Aircraft of World War II - Warbird Forums
 



Go Back   Aircraft of World War II - Warbird Forums > Other Eras > Post-War

Post-War A place to discuss post WWII to Vietnam.

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 09-06-2007, 11:14 AM   #1
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 24
Bearcat - Vietnam but not Korea?

While having a wee look at aircraft used in Vietnam I noticed a Bearcat. I thought this odd as they were not used in Korea.

Guess I'm missing something here. Why were they not used in Korea but used much later in Vietnam or was the website I was looking at wrong?

Thanks,
Nigel
NR61 is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 09-06-2007, 02:58 PM   #2
"Shooter"
 
evangilder's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Moorpark, CA
Posts: 15,421
Send a message via Yahoo to evangilder
Yes and no. The Bearcat was replaced with the F9F Panther. It was out of US front-line service by the time the US got involved in Korea. The French purchased quite a few and used them in Indo-China (Vietnam). When the French pulled out, the South Vietnamese Air Force acquired them. They were also used by the Thais.
__________________




For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return. Leonardo Da Vinci
evangilder is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 09-07-2007, 03:40 AM   #3
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 24
Makes sense now

Ah I see - thanks. So Bearcats were used but not by the US.
NR61 is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 09-07-2007, 06:10 AM   #4
"Shooter"
 
evangilder's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Moorpark, CA
Posts: 15,421
Send a message via Yahoo to evangilder
Exactly.
__________________




For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return. Leonardo Da Vinci
evangilder is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 09-22-2007, 11:43 AM   #5
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 559
One addition; Bearcats were still in active USN sdns at the start of the Korean War, just weren't ever deployed there. Most F8F units in the period were in the Altantic fleet. But the Navy had decided in the late 40's to concentrate on the F4U (F4U-4 particularly) as its main prop fighter; USN air groups included prop fighters in addition to jets until after Korea. Those props carried out a secondary role of long endurance CAP (much more endurance than early jets) and ground attack, of course.

Then also before the Korean War the US had viewed the 1st Indochina War ('45-54) as mainly French colonlialism and insisted anything transferred to France not be used there. After the KW started the attitude changed to viewing it mainly as another front against Communist expansion. So, F8F's flowed out of the USN to the French during the KW period, and were used extensively late in the 1st Indochina war, for example the Dienbienphu campaign.

Looking at the stats of F4U and F8F we often assume the F4U was preferred because of its performance (like load capability), and that may be true, but standardizing on the most numerous plane seems to have been the main driver: there were lots of F4U-4's compared to F8F's, or 'straight' F4U-5's, which were never used by the Navy in Korea either, (F4U-5N's and F4U-5P's were used by the Navy in Korea, and F4U-5's used briefly by one Marine sdn in Korea).

Some USN F4U sdns deployed to Korea had converted from F8F's.

Joe
JoeB is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 05-17-2009, 09:51 PM   #6
Senior Member
 
syscom3's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Orange County, CA
Posts: 10,814
At Chino 2009 Airshow, Evangilder and myself learned that F8F's were used by the Royal Thai AF.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg P5160070a.JPG (157.2 KB, 61 views)
__________________
"Pilot to copilot..... what are those mountain goats doing up here in the clouds?"
syscom3 is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 05-17-2009, 10:07 PM   #7
Senior Member
 
Aaron Brooks Wolters's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Abingdon, VA.
Posts: 3,490
Nice shot of a sharp craft syscom, that's excelent!!
Aaron Brooks Wolters is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old 05-18-2009, 02:14 AM   #8
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 2,446
Quote:
Originally Posted by evangilder View Post
...The French purchased quite a few and used them in Indo-China...
Came in towards the end of French involvement, supplanting their P-63s in front-line service
I did a post on the P-63's combat record a while back, it mentioned the arrival of the F8F and when, I'll see if I can find it
Colin1 is online now  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!Spurl this Post!Reddit! Wong this Post!
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:26 PM.
Powered by vBulletin
Copyright ©2000 - 2010, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Content Relevant URLs by vBSEO 3.3.2
Ad Management plugin by RedTyger
Design by HTWoRKS


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125