By the last half of World War II, most new US fighter designs were much heavier and more complex than earlier fighters. When planning a replacement for their successful F6F Hellcat carrier fighter, however, Grumman chose to build as lightweight a design as possible around the most reliable large radial engine. The result was the F8F Bearcat, which was often called a "hot rod" by its pilots for its fantastic acceleration and climbing ability. Using the well-proven Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine, the first Bearcat prototype flew on August 21, 1944. After minor modifications, including the addition of a dorsal fin, early production F8F-1s began armament tests and carrier qualification trials in early 1945. By May of 1945, the Bearcat was cleared for operations, with very few restrictions on its flight operations over its wide speed range. A total of 654 F8F-1s were delivered, all fitted with the 2,100 hp R-2800-34W engine.

The Grumman F8F Bearcat was designed to defeat the nimble Japanese fighter aircraft that appeared at the end of WWII. The conflict ended before the Bearcat could be placed into service, and althought it eventually saw combat with the French in the Indo-China war, it never flew in harm¿s way in the U.S. Navy. One of the best piston-powered fighters ever built, the F8F could achieve a cruising speed of over 420 mph. In 1946 a Bearcat set a time-to-climb record of 10,000 feet in 94 seconds, a feat not matched until the advent of high-performance jet fighters nearly a decade later. Originally printed by Grumman and the U.S. Navy, this Flight Operating Handbook taught pilots everything they needed to know before entering the cockpit. Classified ¿Restricted¿, the manual was declassified and is here reprinted in book form. This affordable facsimile has been slightly reformatted. Care has been taken however to preserve the integrity of the text.

The Grumman F6F Hellcat was the most important Naval aircraft in WWII. Without it the Pacific war would have had a very protracted conclusion. The F6F was built to Roy Grumman's simple design philosophy "Grumman will only build an easily-produced, maintained and reliable combat aircraft that can be readily mastered by a 200-hour, war-time pilot trained to fly from a carrier, engage in successful combat, sustain combat damage, return to the carrier, and land his aircraft after dark so that he can be available for combat again the next day." Because the F6F was all that, it earned Grumman the nick name "The Ironworks." Grumman built 12,275 Hellcats during WWII in its successful effort of clearing the skys of the Japanese. The XF6F was first flown on August 8, 1942 and the production version, the F6F-3 flew on October 3, 1942. The F6F-3 first entered squadron service with VF-9 on January 16, 1943 and drew its first blood over Marcus Island on August 31, 1943. The Hellcat shot down 5,156 enemy aircraft, for a kill-to-loss ratio of 19-to-1, while producing 307 aces. This was the aircraft of the largest one-day air battle of all time, the "Marianas Turkey Shoot" where more than 540 Hellcats fought 440 Japanese naval aircraft backed by up to 600 Japanese Army aircraft. Result was 354 enemy aircraft kills were claimed by the Hellcats while only 16 F6Fs were lost to Japanese aircraft. The Hellcat would see combat as photo birds (F6F-3P/5Ps) and night fighters (F6F-3E/3N/5E/5Ns) too as well as the improved F6F-5 fighter. The book covers the F6Fs development, testing, and production written by Grumman's test pilot "Corky" Meyer. This is followed by technical details and a running combat narrative. The Marines, British, French, and European action is covered as well as training command during and after WWII and sections on post war, reserve, drones, and Hellcat prey.

Photographs and information about all aircraft.

The threat of enemy aircraft striking American naval forces at night with impunity during World War II led the Navy to seek fighter aircraft capable of stopping this threat. Trace the history of radar-equipped night fighter aircraft produced for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps by the American aircraft companies Grumman and Vought before the arrival of jets with nocturnal capabilities. World War II squadrons operated night variants of the Vought F4U-2 Corsair and Grumman F6F-3/5N Hellcat while post-war night fighter units were equipped with the Grumman F7F-3N Tigercat and/or Vought F4U-5N/NL. Night Cats and Corsairs contains never before published color and black and white photographs covering the night variants of the F6F Hellcat, F7F Tigercat, F4U-2 and F4U-5N/NL Corsairs.

The first half of this 192-page monograph covers the developmental history of the F2F and F3F. Individual aircraft histories are provided for each aircraft, listing assigned commands, mishaps and final disposition. Detailed period engineering photos show every aspect of the aircraft. This is followed by an operational history of each Navy and Marine Corps squadron that operated the F2F and F3F.

Eric 'Winkle' Brown, the former Chief Naval Test Pilot and Commanding Officer of the renowned Aerodynamics Flight at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as having flown more types of aircraft than any other pilot in the world. The ground rules for this assessment were that only pilot-in-command flights should count, and that marks or variants of a basic type of aircraft were not included. This remarkable record is reflected in the fact that Captain Brown is both the most decorated Fleet Air Arm and British test pilot. The variety of aircraft he has flown is incredible, and though his test and naval flying writings are already internationally known, he now has opened up pages of his flying log books to reveal some of the more unusual types in his unique experience, and to relate their virtues or vices. From the infamous Mitsubishi Zero-Sen and U.S. Navy's piston-engine Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat to the post-war swept-wing de Havilland Swallow. From the North American Savage designed to take off from an aircraft carrier with a nuclear bomb to the Supermarine Attacker, Eric 'Winkle' Brown has tested their qualities and takes the reader into the cockpits of those exciting aircraft to thrill to the joys and hazards of flying both weird and wonderful aircraft with one of the greatest of all pilots.

Beskrivelse af Luftwaffe-jagerflyet Fw 190 kendt fra 2. verdenskrig.

A full-color technical directory of 200 of the most important combat aircraft to serve the United States.