Warbird Information Exchange

This is such a long shot but here it is...........

When i was a VSP Unit in Northern Virginia in late 60's on i remember a F8F Gruman Bearcat that was sitting outside with no wings on it in Loudoun County near Leesburg Virginia. It was at the Gruman building on Rt.# 28 near the airport and was is a level flight attitude meaning tail up and on a stand so it might have been used as a test fixture for something?????

Thats the end of the story........Just wondering if anyone remembers this now 1 million dollar + aircraft with it's beautiful P&W R2800 or what might have happened to it. Hope it was sold, restored and is now doing a slow roll over the country side somewhere.

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I have to wonder if the Bearcat was being used as a wind machine. That huge fan driven by that R2800 will generate some serious wind! Movie studios used a variety of WW2 airframes for that purpose.

A couple of years ago, a friend sent me a picture he had taken of a big 18 cylinder radial with a paddle-bladed prop being used as a wind machine by a company that manufactures large plate glass windows for office buildings. It may have come from a DC-6. The company is in Pennsylvania, as I recall.

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

Both Bu121776 and Bu121707 were wind machines at Kaman Aircraft. Both were in store at Quantico in the late 60s. Could it have been one of those two?

There was one of those "indoor skydiving" places in the D.C. area that was using a motor and prop from a DC-3 to provide the "wind" for the lift. I don't know if it was the Wright or the P&W motor, though. This had to have been at least 20 to 25 years ago.

One Bearcat became the Blue Angeles Painted up one, & the other became the G-58 Gulf Hawk 4th now almost ready to be finish with the Hintons.

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WWI & WWII Warbird Fan.