1. #11
    Bewolf's Avatar Senior Member
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    Just read the Bearcat was limited to 4.5g only. That's not exactly a lot.
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  2. #12
    luftluuver's Avatar Banned
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    F8F

    Initial Rate of Climb 6,300 ft/min

    http://rwebs.net/ghostsqd/f8f.htm
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  3. #13
    R_Target's Avatar Banned
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    Originally posted by Bewolf:
    Just read the Bearcat was limited to 4.5g only. That's not exactly a lot.
    Corky Meyer, test pilot for the F8F:

    A steelstrap fix was installed to give the Bearcat sufficient strength for carrier landings and 7.5G in the air, but the Bearcat was soon supplanted in operational squadrons by the much faster Grumman Panther and McDonnell Banshee jet fighters.
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  4. #14
    Bewolf's Avatar Senior Member
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    Originally posted by R_Target:
    <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bewolf:
    Just read the Bearcat was limited to 4.5g only. That's not exactly a lot.
    Corky Meyer, test pilot for the F8F:

    A steelstrap fix was installed to give the Bearcat sufficient strength for carrier landings and 7.5G in the air, but the Bearcat was soon supplanted in operational squadrons by the much faster Grumman Panther and McDonnell Banshee jet fighters.
    </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


    As of wikipedia, as usual always taken with a grain of salt:
    Unfortunately the target weight was essentially impossible to achieve as the aircraft had to be made stronger for aircraft carrier landings, unlike the Focke-Wulf fighter. As a weight saving concept the designers came up with detachable wings- if the g-force exceeded 7.5g then the tips would snap off, leaving a perfectly flyable aircraft still capable of carrier landing. Unfortunately while this worked very well under carefully controlled conditions in flight and on the ground, in the field, where aircraft were repetitively stressed by landing on carriers and since the wings were slightly less carefully made in the factories, wings tended to break off while the vehicle bombed targets, and the aircraft would then crash. This was replaced with an explosives system to blow the wings off together, which also worked well, however this ended when a ground technician died due to accidental triggering. In the end the wings were reinforced and the aircraft limited to 4.5g. However crashes still continued, as this limit would sometimes be exceeded, and the wing would tend to break off at the root.[5]
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  5. #15
    luftluver I've seen that link before but was never convinced by its accuracy.

    I havent read any performance data that suggests a 1945 F8F could achieve 458 mph in level flight or hit over 6000 fpm initial roc.

    One thing worth noting is according to the two links posted in this thread the SeaFury is lighter than the Bearcat and has more horsepower.
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  6. #16
    R_Target's Avatar Banned
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    Originally posted by Bewolf:
    As of wikipedia, as usual always taken with a grain of salt
    Definitely.
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  7. #17
    luftluuver's Avatar Banned
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    Originally posted by mynameisroland:
    luftluver I've seen that link before but was never convinced by its accuracy.
    10,000ft in 94 sec works out to ~6370f/m.
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  8. #18
    Ratsack's Avatar Senior Member
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    Originally posted by luftluuver:
    F8F

    Initial Rate of Climb 6,300 ft/min

    http://rwebs.net/ghostsqd/f8f.htm
    If that is true...


    Ratsack
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  9. #19
    R_Target's Avatar Banned
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    Is 9,240lb the correct empty weight of the Sea Fury?
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  10. #20
    Yes R_Target, its withing 100lb of that figure from most sources
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