+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the model, the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Grumman F8F Bearcat is an American single-engine carrier-based fighter aircraft introduced in late World War II and it was Grumman Aircraft's last piston-engine fighter aircraft.
The Bearcat concept began during a meeting between Battle of Midway veteran F4F Wildcat pilots and Grumman Vice President Jake Swirbul at Pearl Harbor on 23 June 1942. At the meeting, Lieutenant Commander Jimmie Thach emphasized one of the most important requirements in a good fighter plane was "climb rate". Climb performance is strongly related to the power-to-weight ratio and is maximized by wrapping the smallest and lightest possible airframe around the most powerful available engine. Another goal was that the G-58 (Grumman's design designation for the aircraft) should be able to operate from escort carriers, which were then limited to the obsolescent F4F Wildcat as the Grumman F6F Hellcat was too large and heavy. A small, lightweight aircraft would make this possible. After intensively analyzing carrier warfare in the Pacific Theater of Operations for a year and a half, Grumman began development of the G-58 Bearcat in late 1943.
In 1943, Grumman was in the process of introducing the F6F Hellcat, powered by the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine which provided 2,000 horsepower (1,500 kW). The R-2800 was the most powerful American engine available at that time, so it would be retained for the G-58. This meant that improved performance would have to come from a lighter airframe. To meet this goal, the Bearcat's fuselage was about 5 feet (1.5 m) shorter than the Hellcat and was cut down vertically behind the cockpit area. This allowed the use of a bubble canopy, the first to be fitted to a US Navy fighter. The vertical stabilizer was the same height as the Hellcat's, but increased aspect ratio, giving it a thinner look. The wingspan was 7 feet (2.1 m) less than the Hellcat's. Structurally the fuselage used flush riveting as well as spot welding, with a heavy gauge 302W aluminum alloy skin suitable for carrier landings. Armor protection was provided for the pilot, engine and oil cooler.
The Hellcat used a 13 ft 1 in (3.99 m) three-bladed Hamilton Standard propeller. A slight reduction in size was made by moving to a 12 ft 7 in (3.84 m) Aeroproducts four-bladed propeller. Keeping the prop clear of the deck required a long landing gear, though, which, combined with the shortened fuselage, gave the Bearcat a significant "nose-up" profile on the ground. The hydraulically operated undercarriage used an articulated trunnion which extended the length of the oleo legs when lowered; as the undercarriage retracted the legs were shortened, enabling them to fit into a wheel well which was entirely in the wing. An additional benefit of the inward retracting units was a wide track, which helped counter propeller torque on takeoff and gave the F8F good ground and carrier deck handling.
The design team had set the goal that the G-58 should weigh 8,750 pounds (3,970 kg) fully loaded. As development continued it became clear this was impossible to achieve as the structure of the new fighter had to be made strong enough for aircraft carrier landings. Ultimately much of the weight-saving measures included restricting the internal fuel capacity to 160 US gallons (610 l) (later 183 US gallons [690 l]) and limiting the fixed armament to just four .50 cal Browning M2/AN machine guns, two in each wing. The limited range due to the reduced fuel load would mean it would be useful in the interception role but meant that the Hellcat would still be needed for longer range patrols. A later role was defending the fleet against airborne kamikaze attacks. Compared to the Hellcat, the Bearcat was 20% lighter, had a 30% better rate of climb and was 50 mph (80 km/h) faster.
Another weight-saving concept the designers came up with was detachable wingtips. The wings were designed to fold at a point about 2⁄3 out along the span, reducing the space taken up on the carrier. Normally, the hinge system would have to be built very strong to transmit loads from the outer portions of the wing to the main spar in the inner section, which adds considerable weight. Instead of building the entire wing to be able to withstand high-g loads, only the inner portion of the wing was able to do this. The outer portions were more lightly constructed, and designed to snap off at the hinge line if the g-force exceeded 7.5 g. In this case the aircraft would still be flyable and could be repaired after returning to the carrier. This saved 230 pounds (100 kg) of weight.
The F8F prototypes were ordered in November 1943 and first flew on 21 August 1944, a mere nine months later. The first production aircraft was delivered in February 1945 and the first squadron, Fighter Squadron 19 (VF-19), was operational by 21 May 1945, but World War II was over before the aircraft saw combat service.
Postwar, the F8F became a major U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps fighter, equipping 24 fighter squadrons in the Navy and a smaller number in the Marines. Often mentioned as one of the best-handling piston engine fighters ever built, its performance was sufficient to outperform many early jets. However, in United States service the F9F Panther and McDonnell F2H Banshee soon replaced the Bearcat as their performance and other advantages eclipsed piston-engine fighters. Therefore, many Bearcats with low flying hours were put in storage and/or sold to other nations.
