it never did see any action during WWII.
drivernjax I believe it saw action over Korea or Vietnam as a night fighter
Fight to Fly Photography
It's too bad that the 7F7 never saw action during WW2. It would have been only the third twin engine fighter the American forces employed. The others being the P-38 and the P-70/A-20. The A-26 was used occasionally as a "fighter", but it never actually received a P designation.
*****
You forgot about the P-61 night fighter.
helllcat handled the pacific
Yes it did!
True, but the Bearcat, when it finally arrived in theatre, was the best and finest Gruman carrier fighter of all.
I fly just a cessna 150.....i wonder the hellcat can fly on one engine ? It looks wing heavy 🤔
The Hellcat flys very well on one engine. Probably did so most of its career.
In fact, to me the Tigercat seems like a copy of the A-26 and even a cousin to the German He-111.
Hellcat: another Butt Ugly carrier fighter but at least it had enough POWER to be a winning fighter, and in WW2 aerial combat SPEED was the deciding factor. WW1 style 'dogfights' were rare; it was get the jump on an enemy formation and kill them before they killed you. For all our romantic notions of knights in the sky, it was largely a matter of pilots who had the guts to go against the enemy as part of a mass attack. Being good helped, being lucky and smart helped more.
Russ G Hellcat, ugly? You're a monster. :-p
Seriously, that is one beautiful sum' bitch
What's the Lightning doing with the Cats?
Victor Palamar Where's the Lightning?
The Lightning is the twin -engined, twin tail fighter produced by Lockheed and named P-38 Lightning!
I know what a P-38 is, I was asking where it was in the video.