HAROLD ARKENBOUT COLLECTION
No. 6012. Grumman G-58 F8F-2 Bearcat (N1111L c/n D.1020)
Photographed at NASM's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly, Virginia, USA, April 14, 2006, by Harold Arkerbout

Grumman G-58 F8F-2 Bearcat

02/28/2006. Remarks by Jack McKillop: "This aircraft was delivered to the USN in 1948 as BuNo 121646. Declared surplus in 1958, it was sold to a private owner in California in 1959 and registered N7699C.

Grumman G-58 F8F-2 Bearcat
(N1111L) (Phil Juvet Collection)

Two years later, it was sold to Daryl G. Greenamyer of Van Nuys, California and reregistered N111L and listed as Racer number "1".

On August 16, 1969, Greenamyer set a new speed record for piston engine landplanes for speed over a straight 3 km course at restricted altitude of 482.46 mph (776.45 kmh) at Edwards AFB, California. The previous record had been set on April 26, 1939 when a German Messerschmitt Me 209 V1 had achieved a speed of 469.22 mph (755.14 kmh).

Greenamyer also won the National Air Races six times in this aircraft before it was transferred to the Fighter Aircraft Museum at Mission Hills, California, in 1975. In 1977, it was donated to the NASM and it is currently on display."

Read the type remarks on page 6766.


Created December 22, 2006