One of these post-war operators became Uruguay, even though only with few aircraft. In 1942, Uruguay had received Grumman J4F Widgeon, Vought OS2U Kingfisher and Fairchild PT-23A trainers from the US under Lend-Lease, and after the war these were returned. A fundamental modernization of the Uruguayan Navy’s aviation branch started directly after WWII, though. During the years 1949 to 1957, a large supply of American aircraft was delivered. Among these were North American SNJ-4, Grumman Avenger, Martin Mariner and a mixed bunch of 12 old Grumman F6F Hellcats (-3, -5, -5N), delivered in 1952, even though not without trouble: to avoid the appearance of the United States supporting a small South American country, the planes were indirectly sold by a private company, Cobell Industries, and this meant that the planes came without armament to make the deal legal. However, after arriving in Uruguay, the planes were retrofitted with armament and other military hardware, while the pilots received training in the United States.
Attrition among the Hellcats was high and several F6Fs were soon lost in accidents. To fill these operational gaps, Uruguay closed a similar private deal, but this time for ten F8F Bearcat airframes, once more without armament and other military equipment. These arrived disassembled in crates in 1959 by ship. Upon re-assembly the former, all-blue USN aircraft were re-armed with 20 mm cannon instead of the original 0.5” (12.7 mm) machine guns, and they received new radio and navigational equipment. An additional oil cooler was mounted, too, visibly protruding from the cowling in front of the windscreen. When the Bearcats became operational in 1960, only six F6F had survived so far, and the Hellcats were soon withdrawn from service and fully replaced by the Bearcats.
During the mid-1960s, most of the ANU’s WWII-era planes reached the end of their operational lives and were written off. The Bearcats remained the only dedicated fighter aircraft of the Uruguayan Naval Aviation, and to expand the ANU’s ranks and build a stock of spare airframes to cannibalize, four more F8Us were ordered in late 1960. During this period, more aircraft from U.S. stock arrived and Beechcraft T-34 A, Beechcraft C-45, Grumman S-2A Tracker, Bell TH-13 and Sikorsky CH-34J were incorporated. Some more T-34A/B Mentors were exchanged from the Uruguayan Air Force for SNJ spare parts. During this phase, the Uruguayan Navy aircraft adopted a new high-visibility livery that had been introduced by the U.S. Navy in 1955, consisting of light gull grey over white. It replaced the former common overall dark sea blue paint scheme (sometimes with light grey undersides, as on the F6Fs).
The former tactical codes and large national insignia in four positions on the wings were initially retained, but this later changed into smaller wing roundels and “Armada” lettering replaced the large tactical codes on the fuselage – these were replaced with smaller markings on cowling and fin, now without the typical “A-“ (for Armada = Navy) prefix. The codes superficially resembled USN modex style codes now, but they were still just consecutive numbers as before. Another detail all ANU aircraft retained after their general livery update was the Uruguayan flag on the fin instead of a stylized banner version of the roundels, which were carried by the air force.
Towards the late Sixties, Uruguay was caught by political turmoil. In the late 1950s, partly because of a worldwide decrease in demand for Uruguayan agricultural products, Uruguayans suffered from a steep drop in their standard of living, which led to student militancy and labor unrest. An armed group, known as the Tupamaros, emerged in the 1960s, engaging in activities such as bank robbery, kidnapping and assassination, in addition to attempting an overthrow of the government.
President Jorge Pacheco declared a state of emergency in 1968, followed by a further suspension of civil liberties in 1972. In 1973, amid increasing economic and political turmoil, the armed forces, asked by the President Juan María Bordaberry, disbanded Parliament and established a civilian-military regime. The CIA-backed campaign of political repression and state terror involving intelligence operations and assassination of opponents was called Operation Condor. The Uruguayan Naval Aviation did not get directly involved in the inner tensions and the F8Fs saw only sporadic use during this phase, primarily in “show of force” appearances. They did not fire in anger, though, and served on well into the Seventies, even though maintenance became more and more complicated and expensive. In consequence, more and more machines had to be grounded or even fully retired and cannibalized to keep the small fleet flightworthy.
