Hobbycraft 1/48 F8F-1B 'Vietnam Bearcat'

Grumman's stubby little Bearcat was the result of putting the largest engine into the smallest possible airframe that could accommodate all the usual required things for use on aircraft carriers. The aircraft itself was probably the finest piston-engined Naval fighter to be produced, though I'm sure there are some FAA protagonists that would disagree! The aircraft was all that the Navy wanted and more, however, the end of the war in the Pacific meant that there was no real need for the aircraft and proposed construction was severely curtailed, resulting in only 1,265 aircraft being produced between August 1944 and May 1949. No Bearcats saw action on American carriers either during WW2 or during Korea, as by that time, jets were already in place as fighters. In civilian hands, the Bearcat proved itself to be a superb air racer, with Darryl Greenameyer's Conquest I finally beating the world speed record for prop driven aircraft in 1969, 30 years after it was last set by the Me-209v1.

It was the French who ended up taking the Bearcat into combat. As is so often the case, it was used as a ground attack platform, and not as a fighter. To my knowledge, the F8F never shot down an aerial victim. France was the first country to receive export Bearcats in 1951; all of the 140 delivered being F8F-1 and F8F-1B variants. The -1B were cannon armed. All of these aircraft were delivered to French Indochina, where the French were having a bit of trouble with Communist insurgents.

Eventually ten squadrons were outfitted with the Bearcat and all of them served in Indochina. They were all used for ground support, though in reality there were never more than four of them on active duty at any one time. This happened during the siege of Dien Bien Phu in early 1954 during the height of the fighting. Besides being operated as fighter bombers, a few were given to reconnaissance squadrons, where a camera pod was placed on the centerline rack.

When the French part of the Indochina war ended in mid 1954, the French then turned over its Bearcats to the South Vietnamese and Thai Air Forces. The US also supplied Bearcats to Thailand, all of them F8F-1 and -1Bs. The -1Bs were never in operational service and were used for spares. Thailand was the final operator of the Bearcat, striking the last one from service in 1963.

Hobbycraft's kit of the Bearcat is really very nicely done. It is pretty complete and offers everything that one would look for in a 1990s model kit. Detail is good and enough for most modelers, with crisp engraved panel lines and a nicely detailed interior and wheel wells. Those who have criticized this kit have generally pointed to the engine cowling as probably the biggest area of concern. They say that the cowling edge is too sharp and needs to be more rounded. A number of aftermarket cowlings are available for those who wish to replace this item. There are also aftermarket interiors and wheel wells out there.