Grumman F8F Bearcat

The Grumman F8F Bearcat was the last piston-engined fighter Grumman built for the United States Navy, introduced late in the Second World War. Its design followed advice from Pacific fighter pilots that climb rate mattered most, so Grumman wrapped the smallest practical airframe around the Pratt and Whitney R-2800 radial engine; the fuselage was about five feet shorter than the Hellcat's and carried the first bubble canopy on a Navy fighter. The first prototype flew on 21 August 1944. The Bearcat served with the Navy, the Marine Corps and other air forces, later broke piston-engine speed records in modified form, and is now popular with warbird owners and air racers.