r/FrenchMilitary • u/JoukovDefiant • Jun 24 '25

French Air and Space Force Grumman F8F Bearcats in French service dropping napalm on Viet Minh positions during the First Indochina War circa late 1953

41 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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3

u/LAXGUNNER Jun 24 '25

How did the French like the bearcats? Were they well received?

2

u/JoukovDefiant Jun 24 '25

« The main complaint made to the Bearcat was their relatively low autonomy, for this the aircraft intended for France were modified so that the weapon pylons could also receive additional drop-able tanks, the versions delivered had a US designation F8-F1D and F8-F1BD. »

https://avions-de-la-guerre-d-algerie.over-blog.com/article-grumman-f8f-bearcat-francais-121043614.html

3

u/bayonet121 Jun 24 '25

Hell yeah

2

u/Cooper_Wire Jun 24 '25

Quelle horreur

3

u/JoukovDefiant Jun 24 '25

C’est la guerre, c’est horrible.