On 12 Dec 2003 08:24:30 -0800, (butch burton)
wrote:

First there was a Navy carrier based fighter, designed to get up to
altitude in just minutes to take on the kamakazies. A gentleman in
his 80's described this high performance bird in glowing terms. What
is the name of this bird.

Next I am trying to find out the name of a new 6 place kit aircraft
which is turboprop powered. Had it on my old system but the system
died and could not save the web addresses. The name and web address
would be good.

thanks

I can answer your first question: the fighter being described sounds
like the Grumman F8F Bearcat. It was quite the hotrod in it's day,
mating the Pratt and Whitney 2,100 hp R-2800-34W twin row radial to an
airframe that was about the size of it's little ancester, the F4F
Wildcat.

There are reports and eye witness stories about the F8F leaving the
early jets in it's wake while climbing.

No F8F saw combat during WWII. There were boatloads of them heading
for the combat zone when the war ended. They saw some combat in Korea
and some were used by the French in Vietnam.

Corky Scott