#f8f bearcat

[usafphantom2]

Commemorative Air Force Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat (G-58) N7825C

@ron_eisele via X

[lonestarflight]

"A U.S. Navy's Grumman F8F-2D Bearcat taking off from Chincoteague Naval Air Station at Wallops Island, Virginia, as part of a test involving an unmanned P4Y bomber being used in a missile test over the Atlantic Ocean."

Date: March 23, 1955

Norfolk Public Library: smc_mss0000187_x000085_012

[littlething2020]

Grumman F8F Bearcat, Repli de ses hautes jambes au décollage.

[nicholassabalos]

A gathering of “Warbirds”....

                  ....75 years later….

                       ....where World War II began....

                            ....and World War II ended....

PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII (August 10, 2020) -- United States Navy amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2) arrived here with an unusual collection of aircraft -- 14 vintage World War II airplanes.

Instead of a flight deck normally crowded with 21st century F-35B Lightning II fighter jets and helicopters....the warship was on a unique mission to bring a group of historic military aircraft known as the "Warbirds" across the Eastern Pacific Ocean from California to Hawaii....

....for a series of aerial parades upcoming in late August and early September 2020 commemorating the end of World War II in the Pacific theatre, exactly 75 years earlier, in 1945.

                                        *          *          *          *

“Salute Their Service, Honor Their Hope” is the theme of the commemoration in recognition of the WWII veterans and civilians who contributed to the end of the war....

....at the place where WWII began for the United States with the devastating Imperial Japanese Navy attack on the American Fleet moored at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

The Imperial Japanese Navy destroys the American Fleet at Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941....including the deadly (nearly 1,200 American Sailors died onboard) sinking of battleship USS Arizona (BB 39).

The fourteen historic airplanes are scheduled to conduct a series of flyovers around the island of Oahu, including Honolulu, on August 29 and 30, 2020....

....and in conjunction with the September 2, 2020 ceremony in Pearl Harbor aboard the Battleship Missouri Memorial....where the war was officially ended 75 years earlier aboard USS Missouri (BB 63) while moored in Tokyo Bay, September 2, 1945.

The Japanese formally surrender to the United States and Allied Forces aboard battleship USS Missouri (BB 63) September 2, 1945.

                                        *          *          *          *

From top to bottom, the color photos at the top of this post:

>>Note: CLICK the photos for a closer look at some of these amazing aircraft....

#1, #2, #3 - USS Essex (LHD 2) arrives in Pearl Harbor with an historic cargo on her flight deck. Photos: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kenneth Rodriguez Santiago, USN

#4 - A Grumman F8F Bearcat carrier-based fighter and North American Aviation P-51 Mustang fighter-bomber aboard USS Essex (LHD 2). Photo: Taigh Ramey, WWII vintage aircraft historian

#5, #6 - A North American B-25 Mitchell bomber (the same type of aircraft used for the daring Doolittle raid on Tokyo in 1942) is offloaded from USS Essex (LHD 2) onto the pier in Pearl Harbor. (Note the distinctive USS Arizona (BB 39) Memorial in the background, lower/center....just beneath the aircraft engine in photo #6.) Photos: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jessica O. Blackwell, USN

#7, #8 - North American T-6 Texan advanced trainers offloaded from USS Essex (LHD 2)....and ready to head for the adjacent airfield. Photos: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jessica O. Blackwell, USN

#9 - A P-51 Mustang is lifted aboard USS Essex (LHD 2) in San Diego in late July for the ocean crossing to Hawaii. Photo: Taigh Ramey

#10 - A Consolidated Catalina PBY “flying boat” goes aboard USS Essex (LHD 2) in San Diego. Photo: Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Wesley Richardson, USN

[lafonthighoctane]

Curtiss 75 “La Fayette”

[busterkeatonholic]

National Naval Aviation Museum, NAS Pensacola, FL

June 22, 2018

[nocternalrandomness]

A Bearcat painted in the iconic U.S. Navy Blue Angels livery seen at the Coles County Airshow

[usafphantom2]

Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat, Registration N1078Z, "Minsi III", Commemorative Air Force (US Navy markings), El Centro - El Centro NAF, California, 16 March 2013, Photo by John Olafson

Check out this totally bodacious Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat "Minsi III" making a nice pass with its stablemate at El Centro NAF in 2013! A beautifully restored WWII carrier fighter wearing classic US Navy markings.

@pj271111 via X