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I can only give 2nd hand info, or what might be one and a half hand info. I have not flown a Bearcat, ,but I have discussed it with Howard Pardue who is our most experienced Bearcat pilot as well as having flown most other types. Howard says the Cat is easy. It handles great in the air, and the gear is so wide that it is very stable on landing. Howard said he doesn't worry about crosswind landings in his F8, he hardly even needs to think about the wind. I have seen him land that plane a hundred times, virtually all were excellent 3 point touchdowns, and I've never seen him swerving are appearing to have to do much correction on roll out. It lands pretty slow and stops well. We did sort of a mini brief when I thought I might try to become a flying sponsor of one. The only two cautions were to be careful on power application like a go around ( there's lots of power) and to raise the gear promptly as it accelerates very fast after takeoff and can exceed the gear speed. The only other aspects is that is is hot in the cockpit and blind over the nose on the ground, as are many other planes.
I have some Mustang time, enough to be rated, though I am not at all current, with only a little air time in the last year or two, but I can form an opinion. A Mustang is not hard to fly, even to land. The takeoff is really about as hard as any part. Throttle application needs to be smooth and progressive, and don't rush it or force the tail up early; else it can take a lot of right rudder. The takeoff roll is pretty long and you want a good bit of speed, perhaps 85 before liftoff. There is 3 way trim to help. The noise at 55 or 60 inches is deafening. It is not just in your ears, it feels like it is in your bones. You have to reach a ways down to the left front sidewall to raise the gear, once it is up the plane is fast and stable. It feels bigger than you'd think. Visibility is excellent in the D model, except down under the wing. You level off in cruise perhaps at 8500 AGL and 275 mph and you have just seen another world, regular gen aviation will never seem the same.
The controls are responsive, if not light, they get heavier with higher speeds. Speed and power changes need trim changes. If you are a Spitfire pilot you look down at the fuel gauges and feel like you just found an extra $ thou in your bank account. For acro, it dives great, loops, and rolls good. Dives can easily get you in the 300 mph indicated ASI where most G A planes don't go. It turns good, just not as effortless as a Spit. The stall, especially power on, has a small warning buffet, and seems to take some time to recover airspeed. TO ME, it does not seem that dangerous, even before the stall buffet you can sense the controls getting soft and sloppy. You need a healthy respect for the high wing loading and the high speed aspect of the wing design. It is not a Spit or a Hurri to be wrenched around at minimum speed, it sure ain't no Zero. It feels like it was made to go somewhere, like the excellent long range escort it was.
Getting slowed down to gear speed takes room. It is all too easy to come in with 30 in and nose down and find you are 100 mph too fast. Most 51 pilots seem to use a notch of flaps to slow down before putting down the gear. I never liked this, but it is SOP, and you can also use a break turn to slow down. Again a bit of a reach to get the gear lever all the way in the down detent. Once down the plane is stable and easy to manage. It is just that you are going so fast. Downwind in a 51 at 150 mph, is twice as fast as in a C 172. It is 60 mph faster than in my Bonanzaso there is just less time to do things and easy to get behind. The flaps can be lowered in notches around the pattern, they are effective and help slow down. The last notch on final allows a nose lower approach so that you can see some of the runway. The MP gauge reads in inches all the way down to 20 so it is easy to set power and I seem to remember about 22 in as the figure turning final. At about 90 the ailerons are a bit soggy, but there is still enough elevator to flare. It wheel lands fine, but also felt good to me as a tail low not quite 3 pt. The main tires are big and absorb the touchdown and it seems stable on roll out. I have never done more than a hop, I would not like to get into a real hard big bounce, on the edge, recovery. Touch and go, or go around seems ok, there just is a lot of noise and not much go until you get the big flaps up. It feels big.
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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK
Last edited by Bill Greenwood on Thu Dec 04, 2008 2:15 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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