In 1979 nine North American T-28D Fennec and three C-45 were donated by the Argentinian Navy, and in 1980 the ANU’s F8Fs, which were now primarily used as attack aircraft, were retired, after only five of the original fourteen aircraft had been left operational. The Fennecs were used as a light attack platform until 2000.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 28 ft 3 in (8.61 m)
Wingspan: 35 ft 10 in (10.92 m)
Height: 13 ft 10 in (4.22 m)
Wing area: 244 sq ft (22.7 m²)
Aspect ratio: 5.02
Airfoil: root: NACA 23018; tip: NACA 23009
Empty weight: 7,650 lb (3,470 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 13,460 lb (6,105 kg)
Powerplant:
1× Pratt & Whitney R-2800-30W Double Wasp 18-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine,
with 2,250 hp (1,680 kW), driving an Aeroproducts 4-bladed constant-speed propeller
Performance:
Maximum speed: 455 mph (732 km/h, 395 kn)
Range: 1,105 mi (1,778 km, 960 nmi)
Service ceiling: 40,800 ft (12,400 m)
Rate of climb: 4,465 ft/min (22.68 m/s)
Wing loading: 42 lb/sq ft (210 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.22 hp/lb (0.36 kW/kg)
Armament:
4× 20 mm (.79 in) AN/M3 cannon with a total of 820 rounds
1× ventral (1.600 lb /725 kg) plus 2× underwing hardpoints (1.000 lb /454 kg each)
for a total ordnance of 3.600 lb (1.600 kg), including 150 and 200 gal. drop tanks,
4× 5” (127 mm) and/or bombs of up to 1,000 lb (454 kg) caliber
The kit and its assembly:
This rather simple what-if project is #2 in my current “Uruguayan What-if Series”. I had a surplus FROG 1:72 F8F in the Stash™ that I had bought in a cheap lot a while ago, but never had – beyond tentatively switching the engine to a Centaurus and painting it in Royal Navy colors – a good plan for it. This changed when I came across the Mistercraft F6F-5, a re-boxed Heller kit that comes with a vast decal set for no less than eight aircraft that also includes the exotic Uruguayan Navy markings from the Fifties. The idea: couldn’t the nimble F8F be a good complement or even a replacement for the ill-fated Uruguayan Hellcats?
Therefore, this became a simple “re-badging” of an unmodified Bearcat, just with some minor cosmetic twists. These included cockpit implants like a tub with side consoles (IIRC from a Heller Me 262) and a dashboard (of uncertain origin), some additional antennae (including a scratched IDF loop antenna fairing) on the back as well as a small pitot under the left wing. As a pure fighter I outfitted the Bearcat just with its OOB ventral drop tank (the bombs and HVARs that come with the kit look rather fishy). The propeller was replaced, too, with a (much) better alternative left over from an ArtModel F8F-2, the (by far) best kit of the Bearcat I have come across yet. It was mounted on a plastic rod which perfectly matched the opening/channel in the engine block, spinning free.
The FROG F8F is a simple, if not primitive and crude, affair, and fit is only mediocre – especially the wing/fuselage intersection did not fit at all. There are huge trenches around the flaps on the lower wing surfaces, and the landing gear is rather massive – just like anything else about the model. You get raised panel lines, but they are rather fine and there are not too many of them.
After having built the FROG kit I think it’s (even) weaker than the vintage Monogram kit, which is riddled with rivets and panel lines, but leaves overall a better impression. Gotta try the relatively new Hobby Boss 1:72 F8F someday, too – it looks like a compromise between all other kits.
Painting and markings:
A secondary factor behind this build was the plan to paint an F8F in the later USN grey-over-white high-viz livery, which some very late USMC AUs carried in real life. Since many aircraft of the Uruguayan Navy adopted this livery style in the late Sixties, too (e. g. the S-2 Trackers), it would look very natural on an ANU Bearcat.
The model was molded in dark-blue plastic and applying white was quite challenging. I relied upon a special, highly opaque white acrylic paint (rattle can) as a primer, Light Gull Grey (FS 36440, Humbrol 40) was added with a brush later. A dirty black (Revell 06) anti-glare panel was added in front of the windscreen. As an individual detail the propeller boss was painted red – inspired by a USN F8F I saw in literature with such a marking, and the real ANU Hellcats had their propeller bosses painted red, too.
The cockpit interior as well as the inside of the cowling were painted in chromate green (I used Humbrol 150), while the landing gear and its respective wells became, after long consideration, white. Being former USN aircraft, the F8Fs would certainly have had green bays with dark blue landing gear struts and wheel discs upon delivery – but I referred to pictures from the real ANU F6Fs as benchmark, and these had apparently all-white landing gear surfaces, matching their undersides, so I adopted this style for the Bearcat, too.
The kit received a light overall washing with black ink and some post-panel shading. As mentioned above, the decals came from a Mistercraft F6F (roundels and fin flash), while an Croco Models aftermarket sheet with decals for south American T-34s provided the basis for the tactical codes. The unit emblems on the cowling were taken from the same sheet, even though the actually belong to a Uruguayan Air Force T-34.
After some detail painting (exhaust stubs, oil cooler, position lights) and weathering (exhaust and gun soot with graphite) the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish. Because the Bearcat would have been rather freshly painted, I omitted oil stains around the engine and the oil cooler.
Not a complex project, and the FROG Bearcat was a bit of a disappointment – but what could I expect from a mold dating back to 1975? Well, it found a good use – and in the Sixties’ USN high-viz livery the compact F8F looks a bit like a juvenile Douglas AD/A-1 Skyraider?
