My attempt at the grumman f8f bearcat. Its a WW2 replica. I sort pf looks like one and it does fly. It jas a fuselage bomb and 4 wing guns.
History:
The Grumman F8F Bearcat was one of the best piston-engine fighters to see operational service with the US Navy. It was also the last of a series of piston-engine carrier based fighters, which had been initiated with the FF-1 of 1931. It was designed primarily as an interceptor-fighter that would operate from carriers of all sizes. It never saw see action in WWII, as it was delivered to late, but surplus Navy Bearcats played an important role in the war in Indochina with the French Armée de l'Air and the Royal Thai Air Force. Eventually, Bearcats found their way into the civilian market and were featured attractions in the Reno Air Races in Nevada. In the summer of 1943, Grumman was now turning out large numbers of F6F Hellcats, which were seeing their first combat action in August. The design of the twin engine XF7F-1 was finalized and production would begin in October 1943.1 These two aircraft were a considerable improvement over the F4F Wildcat and were representative of the aircraft going into action for the US Navy with some emphasis on supercharged high altitude fighting. Grumman engineers working under Chief Engineer William Schwendler sought to fill a major gap in the low and medium altitude ranges for US carrier type fighters. The goal was to create a small fighter, similar to the Wildcat, but with much more speed, rate of climb, and maneuverability than any other carrier fighters in service or under development.Caption Given the Grumman designation G-58, work on the Bearcat began in 1943. It was cantilever, low-wing monoplane of all-metal construction, with the same NACA 230 series wing used in the Hellcat, that folded at about two thirds of the wing span for carrier storage. 2 It incorporated armor protection for the pilot and had self-sealing fuel tanks installed. Read more here--->http://www.aviation-history.com/grumman/f8f.html