Grumman F8F Bearcat

The Grumman F8F Bearcat was a relatively small low shoulder-mounted wing monoplane fighter developed by the Grumman Corporation in WWII, and was the last piston engine fighter produced by that company.  Although the Bearcat was fitted with folding wings it did not use the Grumman developed Sto-Wing design that was fitted to the F4F-4/FM-1, the FM-2, the F6F, or the TBF/TBMFM-1 but instead used a more conventional folding wing mechanism where the outer wing panels folded up and inward toward the fuselage, similar the the folding wing mechanisms on the F4U and SB2C aircraft.

Per Reference [8] first flight for the Corsair was on 21 August 1944 wih the type entering service on 21 May 1945.  A total of 1,265 of all variants were produced.

The Bearcat had a bubble canopy main landing gear that would retracted inward toward the plane's fuselage.  Altough the Bearcat entered operational service with the US Navy toward the end of WWII it did not see combat before the end of hostilities.  Post war, in addition to serving with the US Navy and US Marine Corps it also served with France, Thailand and South Vietnam, with an additional commerical varisnt G-58 serving with the Gulf Oil Company and another serving as a Grumman Corporation demonstrator.

The primary variant analyzed at this website is the F8F-1, which was the initial variant to enter service with the US Navy.

As shown in the images below distinguishing features of this aircraft including;

• a large radial engine 
  
• a bubble canopy
• a low shoulder-mounted folding wings
  
• main landing gear that inward toward the fuselage

[Image Sources: Public Domain via Ref [8] - as annotated by this site]

                       [Source: Ref [4] - Public Domain]

In order to try and better develop weight estimating relationships an effort has been made to estimate the length of the fuselage aft of the firewall, and the length of the engine section forward of the firewall based off scaled drawings.  Together these two distances add to a term called the "structural length" and do not consider any portion of the engine or propeller shaft the extend foward of the fuselage/cowling, or any empennage that extends aft of the fuselage structure.  The drawing below shows the current best estimate of these dimensions obtained from available drawings of the airplane and will be updated with any real world data that becomes available.  For any aircraft with an inclined firewall, an attempt has been made to locate an approximate center of this location.


                                                                     Source Reference [2] [5] [8] & [16]
In the above images, dimensions in Blak come from the source material while dimesnions in Red have been approximated from the data available.

The table below summarizes the current data collected on this type aircraft, identifying sources for the data

		F8F-1	Secondary Sources	Notes
Primary Source		2
No of Crew		1
Engine:
Qty		1	5
Model		R-2800-22W	5
Displacement	(cu in)	2800	5
Power
Military	(HP)	2100	5
War Emergency	(HP)	2750	5
Normal	(HP)	1700	5
Take Off	(HP)	2100	5
Eng Dims
Length	(ft)	6.51	5
Width/Dia	(ft)	4.4	5
Height	(ft)
Base Engine Wt	(lb)	2359	5
Propeller
# Blades		4
Dia	(ft)	12.58
Manufacturer
Type
Wing
Span	(ft)	35.5
Root Thickness	(%)	18.0%
	(in)	21.9
Total Area	(sq ft)	244
Wing (less Ailerons & Flaps)	(sq ft)	15
Ailerons	(sq ft)	18.18
Flaps	(sq ft)
Tail Area	(sq ft)	69.96
V Tail Area	(sq ft)	17.7
Fin	(sq ft)	11
Rudder	(sq ft)	6.7
H Tail Area	(sq ft)	52.27
Stabilizer	(sq ft)	33.64
Elevator	(sq ft)	18.63
Total Control Surf Area	(sq ft)
Length
Overall	(ft)	27.5
Fuselage	(ft)
Body	(ft)	27.3
Body Depth	(ft)
Body Width	(ft)
Fuel Tank Volume	(gal)	185
Wing Tanks	(gal)
FuselageTanks	(gal)	185
Oil Tank Volume	(gal)	17
Water Injection Fluid Tank Volume	(gal)	16
Wetted Area (sqf)	(sq ft)
Pwr Ldng	(lb/HP)	4.37
Wing Ldng	(lb/sq ft)	37.60
Struct. Des. GW	(lb)	8551
Ultimate Load Factor	(G's)	9.6
Design Speed	(mph)	477
Not to Exceed Speed	(mph)
Total Struct Weight		2886
Total Wing		1142
Wing
Ailerons
Flaps
Fuselage Carry-Through
Tail		182
H Tail		133
Stabilizer
Elevator
V Tail		49
Fin
Rudder
Body + Eng Section + LG
Body + LG		1533
Body		908
Fuselage
Engine Section
Landing Gear		625
Mn Landing Gr		569
Tail/Nose Aux LG		56
Tail Hook		29
Booms
Nacelles
Total Propulsion Weight		3419
Engine w/ Accessories		2452
Engine(s) as Installed		2325
Accessories		127
Turbocharger(s)
Controls		35
Propeller(s)		493
2-Blade
3-Blade
4-Blade		493
Starting System		28
Water Injection System		33
Tanks
Piping Etc
Cooling System
Lube System		151
Tanks
Piping Etc
Fuel System		227
Tanks
Piping Etc
Total Sys. & Eqpmt.		733
Instruments		35
Surface Controls		78
Hydraulics		83
Electrical Equip		162
Electronics (Purple means incl in Furn/Gray in Useful Ld)		118
Arm Prov/Equipment & Armor		216
Furnishings		41
Anti-Ice (If not in Furn)
Other /Misc
Hoisting Gear
Floatation Gear
Armor Plate
Empty Wt		7038
Basic Mission Useful Load		2137
Crew		200
Equipment
Oil		113
Fuel		1110
Fuel & Oil Trapped in Systems
Water Solution for Engine Injection
Bombs/Torp Etc
Radio (if Not Included in Empty Wt)
Nav Equipment
Oxygen System
Armament		660
Guns & Ammo		660
Guns		300
Ammo		360
Pyrotechnics
Camera
Other
Other Useful Load		54
Basic Mission GW		9175

Notes: This website has been developed with a number of low cost or free programs including Hot Metal Pro, KompoZer, MicroSoft Designer and Da Button Factory.com

Rev 4-12-26

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