No Matter How Old You Are!
Always so very fun no matter how old you are! The sound and the power of this vintage aircraft taking flight. Just this past Saturday at the Palm Springs Air Museum. A World War II Navy fighter, the Bearcat F8F-2, here flown by pilot Steve Barber.
Bearcat
A Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat Navy fighter plane on it’s way out for a flight demonstration at the Palm Springs Air Museum. Flown by Pilot Steve Barber. The Bearcat was a carrier based aircraft. It later still out performed many of the early jet fighter aircraft. Popular in air racing, they can exceed 500 mph and have held many world records.
High Speed Bearcat
A Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat coming down the runway at the Palm Springs Air Museum at somewhere around 275-300 mph. The last Bearcat was delivered in 1949 and is a 2100hp 425 mph beast of an airplane. An interesting fact is the outer 3 ft of wing was designed to break off under high stress saving the aircraft from catastrophic failure. You have to go visit the Palm Springs Air Museum! So very interesting and so very fun!
Photographed with FujiFilm X-Series cameras and lenses.
Bearcat Fast & Low!
From yesterday at the Palm Springs Air Museum, here is that Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat fast and low over the runway at the Palm Springs Airport.
Bearcat Waking Up!
A Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat starting up and taxis out from the Palm Springs Air Museum on March 29, 2014. The Bearcat was developed during World War II but did not see service until the French Indochina War (Vietnam 1946-1954). The Bearcat is flown in air racing. One named the “Rare Bear” set the 3 km World Speed Record for piston-driven aircraft (528.33 mph/850.26 km/h) in 1989, and a new time-to-climb record (3,000 m in 91.9 seconds (6,425.9 fpm), set in 1972. Fast, loud and powerful, watch this thing start up!
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