How would WWII been diffrent if Grumman Aircraft came out two years earlier

How much diffrent would the Air War been if the Grumman company had been able to build its designs two years earlier . Think of the Bearcat coming out in 1943 instead of 1945 . A little note about the Bearcat I was talking to a old Navy poilt about the Bearcat and he told me about bets his Sq. use to make with Army Poilts after the war they would lay $200 down on the bar in the officers club and bet the P-51 poilts that they could take of in half of the runway and then go out and take of from the side of the runway useing only half of it . That is side to side .
 
Aviation progress

Any 1943 aircraft could beat any 1941 aircraft. The progress was that fast. Some technologies could have been pushed a little, like jet engines, high octane gasoline, composite airframes (like the Tegofilm Mosquitos), supercritical wings (fly faster with less drag), scandium aluminum alloys, glassy metals, ductile titanium, ductile berylium, wolkovitch wings, etc.
 

Redbeard

Banned
Hi ward

I can see your point as the Bearcat actually used the same engine as the much earlier Hellcat (P&W R-2800 Double Wasp), but with a much smaller and lighter airframe giving a very manoeuvreable and fast aircraft. In that context the bearcat also is an interesting and distinct development, as the usual way to use bigger engines available over time to build bigger planes.

But I really don't think it would have meant much, as the USA by 1943 already had a superiority so overwhelming, that any more would be overkill.

Regards

Steffen Redbeard
 
But I really don't think it would have meant much, as the USA by 1943 already had a superiority so overwhelming, that any more would be overkill.

When you're fighting people like Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan there's no such thing as overkill. Give them the slightest breathing room and they'll make you pay for it.
 
Landshark said:
Give them the slightest breathing room and they'll make you pay for it.

I thought that was true in all wars. But I see your point.

Anyway, about the thread. I think a way of bringing the Bearcat earlier is to do away with the Hellcat, i.e., making the Bearcat the F6F. Now there's a gap(not that big, though) between the Wildcat and the newer designs, which I think would be plugged by the F4U(the Corsair had a long, troubled development, by the standards of the time - IIRC, the first prototype flew in 1938). The Corsair was thought to be too big for carrier ops, so many(if not most) of the first ones were given to the USMC. However, the British used them in smaller carriers than the USN had, so they could be handled by the Navy(I pity the trainee pilots landing them on CVs, though). Maybe the USMC is forced to make do with Wildcats for a little longer?

However, one thing is certain: With Corsairs coming, say, in late 1942, and Bearcats coming in mid-to-late 1943, the A6M is out of the running. What goes on to replace it? The A7M had engine problems up to the end of the war, in fact they didn't enter service, although production was starting. The N1K1-J and J2M are land-based. What now? I think they would bring the A7M into service regardless of the problems they had.
 
The F4U (Corsair) wasn`t thought to be to big for carrier ops, but a combo of too stiff oleos in the landing gear (causing it to hop on landing-big no-no for a carrier) and extremly poor visibility made carrier landings too chancy.
While the Bearcat was a great interceptor compared to the Hellcat and the Corsair it had two defiecencies-firepower and range. As the French were to find out in their Vietnam war the Bearcat lacked both. During the war the carriers tended to shift more and more towards a fighter heavy loadout ending with more than 60 % fighters from 33%. That meant that the fighters had to take a ground attack role as well and there the Bearcat would not have exceeded.
The Bearcat became a priority at wars end since the Kamikaze planes made an interceptor necessary.
On the other hand-if the Bearcat or even the Hellcat would have been available sooner they might have replaced the P 51 as an escort plane for raids against Germany.
 
However, one thing is certain: With Corsairs coming, say, in late 1942, and Bearcats coming in mid-to-late 1943, the A6M is out of the running. What goes on to replace it?

Perhaps the A2 Ascender-- Swept Wings, that tailfin/rearwing combo thingy and a Pusher Prop in 1938-- It looked a lot like a todays jet. It's problem was under powered engines, and once more powerful enginees became avalible in the 40's, no-one was going back to discarded ideas.
 
Something to rember is that the Grumman Co . built othere Aircraft besides the Wildcat ,Hellcat ,BearCat and TigerCat . They also made the Advanger .
Think of the US navy Flying Advengers at Midway and Coralsea .
 
DeHaviland Twin Mustang

The British had the advantage of lots of high octane gasoline. Important for inline engines like the Merlin. More power, more range.
Combine that with the Tegofilm plywood laminates used to build the Mosquito, built a twin fuselage aircraft using the Mustang high speed wing, and the bubble canopies that the Allies could make and the Axis couldn't, and you would have a fast, long range, low drag, high climb, maneuverable aircraft. Just perfect for long range nuisance bombing and attacks. Better than the Mosquito because it would have been faster. Less frontal area and like that. Hardpoints for external bombload would also have cut drag after expenditure, and advantage when coming back from a night raid. It's dicey to land in the dark, but pretty easy to take off.
Now that would have been something to have in 1941! Great for torpedo bombing at long range, too. Would have made the Japanese very short of fuel after they lost all their tankers. Wouldn't have won the war all by itself of course...Just a nice design.
 
DuQuense said:
Perhaps the A2 Ascender-- Swept Wings, that tailfin/rearwing combo thingy and a Pusher Prop in 1938-- It looked a lot like a todays jet. It's problem was under powered engines, and once more powerful enginees became avalible in the 40's, no-one was going back to discarded ideas.


wow, I had NEVER heard of this and I've always been keenly interested in teh imperial Japanese military, know where I can get more info?

I really don't see how this would have major historical results, teh USN would have had better fighters than the IJN from 1943 on, which id did anyway in OTL. Air combat results couldn't really have goten much more lop-sided. The only response the Japanese could really make might have been an earlier adoption of kamikaze tactics, though maybe they could have pushed for a carrier-borne varient of the N1K1/2-J earlier, remember even in OTL they tried to update their fighter force in 1943-44, they just couldn't get enough production of newer model planes.
 
Ward said:
Something to rember is that the Grumman Co . built othere Aircraft besides the Wildcat ,Hellcat ,BearCat and TigerCat . They also made the Advanger .
Think of the US navy Flying Advengers at Midway and Coralsea .

There was an Avenger squdron at Midway. They got slaughtered, although lack of experience(they had just received their aircraft), played a part on that.
 
Top